SoapZone Community Message Board

Associated Bank if it is within their ability to (not) do so.

I have my car loan through AB. I've made 8 payments so far...6 of them have caused me hassle and grief. The latest was this weekend. My January payment was due yesterday, which was, of course, a holiday here in the US. Starting on Saturday, I attempted to pay online as I'd done for some previous payments. A brief history: I sent a check via mail for the first payment and when I got my next bill claiming I owned them two month's payment, despite my personal bank telling me AB cashed my first check on June 1 (15 days after it was due and 23 days after it was mailed), I was forced to call and straighten them out. Despite my check being written and mailed well before the due date, I grudgingly paid the late fee because there was no way to prove whose fault it was that they didn't receive my check on time (though in the old days, it went by the date on the check...). I paid the third payment over the phone and had issues with the automated system not understanding the numbers I was giving them, despite me speaking in as robotic and distinct voice as possible, which resulted in me getting transferred over to a representative who was surly about having to actually talk to me, but I was able to make a payment. After that, I set up an online account where I could make a one time payment. I have to say, while it may be right for other people, I am leery of having any kind of payment that is automatically taken out of my checking account every month. I have terrible luck in general with tech, and Dad was an IBM repairman for years and has all sorts of horror stories of machines gone wrong <g>.

After switching to the online system, payment #4 was pretty seamless...though no less time consuming for me than writing out a check and mailing it (I did save a stamp though, so there's that). So I don't consider payment #4 "hassle-free" considering how long it took to set up my online account. Payment #5 caused a bit of a stumble because they'd changed their layout of their webpage and it took me far longer than it should've to find the drop down menu where I could select "auto finance" for what I wanted to do that day. Payment #6 and 7 went OK...

And then came payment #8. For three days over the weekend, I tried to make my payment online. First I had to reset my password, which was fine; it annoys me to constantly have to change a password but I appreciate the attempt at added security. Once I successfully reset my password, I went through the steps to make a one-time payment but nothing happened when I clicked "submit payment". The box wasn't even bolded like it should be. I also noticed there was nothing in the web address to assure me I was on a secure site. I tried several times on Saturday and Sunday to make a payment, with the same results, then on Monday, it wouldn't even let me continue to the next page after I clicked on "pay now". I just got an error message.

I called this morning and was able to make my payment, AND I was told there'd be no late fee this time, because there's a grace period. I got the impression that if I habitually paid a day or two late, there'd be no grace period.

Two things...first, it's almost impossible to contact AB to register a complaint. And second, if you Google reviews for AB, you'll see many, many, MANY complaints. A number of reviewers at the one third-party site I was on gave AB one star out of five and then mentioned if NO stars was an option, they would've gone with that. The three most repeated complaints were...surly customer representatives, an inability to contact AB without having to call and constantly getting locked out of, or being unable to use, the online portal.

I've talked this over with Dad and he has very graciously agreed to let me pay off my loan next month with funds in a joint savings account we have, which I would then pay back in monthly installments. I've not contributed a cent to this fund but Dad put my name on it after Mom died so I would have immediate access to funds when it came time to bury him. Interestingly, I asked the customer service rep today (who wasn't quite surly but was also clearly reading from a script and not interested in going off script and answering a bunch of questions) to have AB send me a final bill and she told me to just call next month and make the payment over the phone. Which...I know how much is left in the principal of the loan but I don't know if AB would let me pay just that or would want to tack on interest anyways. I still get a paper bill every month, and unlike my last car loan (which was back in the early 2010s), there's no place on my bill stating how much you'd pay if you wished to pay it off *sigh*.