Dealership paid off my car loan?

Purchased a car last month, and financed through toyota. I immediately logged and created my account and set up automatic payments so I don't have to worry about paying it late. First payment was due 3 days ago. I had not seen any activity on my account so I tried to log on and it said my account has been closed. So I call up the number on the front of my bill and ask what the deal is and she tells me that I don't have an account; it has been closed. She said it's because the account has been paid off. I'm like "wtf? I didn't pay it off", and she's like"um...let me check on this". Comes back a few minutes later and tells me that they received a check for the full amount of the car from the dealership last week.

Wtf? Someone at the dealership fucked up. Did the dealership just give me an early xmas present?

tuck away the payments for when they come knockin'. Worst case scenario is after so long you'll have enough to buy your next car in a few years. Now you just need a clean title for it.

did the dealership have a big sign.... buy here pay here lol. you might not be making payments to the bank possibly?

I wouldn't go looking for answers... but as before mentioned, sock the payments away for the next 6mos. to a year or until the pink slip shows up
Good luck, I hope it works out in your favor
SH420

Damn nice place to buy a car... lol

The odds of you getting a free car are basically nil. What probably happened is that the dealership runs all loans through Toyota's credit system since it is the easiest way to guarantee initial financing. Then, after the sale is made, your contract contains a dealer clause that gives them the right to "buy" your loan from Toyota. Once they buy it, they may keep it on their own books or sell it to some other investment outfit for a profit. Now, this is all conjecture on my part, but I am willing to bet I am right. You had better check it out or they will simply hit you with late-payment penalties.

BTW: did the bank say anything to you about the pink? What bank was it through? You don't have to answer (obviously), just curious... oh and how's your credit? Again curious, if it's not all that good, maybe the dealership bought the note back and used their own finance company
SH420

Yeah what bluerock said....

they must have refinance it from Toyota financial to another bank.. maybe they got a lower apr and held the points on you? extra money in their pockets same amount out of yours?

if no title received in next 30 days, then something wrong. if actually paid off you will get the title, if not, contact. hate to see some rednecks in a tow truck in 3 months hauling your car away.

sounds like a credit nightmare is going to start if you don't take the initiative and figure it out before someone puts a delinquent payment on your report.

these miracles usually end in problems. a friend of ours was laid off due to a company closing its doors. the employees that had been there a certain length of time got a nice severance, $20K. she wasn't there long enough, but her account got the deposit. she spent it paying off bills, like a dumb ass. they came looking for the money 6 months later, she didn't have it. they sued, and she's been on the financial run since.

srh88 said:

did the dealership have a big sign.... buy here pay here lol. you might not be making payments to the bank possibly?

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No. It was through toyota financial. As I explained to the lady on the phone I am holding my bill in my hand. It is dated about 2 weeks ago, addressed to me, has the account number on it, the outstanding balance, the payment, and the due date. And the number I dialed to talk to you is the one I am looking at on the front of this letter.

bluerock said:

The odds of you getting a free car are basically nil. What probably happened is that the dealership runs all loans through Toyota's credit system since it is the easiest way to guarantee initial financing. Then, after the sale is made, your contract contains a dealer clause that gives them the right to "buy" your loan from Toyota. Once they buy it, they may keep it on their own books or sell it to some other investment outfit for a profit. Now, this is all conjecture on my part, but I am willing to bet I am right. You had better check it out or they will simply hit you with late-payment penalties.

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Yea I know i'm not getting a free car but I don't see how they can hit me with late penalties. I have the documentation saying exactly where my loan is through, and I have documentation showing I signed up and set up automatic payment. No where in the documentation does it say the loan will be resold without notification and I never signed any other documents. I don't think this is a common practice. The lady I spoke with on the phone seemed as confused as I did about it. I don't know what happened, but i'm pretty sure it wasn't supposed to happen.

Indagrow said:

they must have refinance it from Toyota financial to another bank.. maybe they got a lower apr and held the points on you? extra money in their pockets same amount out of yours?

