Sierra Central Credit Union Sierra Central Bank Fraudulent Insurance Fees tacked onto a consumer loan Yuba City, CA California

If you are shopping for a consumer loan, beware of Sierra Central and stay away! In January, my wife and I purchased a travel trailer from a dealer in Rocklin who helped us line up financing through the Sierra Central scammers. Although we weren't happy with the rather poor interest rate they offered us we went forward with them at the dealers recommendation and because they were local. Big mistake!!!

When we purchased the trailer the dealer had me sign a form that said I would provide proof of insurance but the form was left blank on the line that specified how long we had to provide it so I figured there was a reasonable buffer period in place to allow us to secure the insurance they were asking for. Boy was I wrong.

After the dealer delivered the trailer to our house there was a period of about 7 weeks when it sat in our driveway before being used. We did get full coverage insurance before our first trip in March and we provided that to Sierra Central think it would satisfy their requirements. Then we started getting letters saying to provide insurance for the dates between the purchase and the when our insurance began which we obviously couldn't do or they could buy Collateral Protection Insurance for over $700 to cover that timeframe (which was already in the past) and charge us for it. I called my insurance company and asked if we could buy back insurance to cover the previous dates and they said that no insurance company could.

Disputing the threat of the addtional insurance fees I was tranferred to Sierra Central's asset recovery dept (depite having never missed a payment or had any lapses in our insurance since it was issued) and they were extremely rude and said that I had agreed to pay it and had no choice in the matter. I went back and reviewed my contract and the form was very ambiguous, was filled in incorrectly, and no where stated I had to have insurance from the issuance of the loan. If I did, they should never have allowed me to complete the purchase without showing proof of insurance first.

Yesterday I called in to get my account balance to payoff the loan and they gave me the amount. Knowing it was my intention to pay the loan off, that amount jumped up today by $687.08. Inquiring about the discrepancy, they said that the insurance was purchased and I now had to pay it. So they didn't have the supplemental collateral protection insurance yesterday but today they did and now they are trying to stick me with the cost despite having no valid proof that I agreed to it. What a scam! Save yourself the hassle and costs and find a credit union that actually looks after the interests of their members rather than trying to defraud them.

Dan, Loomis, CA