| City Loan |
| City Loan Long Beach Office Impounded car. Charged $400 for impound fee. Ripped Off. Harrassed. Long Beach, California |
| 2nd of May, 2011 by User663999 |
I applied for an auto title loan with City Loan Long Beach Office. They requested i do the loan out of their Huntington Park remote office. I get there on a Friday afternoon, doors locked? Some guy comes out of the back of the building and asks if he can help me? The guy appears to live in a small house attached to the building? I ask for Saul. This is who they told me to ask for upon arriving. They guy calls him on a cell phone and hands me the phone. Saul on the line now says. i'm running errands and i'll be back in about 15 minutes. Asks me to wait. He arrives, goes around back through the house and unlocks the front door to the business? He lets me in. Five offices large car showroom all empty, two vintage classic cars, four empty offices, one office with a PC, printer, phone, radio, and other misc. things? He asks to check out my car. Its a 2005 Black Nissan Altima, sunroof, good stereo system and speakers, very good paint job, clean looking vehicle. Says he likes it. How much do i want to borrow hew asks me. The minimum i tell him. I say i need only about $1000.00 for some expenses. We go inside and begin the paperwork. Close to 5:00pm he says we need to work fast in order to get a check written to me that day, being friday. After looking over the requested documents which are Insurance Verification (full coverage), proof of employment, Drivers license, utility bill, and a couple other documents. All appears to be ok. He calls my insurance agent and asks to have City Loan named as the
the "loss Payee" on the policy. Isurance agent says cant make any policy changes over the phone due to security issues. Loan guy says, "but i do this all the time, every day?" Insurance agent asks that either "me" or "my wife" go into the office and they'll make the change. Loan guy says, we cant process the loan today due to the "loss Payee" issue with the insurance.
So all together i have two issues that need to be addressed that are holding up the loan. First is the insurance "loss Payee" issue, and also i need to locate the spare key. I could not find it that day. Insurance papers i provided him are current and show "full coverage". (important)! City Loan says come back tomorrow and well do the loan? I ask him "On Saturday"? he says yes we are open on Saturdays. He then says i have 5 days to complete both pending issues. I go back there Saturday afternoon with my 3 year old son this time. Again, the middle of the day, office is closed and locked after he said theyd be open? Creepy guy from the back house comes out again and asks if he can help us. I say HI it's me again looking for Saul. remember me? He stares at me like i'm crazy and asks "who are you"? I say, i borrowed your phone yesterday, remember? Long stare again? He says he dont know where Saul is and goes back to his room? Strange again! My son and I walk across the street to McDonalds to get some lunch and wait to see if Saul shows up. 15 minutes later, Saul shows up. Goes vround the back and unlocks the door again from the inside. We go to his office and he gets on the phone with someone. Says loudly, "its ok to give him the check today, regardless of pending documents and spare key. He prints out the check with my name on it, sets it on the desk directly in front of me, and starts handing me papers to inititalize and sign. While still on the phone he says loudly "were doing the paperwork quickly, we should be done in about 15 minutes, again stating they have to close shortly and if i want the check that day i'd have to sign the papers quickly or i might have to wait until Monday for the check. Saul knowing full welll the purpose of the check and the urgency to have the funds prior to Sunday was extremely important, rushes me through the paperwork. And says get bacck to him within five days with the spare key and the Loss payee insurance change. On monday i go to my insurance agents office to change the loss payee and they inform me that my wife had just recently took my vehicle off "full coverage" and i only had "liability". She did this because we had just paid off the car a couple months prior, in order to save some money. She didnt tell me she had already done it, but we had discussed it and agreed to do that at some time. Insurance says we need to put the coverage back to to "full" in order to name City Loan as the loss payee. Tuesday i call Saul and tell him what they said. He says he will call corporate office and see what they say. He'll get back to me. Wednesday i drive into Huntington Park Office and take the spare key to Saul. Only thing pending is the Loss payee change to the insurance. Saul tells me that if i dont get the full coverage reinstated by friday, they'll "force" the insurance on the car, and i'll have to pay for it. Due to rates increase and lack of funds to change the policy back to full coverage. I call Saul on Saturday morning and tell him, i couldnt get the insurace changed and tell him to have them force the insurance, i have no other way at the time. he says ok. I never recieved any copies of the documents so i ask for them. he says he'll get them and get back to me. I hear nothing from him. The following Monday, i get no answer and i leave two separate messages. Tuesday i call him and get a hold of him. First thing i tell him is that i had a payment due on Sunday? I tell him that i called the office to ask how i make the payment since theyre closed. He says i make it at Wells Fargo Bank? i say, theyre also closed on sunday. He says City Bank can set me up like an ATM card and i can make deposits any day of the week? i tell him i was never informed of that or any other way to make payments? during that phone call i ask him if its ok that i make my first payment on Thursday and everything following that payment should be on time provided they set me up a ATM deposit card like they said.
