I have had my truck since April 20th, today (6/2/04) I receive in the mail my first bill from Ford Credit (I financed through them) and before I even have time to take off my shoes and relax, let alone open the envelope, I get a call from Ford Credit telling me that my May payment is overdue and that I now have a late charge. The guy confirms my address, they have it correct. This makes me mad b/c I never received a bill in May so I tell the guy to hang on I'll open up the bill that just arrived. The one that just arrived says I owe two months (its exactly 2X of the monthly I expected) and shows no late charges but mentions that the May payment is overdue. I tell this guy that its crap that I get a late charge b/c I never got the bill and its not even reflected on what I owe according to the latest statement. He says that the address was right and it never got returned to them so I must have received it, basically calling me a liar. So after 15 minutes of arguing they say that if I mail the payment tomorrow they will take off the late charge. This guy was rude as heck and I know I never received that May bill so they must have screwed up. At least they did the right thing in the end and waived that charge. It just seemed suspicious that the bill was exactly two payments and no mention of a late charge on it, seems like they may be aware that the May one was never sent b/c I've never seen anyone spontaneously waive a late charge without an argument. Sorry guys just had to vent! Anyone else have bad experiences with Ford Credit?

 

Creditors can show absolutely no empathy for any situation. I believe that you never received an invoice if it was your first payment. I financed a former vehicle through Ford Motor Credit and always received a monthly invoice. I was even able to skip a payment Christmas time about three years ago. (plus interest) I went through a local credit union (3.6% financing for 60 months) and have them take the money out of my account automatically. Forget bills. I never see my money anyways.

 

I had a few issues with Ford Credit when my truck was in the shop because of an accident and I wasn't sure if it was going to to be repaired or be totaled. (Of course I didn't want to send in a payment for a totaled truck) If you get a rude or uncooperative person, always ask for a supervisor. They either get really nice, really fast or you talk to someone else who can deal with your problem much faster.

As for not getting your bill, thats another story. I never got my electric bill for a month and I completely forgot about it. I started getting notices that my electricity was going to be shut off, so I called them and told them the check was on the way. Even if you don't get your bill, its still your responsibility to pay.

 

Its quite frequent that lending institutions don't board/book the loan, which means you don't get a bill. When they finally get of their butts you get sacked with late charges because of their faults. (Read differently: lenders are way to anxious to close the 'sale' but get lazy when it comes to billing you)

 

Usually when you sign all the paper work they tell you right there, when you first payment is due.
That is weird they did not.

 

I don't always wait for a bill to arrive before I make a payment.

I know they are coming

I know what the 2 phone bills,1 cable Internet/TV bill,1 Natural Gas bill,,Monthly Mortgage/Taxes/Insurance bills are gong to be.

The only ones I don't pre-pay are the cell phone,water/sewer bill because I don't havea clue how much they are going top be.

Can you not sign them up for Direct Payment from your bank account ?

 

plus i have been given two temporary payment stubs and been told to send them if i did not receive a payment book by a certain date

 

I try to never use the direct payment from my account after I was double tapped once. But then I don't even use a debit card. I have seen some strange things happen over the years. My accounts have been closed because the bank put my statement in the wrong postal pre-sort also. There are some protections and rights when you pay with a credit card but you can play hell trying to get your money back from someone if you use a debit card. Don't use debit cards, don't use pay at the pump for gas either. I have been zapped for a gas purchase I never made at a station I never go to but they had my electronic debit and I was never able to get it resolved. Now if they don't have my John Henry I didn't buy it...

Since the bill you got was a double payment with no late charges etc mentioned I would be willing to bet that was the first bill sent. I would write a very nice letter to Ford credit demanding an apology for the treatment given to you by their representative. If ANYTHING like that ever happens again, immediately ask for a supervisor and have them explain the situation and give the underling a butt chewin'.

 

I bought my Explorer on April 28th. I got my first statement on May 25th - it was dated May 13th and showed my first payment was due June 2nd. Seems a little strange you bought only 8 days before me and already owe 2 payments!

 

I never financed thru Ford Credit, but for all my other car purchases (Chrysler Financial, Sun Trust, and Charter) my first payment was never due until about 45 days after the purchase.

 

This has been my experience also, they even said, “the book could be late so here are the first ones.”

 

On your "Vehicle Retail Installment Contract" (you should have signed this when you took possession of your truck) there is a section that says Federal Truth-In-Lending Disclosures. In that section, it specifically lays out the terms of your loan including the starting date of your payments. Mine was approx. 45 days after I took possession of my vehicle (10/19/01- first payment due 12/03/01). Check your paperwork and if necessary, fax it to Ford Credit and demand that they take off any negative information (late/missed payment) that they may have reported to any credit reporting agency.

Ford Credit (as far as I know) no longer issues "payment books"-they just mail you a monthly bill. I've never had any problems with Ford Credit. My payments go to the processing center in Pittsburgh, PA. However, I've heard horror stories about their Atlanta, GA payment center.

 

Along the same lines of what droptop is saying, it's likely that somewhere in the paperwork (probably the fine print) it also states that you are responsible for making the monthly payments whether or nor you get a monthly bill or statment in the mail. The same paragraph probably also includes the monthly figure that is due and an address to send the payment to.

 

The only problem I ever had with Ford Credit was on my 83 F150 I got used about 10 years ago. I paid the loan off on time and about 3 months after I recieved my title and the original loan contract I started recieving nasty letters about late payments. It took several phone calls and a visit to the local office before they discovered thier mistake. They had quoted the wrong payoff but since they had already released the title and the loan they had to write off the balance which was $254. If you are close to a local branch pay them a visit. It was the only way mine was resolved.

 

Thanks for the advice guys, I know I should have caught it in the fine print in my paperwork when the first payment was due but I guess I just assumed that they would mail me a bill (we all know what happens when you assume...) but in the end they took off the late charges and I'm confirming that it will not show up as late on my credit history too. I'm going to set up the direct payment from an account I'll start specifically for that purpose and monitor carefully. Man I just hated being treated like I was some sort of liar trying to scam them, I'm sure they get a lot of that but it made me mad. Come to think of it, they were sort of weird about approving me in the first place, made me jump through some hoops to prove I made enough each month for my payment, even though I had a good credit score. I guess I should have gone through a bank or credit union, live and learn.