My silver Silverado just turned 12 model years old. More than time, the miles pushed her past middle age. Couple that with our retirement move back to a one-car household, and, well my Silverado went on the sales block.
I found a buyer quicker than expected.
So, this morning I made the arrangements to get in our safe deposit box to fetch the truck’s title. Only the title wasn’t where it should have been. I went back to the bank and brought home everything in the box, all the papers from when we bought the house, assorted insurance policies, copies of our birth certificates and Wills, plus the Marriage Certificate and, well, you get the idea. Still no title.
Atop the file cabinet in the basement filled with pretty important stuff we had a stack of papers. I found the truck title there.
Then, I remembered: when we bought the truck we got 0% financing from General Motors Acceptance Corporation. Yet, GMAC died in the great recession and the payments thence went to the new (federally funded) successor, Ally Financial. But Ally tended to downplay its GMAC roots. I had pulled the title from the safe deposit box years ago I expecting the Lien removal letter to arrive (so I could attach it to the title)…I couldn’t find that Lien removal letter. I thought it was misplaced while my wife wondered if we ever got it.
After a quick visit to the Philippines, I got tossed to a customer service representative who explained that I had called the wrong number. I mentioned I called the number the truck’s dealer gave me. The rep was not impressed.
Half an hour later I got to woman who couldn’t access the loan but promised to forward my information to “research.” They would have an answer for me in “two to three” business days if I had a fax or about two weeks if they used snail mail. (For some reason an e-mail with a PDF isn’t possible.)
While on hold on the phone I recalled my first car loan, way back in 1979. I walked into a bank lobby, then spoke with a nice gentleman who looked at my papers and asked a few questions. He then handed me off to a perky young miss who typed in a form faster than I could answer the questions. In less than a lunch hour I had my loan. Three years later (the day they received my last payment) that gentleman called me and asked if I wanted them to mail me the clear title, or, would I be stopping by? He appreciated my business and explained that as an ‘established’ customer they would love to help me with my next car or house or boat.
Yes, you can now buy a car and get a loan through ‘contactless’ exchanges over a cell phone. Getting credit no longer means wearing a nice suit for the trip to the bank, which, obviously, is a good thing for most folks.
Still, as I wait for “research” to get in touch, I miss a world where a kindly gentleman and his assistant took care of a customer. I have no doubt they never forgot to remove a Lien. I have doubts about the people in “research.”
Glenn