Legal Question in Consumer Law in Virginia

Re: Breach of contract with car dealer

One caveat: you assume that "the contract, legally, states that I am in the right"; this may or may not be true - remember contracts from car dealers, realtors, and others who depend on written contracts for their business write in highly technical language, which is deceptive because it looks just like English. I don't know what your contract says, and I can't rely on your assumption. My first suggestion is to get another lawyer - interview two or three. There's at least four ways to go on this one: First, you've probably already got a binding contract at 22% so you may be able to safely ignore the dealer. Second, changing the rate like that may be a violation of federal regulations regarding disclosure of interest rates in consumer loans. Third, if they don't need your spouse because of her income, but are simply using that as a dodge, that may be a violation of federal sex-discrimination laws. Fourth, there's probably at least one violation of the Virginia Consumer Protection Act involved. And most of that doesn't depend on whether you've got an enforceable contract. I suspect that what's happening is that your contract says that something special will apply if the dealer is unsuccessful in locating financing on your behalf. You're saying its a "no-go", the dealer is saying they've got the right to try again. My suggestion is that you go to a few banks and try to finance it yourself. Take them the contract and see what they'll do. Dealers usually charge a couple of percentage points in extra interest for the service of arranging financing, and you can do better, usually on your own. 22% sounds awfully high to me.