Uncle Sam Is Watching

Yesterday we received a package from the dealership where we recently bought our car. They had called and told my husband that the “date” had to be corrected on the forms we signed so they needed new forms.

Upon reviewing the documents, I noticed they had sent us the credit application for dealership financing that we did not use. I had called the afternoon that we were going to pick the car up and asked if they needed to process our credit since we were going to finance part of the costs of the car through our own bank and pay cash for the rest. The answer was no.

I was a little surprised to see the dealership finance forms that we filled out (but not signed) with the line “sign here” highlighted for us to sign. I called the dealership and spoke with the woman who had sent us the forms. She told me that they had processed our credit because the government database that they were supposed to check to make sure we weren’t terrorists was down when we went to pick up the car.

Uh, what was that? Apparently when you pay cash (even though ours was partly financed through our bank) they have a database they have to check to make sure your name is not on the terrorist list.

That was news to me. Our bank was kind enough to deposit the funds they loaned us directly into our checking account so we could pay by personal check but apparently that caused a red flag to go up even though the bank is listed as a lien holder on our title by the dealership.

In re-reading through the form we initially filled out for financing (but didn’t sign) I noticed that we would not only be signing to give them permission to run our credit (which we hadn’t) but also for them to contact us through whatever means they chose even if WE incurred costs.

I explained to the finance woman that I did not feel comfortable signing this form as I did not consent for them to check our credit nor did I want them to contact me later. The woman said that they had to check our credit instead of the government database because the credit agencies check the same information and they can then state that they ran the background check.

At this point, I told the woman that she could run our name through the government database now instead of my having to sign a form that I didn’t agree with.

Then, the strangest thing happened … the finance woman told me that they had already run our name in the government database and we were not on their terrorist list so everything was okay. So now, she said, I didn’t need to sign the form.

Frankly, what I believe happened is they ran our credit without permission and now needed to get permission to do it.

How odd.

Anyway, I’ll be returning the forms tomorrow with the finance forms unsigned.

Did you know that the government requires the dealerships in the state of Minnesota to check your background on their database in case you’re a terrorist? Further, the credit agencies also check the same database on you.

I wonder if this applies every time you sign up for a new credit card also? What else could it possibly apply to?

Uncle Sam is indeed watching …

 

 

 

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