Trend financial & Toronto Auto Brokers Trend financial and Toronto auto brokers warning Toronto Ontario

Hi,

I understand your frustration but there are a few items that need to be cleared up. TREND Financial is one of the largest non-bank/OEM auto lenders in Canada. We work with well over 1000 dealerships in Ontario and Manitoba. We do not have any partnership, exclusivity or special arrangements with Toronto Auto Brokers.

In regard to the phone calls you have received from TREND and TAB, this is correct as a part of our process includes speaking to the client directly and confirming certain information in addition to going through the proposed loan structure with the client. I am not certain why our involvement in the process would be seen as being negative as this process is only being conducted in order to assist the consumer and provide better service. We beleive that all consumers should have the opportunity to speak directly with the finance company so they can ask any questions about the loan structure which they may have. 

I also understand that you believe that TD would finance your loan. Unfortunately, although you believe that you would qualify with the bank, I can confidently state that you are incorrect. If you would have qualified with the bank then TAB would have submitted the loan application to them. TD offers more flexibility than we can with regards to offering more financing for aftermarket products and their process is much more simplified. Dealers will only use TREND when they have difficulty in getting their clients approved with the bank. So although you believe you understand what TD’s qualifications are, unfortunately you were not actually qualified for bank financing.

With regard to the rest of your complaint of not being able to pick up the vehicle, that has nothing to do with TREND as we just do the financing. We have no involvement in the vehicle selection, preparation, or delivery.

Also, we cannot take responsibility on what the dealer told you is the structure of the loan. Since it is possible for dealers to provide misinformation to consumers, we not only try to speak with the consumer during the process, but we also conduct a ‘welcome call’ before the loan is funded (but after the client had the opportunity to review the lease) to ensure that the client is ok with the loan structure, that the client didn’t receive any verbal promises from the dealer and to give the client an opportunity to ask any questions. So even though we gave you the opportunity to review the contract and ask questions to us directly before the loan was funded, you still proceeded with the loan given that opportunity. I am not really sure what else you are expecting for us to do or what more we could have done for you.

Furthermore, we ensure our documents disclose all costs and are fully transparent so there is no confusion. Although you might have been surprised at the cost, nothing was hidden from you as it was fully disclosed to you. This is in addition to the 'welcome call' we conducted to confirm you were ok with everything. It seems as though you agree that we provided full disclosure in our paperwork as you mention that when you read the documentation you understood that what the dealership told you was different. It is a shame that you did not read what you signed until 4 days after signing and also did not take advantage of asking any questions when we called you to ensure you understood the agreement. I agree that our program can be expensive as we typically deal with consumers that have a higher risk profile, but it is up to the consumer to decide if they should accept the loan. It is frustrating that you feel you have no responsibility that you only read the documents you signed 4 days after signing it when we made every effort to ensure you were explained properly and have the opportunity to ask any questions.

In regard to Equifax reporting, the way the credit bureau works is that it includes all interest, fees and any taxes that you would pay assuming that you do not pay out the loan early (since paying out early provides you with an interest credit). I understand your frustration that this is the way Equifax reporting is conducted but this complaint should be directed towards the policies of Equifax and not with TREND. All we are doing it following their reporting rules.

It seems that most of your complaint is surrounding the structure of our loan but what I am not sure of is what we did wrong. The lease agreement was provided to you in a transparent manner and we called you before we funded the loan to confirm you went through it, understand it and ask any questions that you may have. It seems like you are mad at TREND but the fact of the matter is that we have not hid anything from you. Your lack of responsibility in reading what you signed could have prevented you from entering a loan which you didn’t agree to the structure.