Is this illegal?

What is the name of your state? ME

I bought a car 4 1/2 years ago. It should have been paid off in June 2002. I called in March to get the payoff and was told I had missed 15!!!!! payments. I never received anything saying I was late of missing payments during those 4 years. No calls...Nothing...

Issues:
(this isn't everything-there's more)

-Two weeks after I bought the car they called us back in to resign papers. A year later they said they lost the paperwork and sent me new paperwork that had incorrect dates.

-They hold onto the checks I send in for months at a time.

-There address changed and they didn't notify me. I found out of the address change a year later from the post office.

-When I called for my payoff I asked them to send me my payment history. I had to request it three times before I received it. (took about three months)

I gues my biggest question is... Are they legally obligated to notify me of a missing payment? Can they wait until the end of a contract? I contacted Consumer protection but they haven't been much help.

What should I do?????????????

Thanks,
Carole

[Ladynred]

1 - Do you have copies of the papers you signed originally and do you have copies of the papers they asked you to sign later ???

2 - Holding onto checks - I'd have to check this, but I believe that by law (Fair Credit Billing Act) they MUST post your payments when they are received or within a certain time frame. They CANNOT hold onto your payments and not post them for months at a time.

3 - Not telling you of the change of address isn't illegal, credit card companies do it all the time. All they do is send you a new payment envelope with their new address and if you don't check that ( and who does ?) then your payments get delayed and they tack on late fees.. its a nasty tactic and they are allowed to get away with it !!

4 - Do you have copies of your cancelled checks for the payments they claim you missed ??? If not, I'd start calling the bank and get copies ASAP. If you can prove you made the payments and that they received and cashed them, then they have some explaining to do !

5 - What did the itemized statement they sent you show ? You'll have to dispute that with any records you have.

Are they legally obligated to notify you of a missing payment ? I don't think so, though it most certainly is strange that they didn't. They usually make a HUGE noise if you miss payments and start threatening you with repossesion !!