He said ok, no problem. He asks me to call the Long Beach office and just let them know that i had called it in to him and everything was ok. Like a courtesy call just to keep them informed. Some girl named Erica gets on the phone and rudely starts telling me that i only have liability insurance and she's giving me until 5:00pm that day to get full coverage or she'll have my car re-possesed. I tell he that i already spoke with Saul and Tabitha and the resolution was to be that if i couldnt pay for the additional coverage they would since they were responsible for giving me the loan pre-maturely, which was what they said. She says she dont care who i spoke to, i was speaking to her now and she's gonna be nice. She decided to give he until "about" noon the following day to get the insurance. She says it does not matter even if City Loan forces the insurace, i would still have to go out and get my own full coverage because the insurance they get onlty protects them and not me. I tol;d her that i already have to the state law required liability insurance. She says both them and i also must have my own full coverage. I tell her that Tabitha said they would work with me since they were at fault. She gets angry and in a frustrated voice says, "that's it", get it by about noon tomorrow and that's it. She never said what the circumstance would be, but gave me that deadline and hung up on me. Very rude! In sort of shock, trying to gather what just happened, i'm stunned. I manage to come up with some money to get my insurance changed back to full coverage. I arrive at my insurance agents office about 11:15am. We start going over policies and options to provide me the best possible rate. After nearly completing the paperwork for the new policy, (prior to noontime") my insurace agent calls City Loan and asks them where to fax the verification papers for Tony Garcia and gives them the loan # etc...She states that she's calling it in, and the papers were to be faxed in just a few minutes. City Loan says ok. All that's left is for us to walk outside and take the required pictures of the vehicle. We walk outside and my car is gone. Even though we had just called in, and were about to fax the papers. City Loan had my car re-posseed from the parking lot of my insurance company while i was completing the insurance paperwork that they themselves had requested!!! I had just dropped off my three year old son at day care so my childs car seat was in the car, my two cell phones were in the car. My son's baseball bag with his glove, bat, and all his gear were in the car since he had a game that afternoon. and several other misc important things i kee with me in my car. I was left there with absolutely nothing. Not even a phone. My insurance agent was baffled by what they did. I was angry, in shock, confused, etc... I call them from the insurance office and very rudely they tell me , Yes we repossesed your car because you didnt make the noon deadline with the insurance. I say yes i did. You repossesed the car from the parking lot of my insurance company while we were completing the paperwork for the coverage you requested. The guy hangs up on me. i call back even more pissed off, and he hangs up on me again. He tells me i need to calm down, and asks why im so angry, i brought all this on myself!/!?? He says to get down there to the Long Beach office as soon as possible and we'll see what we can do to get the car back. However he says, your car wont be here until tomorrow at the earliest. I tell him you just took it 20 minutes ago. He saus we dont know where the car is. I tell him what!
