NMAC warning: Check your statements!

[Nubo]

So, I'm leasing and signed up the first month for automatic payments. Worry-free, right?

Not so.

Yesterday I got a call at work, beginning with "this call is pursuant to collection of debt.... your account is delinquent by....."

And I was saying "Whoa! hold on, I am on automatic payment and it has never failed"!

Well, apparently the monthly cost increased at some point due to sales taxes and a few dollars was added to the monthly amount.

Yeah, ok. So why did you not collect the new amount?

"Sir! When you signed up you authorized, $xxx.xx monthly and you need to change this because you are delinquent... etc. etc."

So, unlike every other automatic payment, Nissan can't collect the amount OWED. And seemingly, neither are they capable of calling attention to the matter or (I don't know...) maybe sending a BILL, before the account is judged "delinquent"?

"Sir! You should be checking your statements which are available online.... blah blah blah"

No, I'm sorry. I signed up for automatic payments because I didn't want to be bothered with statements. Every month you send me 2 emails. One to let me know the payment was processed, the other to let me know my statement is "available", and that the amount due will be automatically payed". You lied?

So I'm really P.O.d at this point for being treated like a child/deadbeat.

"Sir! you must pay the past due amount immediately, you can log on to your account... blah blah blah."

Yes I suppose I have to take care of Nissan's inadequacies. No problem I'll do it right away.

"Sir! Now I must read you this legal notice...."

CLICK.

Then, the icing on the cake. A $12.95 "convenience fee" for paying off this $50 "delinquency".

Nissan, are you kidding me!!! :evil:

So, Word if you have a lease. Check your "available statement" from time to time. You never know when your automatic payment has left you "delinquent".

You know I like the car. But for anything to do with I.T. or customer interaction Nissan are a bunch of asshats.

 

[TonyWilliams]

NMAC = Near Mid Air Collision

 

[Weatherman]

US Bank is no different with my Volt lease. After having some problems with them, I went back and read the contract and it basically says they can charge me any kind of late, returned check, etc. fee, regardless of whether they were at fault or I was at fault. I'd rank both of them barely above Comcast in terms of quality of customer service.

I watch both my NMAC and US Bank accounts very closely to make sure they don't do something stupid.

 

[smkettner]

Well, apparently the monthly cost increased at some point due to sales taxes and a few dollars was added to the monthly amount.

The contract allows Nissan to change the aquisition agreement?
Seems like if the dealer made an error, dealer can eat the difference.

I don't think there is any recourse on a purchase. Why would a lease leave you open to this?

 

[davewill]

The contract allows Nissan to change the aquisition agreement?
Seems like if the dealer made an error, dealer can eat the difference.

I don't think there is any recourse on a purchase. Why would a lease leave you open to this?

In CA, they collect sales tax on the lease payments, so when the sales tax rate changes, so does your payment.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I have the same in that my auto thru my bank has no option to pay the balance due only a set amount which is why only Nissan and my rent is paid thru the bank. Everything else by credit card which does have that ability

 

[Bicster]

There is a simple answer for this. They want to collect fees.

Why do you think credit card payments are almost always due on a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday?

Ridiculous... Thanks for sharing, OP. I guess in states where the sales tax is collected on the entire cap cost of the vehicle (e.g., Texas) the lease payment should never change?

 

[smkettner]

I think I would have had the person cancel my on line payments and go back to paper.

 

[Nubo]

I have the same in that my auto thru my bank has no option to pay the balance due only a set amount which is why only Nissan and my rent is paid thru the bank. Everything else by credit card which does have that ability

My mortgage payments are paid directly from my account, and the amount does change from time to time based on property tax assessments, escrow overages etc..., requiring no interaction on my part. However they do have the common courtesy to notify me when the amount is about to change.

 

[Bicster]

I always prefer to "push" payments rather than allow payments to be "pulled" from my accounts, for various reasons.

Maybe your bank's bill pay service can auto pay the lease based on the amount due? Provided they don't charge extra...

 

[MrIanB]

That's is why I don't let any merchant, loan, membership auto draft from my account.

Ian B

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

I always prefer to "push" payments rather than allow payments to be "pulled" from my accounts, for various reasons.

Ditto.
And unless they're going to give me some perk I make people keep right on mailing me paper statements. Further proof that not all EVers are environmentalists.

 

[CarmineMac]

I'm only one payment in, and I'm already mind-blown by NMAC's stupidity, their fee-foisting and their terrible website.

It all began when I received a form in the mail to sign up for Signature DirectPay, filled it out and returned it. I later registered on the nissanfinance.com site. The site showed that my next payment was scheduled for January XX, its due date. The story should have ended there (and has with basically any other institution I've dealt with).

The due date came and went, without the payment being deducted. I caught on when I received an email saying that my statement for February was ready and that it was double my normal payment. I also arrive at work today to a message from my boss that Nissan called for me. Nice of them to call my job first, without calling my phone at all. I called and got forwarded to someone who was preceded by a message that went something like "This is related to the collection of a debt..." I asked if this was due to the payment not being sent for Jan. It was. I asked if the February payment was set to be paid automatically. The response was a dismissive "Yes," obviously with no concern for whether that was true or not. So, I asked if I could pay the January payment over the phone. I get transferred to the automated system which accepts only very specific types of cards and charges a $12 fee per payment! Even to pay by electronic check, which I eventually did, costs $5 and takes up to 3 business days to post to your account.

I logged back into the website to see what was up with my auto-pay. My "next payment" was still scheduled for January XX, the past! I was not confident that the auto-pay would ever advance to February. The link under that payment info read "Click to cancel this payment." I clicked it, so that I could hopefully set up the proper next payment. I got an instant email that basically said "Thanks for canceling your Signature DirectPay forever." There was a number to call "if you did this by accident," but of course it was closed for the day. I went to the bank info section on the site and entered it, in order to try to re-establish auto-pay, unfortunately it takes 5 business days to verify!

I'm shocked that in 2014, we have millions of businesses that accept debit, credit, paypal, bitcoin, etc. instantly, on the drop of a dime (pun intended) with no fuss, but that NMAC has the most unfriendly, unaccomodating, slow, fee-riddled mess of a payment system. It's amazing how hard they make it to give them my money! I've never leased before, and this experience is more than enough for me to never want to lease again.

 

[Nubo]

Nice of them to call my job first, without calling my phone at all.

Seems to be their standard operating procedure. Nothing like pissing off a good customer right off the bat.