SST - Systems & Services Technologies Unethical Practices - Car loans Saint Joseph Missouri

We financed a vehicle through AmSouth Bank in January 2003, unfortunately it was a rush situation and we ended up over financing our vehicle because we were upside down on the one we were trading in. But to even out our payments we financed for 8 years instead of the traditional 5. For a year we made payments to AmSouth on time, with no issues and the last 6 months we were set up on their automatic payment plan. Sometime around January 2004 (we are unsure of the date because noone can give us the exact date) our account was sold to the servicing company of Systems & Services Technologies (SST) in MO. Since they have taken over this loan we have had NOTHING but trouble!

First they transferred over our banking information and set up their own automatic payments, which would not have been so bad had we been asked for our permission for them to access our bank account in this manner. The first month we saw not only a debit for our payment from AmSouth, but one from SST! That was over $1000 from our account and we were clueless! We called AmSouth to find out what was going on and they apologized and told us the account had been sold and someone must have dropped the ball and not cancelled the auto pay. They refunded us the amount of the payment and an overdraft fee charged to us by our bank. We had received no communications from this company SST, but AmSouth gave us their phone number and we contacted them.

Now, from the very first phone we have dealt with nothing but rude customer service agents at this company! They are uninformed and just flat out rude! They refused to cancel my auto payment over the phone and told us that we HAD to continue it because that is how it was set up with the original lender... this is not true and as someone who has worked in the banking industry I know they must have my permission to set up anything like this and THEY did not... I told them I would cancel it with my bank and they threatened me!! They told me they would repossess the vehicle if I canceled my auto payments! I was in shock! I called an attorney to see if this was legal and he told me that what they were doing was illegal, so I called them back the next day. In the meantime another debit had come out of our account ... 4 days AFTER the initial debit!! They said that we needed to pay a month up front. Again, not true, not part of our contract and they were again accessing our account without our permission. I went to bank, filed the necessary paperwork and the auto pay was stopped.

We had always paid this on time, until we had to move out of state and our bank account changed. We sent them a check and that was returned. They never notified us, even though we called them almost a month before we left to give them our new mailing address. I even sent a certified letter that I know they received because I have the return receipt (even though they hold fast to the claim that they never received it). We did not receive bills from them for almost 3 months, even though we were sending out checks each month. Those checks were clearing the bank. But, they were applying them not to the one that was returned but to the current month... so we had ONE payment that was 90 days past due... but had sent them checks that for whatever reason were not paying the oldest payment due! I know they also had our phone number because they had called on ONE occasion and left a message that our payment was 2 days past due...never a mention about this one that was 90 days!

I went outside one morning at 5 am to find our vehicle gone! They had repossed it! So I call the cops, they come out and of course ask about payments... so I make a quick phone call to find they are not open yet. The cop tells me to find out that information first and then go down to the station if I need to. I finally get a hold of someone who flat out tells me "well, if you paid your bill each month you'd still have your vehicle"! So I go over all the payments, only to find out a check had been returned, we had never been notified (and yes, while someone is going to say we should balance out our check book, the answer is yes we should have, and the notification of the check from our bank was sent to a po box we had set up and then closed out.. that was completely our fault) and now they had our vehicle repoed and wanted not only the late payment, plus repo fees, plus interest, plus other fees they tacked on for good measure, but they wanted 2 months payments! So they were talking a total of 3 payments due plus all their fees. It came to over $3000!! Now like most people we didn't have that kind of money sitting in the bank! It took us a while but we were able to come up with it and get our vehicle back.

After filing a complaint with an attorney we had it removed from our credit, so the repo does not show, but they are still showing negative payment history. Noone there can ever give you a straight answer. We tried to refinance, but were told we couldn't because of the negative payment history and SST would not give the finance company a 30 day pay off. They say it changes daily. Which I understand there are different kinds of loans, but ours was not one that accumulated interest daily... the interest was already factored into the payment!! So now we are paying them extra interest! They hold checks for several days before posting them to accounts, many times they call you and harrass for payments AFTER they have cleared your bank but have not been posted to your account. they NEVER send out requested information such as payment history, their website they give for this information is never up to date and often times is down (no reason given it just doesn't load and you get an error message). It's just bad business all around.

I can not wait to pay this vehicle off and get these people out of my hair. They will call 10 times a day and never leave a message... the only way I know they call is because it shows up on our caller ID with the number of times that number has called in a day next to it. If you want something then leave a message! I've sent them several letters to ask them to stop calling so many times and have even given them my cell phone number to call during the day, but they've yet to try and contact me there, just calling our house 10 times a day. I am sure it annoys the dogs! Not to mention the calls start at 7:59 AM and continue until 8:01 PM ... we once received a call at 10:35 pM and as early as 5:30 AM. I'd love to make principal payments on this loan but am afraid they will screw that up so we are just saving it in our savings account to pay it all in one lump sum. I will be so glad to get rid of these idiots!

Akafmom
Fort Walton Beach, Florida
U.S.A.