The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has ordered Toyota Motor Credit Corporation to pay $60 million, after it was found to be illegally preventing consumers from cancelling product bundles that raised their monthly vehicle payments.
“Toyota’s lending arm illegally withheld refunds, made borrowers run through obstacle courses to cancel unwanted services, and tarnished their credit reports,” said CFPB Director Rohit Chopra. “Given the growing burdens of auto loan payments on Americans, we will continue to pursue large auto lenders that cheat their customers.”
The CFPB says that Toyota Motor Credit Corporation, the automaker’s financing company, lied to consumers about whether or not certain product bundles were optional. Lessees and buyers complained to the regulator, saying that dealers added products like Guaranteed Asset Protection (which covers the difference between vehicle value and insurance payout in the event of a crash or theft) and Credit Life and Accidental Health coverage (which pays the remaining value of a vehicle if the customer dies) to their contracts without their knowledge.
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The bundled products cost an average of $700 to $2,500 per loan, adding to U.S. consumers’ monthly payments. Toyota then made it unreasonably difficult to cancel these bundles, and illegally delayed refunds.
The automaker directed unhappy consumers to a “dead-end” hotline, where employees instructed to keep promoting products until they requested to cancel three times. Maddeningly, they were then informed that in order to remove the products from their contracts, they had to submit a written request.
If customers were able to cancel the bundles, they were informed that a refund would be applied to the principal of their loan. Doing this delayed the return of their money until the end of the sale or lease agreement term. In the meantime, their monthly payments were unchanged, which Toyota used to discourage cancellation.
Even if a consumer agreed to this, it didn’t guarantee that they would get their money back. The CFPB reports that Toyota Motor Credit failed to refund prepaid premiums to consumers who had paid off their loan, or ended their lease contract. It also relied on faulty calculations, which resulted in incorrect refunds to consumers who canceled their service agreements.
Finally, Toyota falsely reported customer accounts as delinquent on leased vehicles that had already been returned. It then failed to promptly correct the information, damaging consumers’ credit scores.
As a result, the CFPB has ordered Toyota Motor Credit to pay around $32 million to consumers who did not receive refunds, $9.9 million to customers who tried to cancel but were unable, $52,000 to consumers who were not given accurate refunds, and $12 million in fines. It must also stop its illegal practices.