You have lo jack on it, and you had no trouble finding it at my insurance company parking lot just a few minutes ago and you dont know where its at?? After 2 hours waiting outside for a ride, my friend shows up and we drive straight to the Long Beach Office. Upon arriving, my car is sitting right in front of the front door to the office. that girl Erica comes out and rude as ever says can i help you? I tell her to get the manager or someone higher up. she says thats me. She doesnt come across as a person in charge but anyways i explain that she had the car re-possesed from the parking lot of the insurance company while i was obtaining the coverage she asked me to get. With a smurk she says, you didnt have it to me by noon, sorry. I tell her id like my vehicle returned asap. She says that will be $538.67 $400 dollars for the impound, and $138.67 for my first payment that was due on Sunday. The one that was impossible to make since theyre offices were closed and so was the bank. the payment that i had already called in to both Saul and Erica about paying it Thursday, and they both approved. I couldn't believe the BS that was happening and getting worse. The repo guy Ignacio pops his head out and says whats the problem? He asks that we step outside, or leave the premises. I had a few words for ignacio since he was just their to instigate and upset us more. Ignacio says your car wont be here til tomorrow. i tell him for the second time, my car is right there outside the door, he goes ohhh. The next day i show up their about noon with the money to get my car out. After several more insurance verification checks by a another lady in the office, she finally releases the car to me. only after some guy drives it to the back into some warehouse, who knows what they did!! They tell me i need to call a phone number to retrieve mt personal property i ask them why did they relocate my property. All they give me is a number. no directions. I ask them again for directions to where my stuff is and the refuse. I'm told on the phone some directions without an address. Needle in a haystack. I end up down on the docks in Long Beach on some berth where yachts are parked. No address on any buildings. After asking several people i find out the adress or location given to me doesnt exist. After asking several more people, i'm directed to a window on the side of some building with compeltely tinted glass. no other identification? Some guys voice comes out and says "Are you Tony Garcia"? Creepy! I respond yes, i'm looking for my property. He says that'll be $45. I'm like what? I just paid $538.67 at City Loan. Here's the receipt. He says they have nothing to do with city loan, they are strictly the repo company they use to impound cars ansd store property. About ready to blow my lid, i hand they guy $45. He gives me a receipt with some other San Pedro address on the receipt. I say "where's my things?" He says just a moment. Then some african american gentleman looking very much like a street thug comes out the back with my childs car seat, and what appears to be a large cement bag, made of thick brown paper, still dirty from whatever it was used for. All my personal items, paperwork, CD's, cell phones, all my other personal things, all thrown into this bag. All paperwork mixed up etc. A complete disaster...The cover for my passeneger side tail light of my car broken. I take a few pictures , put everything in the trunk af the car and just want to get the hell out of there. While trying to find my way out of wherever i was, i get a call from my mom. She says City Loan is threatening to reposses the car again because the insurance company says they dont have the pictures of my car. That what we were going outside to do at the insurance company when they re-possesed the car. They got to be kidding!! She tells them that and they still continue to call threatening to take the car again. I havent even been home yet and after three hours just barely retrieved my property from some underground storage facility. I was on the freeway trying to get back to the insurance company to complete the pictures and finish the new policy, that we never got to finish due to them taking the car. My mom calls again and says City Loan want to reposses the vehicle because im not answering my cell phone and they cant contact me. Both of my cell phones were in the car when they re-possesed it so how can i answer theyre calls!! I even told them this right after they took the vehicle. Thats the number my wife and kids also have to conttact me in case of an emergency. They called about 5 times that day. begginning about an hour after i picked up my vehicle. Harrassing not only my mother , but other referrances from the paperwork. Yesterday i get a certified letter from the post office. It's a letter stating that they are going to dispose of my vehicle at an auction on May 13th. They let me know how much they get for my car and send methe difference if any after all money that i owe them and anyone else under the agreement. It says not to expect anything. They basically are aying they now own my car and are going to dispose of it on or around May 13th! Obviously they didnt expect for me to come up with the $538.67 to retrieve my vehicle the next day.
Thankfully i have family that is pretty well off. Enough to step up and help me with the criminals i'm dealing with. This is a nightmare and it's still not over. The harrassing phone calls continue along with threats. I have full intention of suing these criminals. This entire operation appears to be fraudulent. Locked doors during business hours. Personal proeprty stored on a berth, dock, or whatever that place was. Or a tinted window with a voice coming from it. Repossing my vehicle for apparently not meeting an insurance deadline. I had been driving like that for nearly two weeks. They reposses the car from the parking lot of my insurance company while obtaining the additional coverage they asked for!!! Then charging me the $400 impound fee along with my first payment that i had called and made arrangements for with two different people in the office and get approved. My personal things taken down to a dock in the marina without an address, and the people being so secretive they hide behind a tinted glass window so they cannot be identified. This is just the beginning. If anyone can refer me to a good attorney in California that deals with this type of thing please refer me. These people are criminals and need to be stopped. They prey on lower than average people that do not have the resources to recover. They are in Huntington Park because they prey on poor undocumented people that are too intimidated to contact authorities for fear of being deported or dont have the money sitting around to pay a $400 impound fee. If people had this type of money, they wouldnt be going to these losers as a last resort 110% interest auto title loan. Most probably just give up their vehicles and take it as a loss. City Loan sells their vehicle, property, and pocket the money. Dont do business with these criminals. They'll stop at nothing to steal from you. If they re-possesed my car from my insurance company parlking lot, they'll do anything. Beware! |
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