E-Loan - My Mildly Disturbing Experience
Written: Aug 31 '00
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Okay - heres the story:
Yesterday I am driving along and listening to all the car ads on the radio and it strikes me that tomorrow (today) is the last day of the month and this is the end of the model year, so it would be a REALLY great day to buy that new car that my husband and I have been discussing getting for the last month or two.
I get home and check out consumer reports online and Epinions (of course) and get some ideas of what I am interested in. I call some dealerships to inquire about the end-of-model-year deals they have for these models, especially any great financing deals. Unfortunately, most of them just had discounts on the cars and nothing real great for financing. The Toyota place told me that their financing varied from 9.5% up to 20% or more. He suggested I call my bank to see what rates they have.
So I call them and they quote me 8.5% for up to 60 months and 8.75 for 72 months. I remembered that I had seen some online financing places in my internet searches that day so I decided to check them out.
I go to E-Loan and fill out what I thought was just sort of a preliminary "lets see what you qualify for" kind of application. I have to say the application was very easy and quick and they had a neat online calculator so you could find out monthly payments for different amounts for different periods. So I submit the application after checking the box telling them that I needed the information within 72 hours.
I had input all my husbands information as the primary lender with my own as secondary since he is the primary breadwinner in the house. I had not yet told him of my sudden brainstorm that afternoon about getting a new car yet. I was going to discuss it over dinner that night. I knew he would be fine with it since we would be trading in his piece of junk that he hated - lol.
So, I wait patiently for an e-mail from them telling me if I was approved or not.
Meanwhile, my husband gets a call at work from someone at eLoan telling him that he was approved etc and he tells them he has NO idea what they are talking about and to cancel the whole thing.
He gets home and I tell him my idea for a new car and he asks if I applied for a loan or something (he did not really realize even who they were when they called him) and I told him yes and he said they had called him and he had cancelled it. Well - I figure I will wait for an e-mail from them which I get telling me that the loan is approved for $15,000 (I think I had asked for $12,000 in the application) and that I can call XXX if I have any questions.
So, this morning I call them first thing and I find out that the loan had NEVER been canceled and that they had already SENT THE CHECK the previous afternoon!!!!!!! I asked her why would they do that when my husband told them to cancel it and that I had never even responded to tell them I even wanted the loan. I am nearly sure they charge $12 for the overnight check mailing and I never authorized that. She said that since I had put in the application that I needed the money within 72 hours, they go ahead and mail it as soon as its approved.
Well, this afternoon around 3:00 I still had not gotten the check so I figured the lady I spoke with in the morning had made a mistake. I called back and was still not able to speak with the woman whose name was on the e-mail that was sent to me (in the morning I was told that she was not in yet), but this woman told me that they send the checks Airborne Express and it will be here by 6:00 and would not need to even be signed for when it was delivered.
Well - I had to get over to the dealership to finalize my deal when the check had still not gotten here by 5:00. My husband got home at 6:30 and the envelope was there right on our front porch.
I DO have to say that this whole thing ended up working out great for us even though it was handled quite poorly. We got a very good rate (7.58%) and we got the check when we needed it to complete the sale. I do wish I had personally had more say in the matter as a personal courtesy, but it worked out well.
I do still feel that they SHOULD make sure you want the loan before they take $12 from you to mail the check. I think they also should confirm the amount before sending you the check although they do have a space on the draft where you can make it out for less if you don't need that much. They also should have really NEVER sent that check after my husband told them to cancel the whole thing. That is simply unprofessional.
I guess in summary, if you are need of fast cash and a good rate and you only want to go one place, then eLoan is for you. It was an easy application, fast approval and fast access to the money. Their method of business is less then desirable though.
Recommended:
No
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About the Author
Member: Allison
Reviews written: 45
Trusted by: 135 members
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