We are receiving weird bills to pay a car loan for our 2016 Toyota Camry.

There was nothing wrong with a first statement

Fist bill was mailed to us over a month before the first payment due date. Correct due date, right amount to pay – no questions there.

Second billing statement was missing

We didn’t receive second statement at all. Not sure whom to blame, but there was no bill for a second payment. At my Toyota Financial Services account online I found second statement with no errors.

Statements for April and May are the same

That is where things go strange. There is not a single difference between third and fourth statements except statement date. That is simply unacceptable. On both statements the date of last transaction, monthly payments made, outstanding balances and most of all Payment Due Dates are identical. Two previous payments were submitted on time and there is no past due amount.
Practically, it could be a similarity in the billing statements if you, let say, already “prepaid” for the month ahead and the next bill wasn’t issued yet. But then payment due date must change. In case you late one day with a payment, you have a past due payment amount, but no way everything is the same.

Back to the point

After the very first bill, I registered account at Toyotafinancial where it is easy to check what is going on with payments and balances. Actual payments for our 2016 Toyota Camry I make from my checking account. Paper statements I keep just not to forget about approaching bill I have to pay. Theoretically, it is minor errors and misunderstandings for me, but for people who typically wait for actual bill to make a future car loan payment, it is a huge deal.
After such experience from the very beginning, I wouldn’t rely on billing statements received by mail. Now, I’m considering set up automatic payments from my personal account just to make sure not to skip any bills I have to pay.

Just from my experience

Back in 2007 I got a car loan from State Farm Bank. I received a book with sixty bills. Each one has an amount and due day I have to submit the payment over the next five years. The interest rate to finance my used car was 7.5%. $10,000 borrowed I paid off in 14 months and saved over $2,000 on interest charges. I didn’t have online account and mailed checks. Over a year I didn’t have a single issue with billing statements.
In 2016 I bought a new car. 0% financing doesn’t drive me to pay off outstanding balance earlier. After four bills two “glitches” I found out. Online bill payments saved me from missing actual payments – two from the first four… Well, hope internet will save me from missing next 56.