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How do I not get notified though? I have had my mortgage resold before, but I was notified, and the process was stream lined; I didn't have to do anything, it still pays through the same automatic payment I set up. This is just a mystery though, I call the number on the only loan paperwork I have and they say the account is paid in full. :shrug:

I'll have to call the dealership to straighten it out. I am already irritated that I have to spend any amount of time on it at all.

..you need to follow up on everything starting Mon.

guy incognito said:

.....snip......

Yea I know i'm not getting a free car but I don't see how they can hit me with late penalties.

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It's the "Because you knew you had a _________ payment", rule. Call the finance office at the dealership.

Next time you buy a car go in with your own financing. Never speak to sellers about finance. That is simply asking for all these type of headaches. Where I live this is how they repo your car to sell it again keeping your inital outlay. So get very aggressive about this with them as it could be a scam. I hope not.

Really can't wait to see how this turns out. I think it would be awesome if you foked a car dealer for once, lord knows they have foked most of US before. good luck

guy incognito said:

How do I not get notified though? I have had my mortgage resold before, but I was notified, and the process was stream lined; I didn't have to do anything, it still pays through the same automatic payment I set up. This is just a mystery though, I call the number on the only loan paperwork I have and they say the account is paid in full. :shrug:

I'll have to call the dealership to straighten it out. I am already irritated that I have to spend any amount of time on it at all.

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Well I was going to say because the Mortgage dealers are more honest than the car dealers. Than I realized I was full of shit on that one.

curious2garden said:

It's the "Because you knew you had a _________ payment", rule. Call the finance office at the dealership.

Next time you buy a car go in with your own financing. Never speak to sellers about finance. That is simply asking for all these type of headaches. Where I live this is how they repo your car to sell it again keeping your inital outlay. So get very aggressive about this with them as it could be a scam. I hope not.

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I went in with my own financing (1.99%) and they beat it (1.75%). I know I have a payment, but I don't see how they can dig me for making a good faith attempt to pay. I have the signed loan documentation, and documentation showing I set up auto payment, and they have a record of me calling in to discuss it. If it does get hairy I can't imagine a judge not siding with me, the guy with a flawless credit record and a score of 850ish from every credit agency. Yea you got me, I never missed a car, house, student loan, or credit card payment in my life but just decided out of the blue that I wasn't gonna pay for my car loan.

EDIT: The more I think about it, it has to be an honest mistake. I am the last person they would want to target with a financial scam. You scam the dead beats and stupid people. You don't scam the upstanding citizen with an impeccable credit score/record.

guy incognito said:

I went in with my own financing (1.99%) and they beat it (1.75%). I know I have a payment, but I don't see how they can dig me for making a good faith attempt to pay. I have the signed loan documentation, and documentation showing I set up auto payment, and they have a record of me calling in to discuss it. If it does get hairy I can't imagine a judge not siding with me, the guy with a flawless credit record and a score of 850ish from every credit agency. Yea you got me, I never missed a car, house, student loan, or credit card payment in my life but just decided out of the blue that I wasn't gonna pay for my car loan.

EDIT: The more I think about it, it has to be an honest mistake. I am the last person they would want to target with a financial scam. You scam the dead beats and stupid people. You don't scam the upstanding citizen with an impeccable credit score/record.

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Precisely, you got it, it's the poor tax. Yeah I agree at your end this is mistake and not shaft that's why I like to follow the rules too. It just makes it easier these days.

We had something similar happen with a semi-tractor. Lawyer said to put the payments in a bank account so if they ever do catch it that we would have the funds to make good. I couldn't sleep at night and called them-Ford Motor Credit. They said they we didn't own the truck, then I called the dealership, they forgot to process the paperwork. I believe they would have caught up to us eventually, our lawyer just clucked his tongue.

Edit: no late fees were added.

guy incognito said:

EDIT: The more I think about it, it has to be an honest mistake. I am the last person they would want to target with a financial scam. You scam the dead beats and stupid people. You don't scam the upstanding citizen with an impeccable credit score/record.

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ahahhahahahahahahahahahahahaha yeah right, banks/brokers/dealerships ruthless and immoral moneygrabbing fucks
you better get all up in that shit