No job and no salary was no problem for Pat Callahan when she agreed to buy a $36,000 Ford Expedition.
Callahan, a Homestead retiree on Social Security, says the dealership persuaded her to lie on her credit application by claiming a nonexistent job.
When the finance company phoned to verify the salary, an employee of the dealer answered and pretended to be her boss, she says in a lawsuit.
Callahan got the loan, but lost the car. It was repossessed.
Mortgage brokers aren't the only ones with a propensity to fib on credit applications. Staff in dealerships' finance departments, sometimes with the customer's wink-and-nod consent, have played the same game -- with similar results, according to various auto industry insiders.
And unlike mortgage brokers, they are unregulated by the state, even though they have access to some of your most intimate financial secrets and can make a mess of your credit.
Read the complete story at miamiherald.com
Comments