Even ‘no commission’ car salesmen can be shady.
Remember to always check what you are signing or putting your Social Security Number on.
Today, we went in to Ralph Schomp to order the car I’ve wanted for 7 years. I came with a print-out of what I wanted, and knew we would have to order it.
We have a loan secured through a different lending institution and walked in never mentioning that we wanted finance or anything of the sort. As a matter of fact, for almost the entire experience, no one asked us how we were planning to pay, and we did not say.
One of the first things the salesman did was say, “here fill out this form” - one of the first fields was
“Social Security Number”
ALARM BELLS.
I looked at the top, and it said “Application for credit - financing through Schomp”
I said, “I’m not filling this out, I’m not applying for credit.”
“Oh, but we’ll run a credit check on you.
"Um, why?”
“To make sure you are who you say you are.”
“I’ll be happy to prove it to you some other way, I’m not filling out a credit application.”
"You have to.“
"No I don’t.”
“Well, just fill in your name and address.”
I did.
Half an hour later:
Salesman: “Oh, you didn’t sign the back of this.”
- hands me the credit application.
I look at where he wants me to sign.
Underneath a whole paragraph of very fine print that basically sums down to me authorizing a credit check and stating that I am applying for credit, is a line for me to sign titled : “applicant’s signature”.
“I’m not signing this. I am not applying for credit.”
“We won’t use it for that.”
“Well, it’s a legal document, and my signature would authorize you to perform such a check; I’m not signing it.”
He got a little flustered and wouldn’t really speak to me directly after that - only spoke directly to my husband.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t be interested in hearing what rate we can give you?”
Oh here we go! The whole time, he had been trying to trick me into applying for credit, a financing deal.
NOT FUCKING INTERESTED; JUST ORDER MY CAR.
If I hadn’t been vigilant, I would have authorized them to make a hard-inquiry on my credit and given them really personal private information that they had ABSOLUTELY NO RIGHT to ask for.
He went out to pick up a bunch of printouts and as we finished up, muttered, “oh and my manager says not to worry about signing that application.”
TOO RIGHT.
It’s hard to imagine being angrier after walking out of the dealership and ordering my dream car. It’s going to be gorgeous, and I’m trying to focus on the awesome fact that I’ve just ordered a beautiful car. Hard to get over that deceptive lending practices bull shit though.