Consumer complaint received 2022-04-29
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: FL
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan
Sub-issue: Lender trying to repossess or disable the vehicle

Complaint:
Account with Suntrust since XX/XX/XXXX and monthly payments were consistent through XX/XX/XXXX and that payment was missed. XX/XX/XXXX made partial payment for XX/XX/XXXX with contact made to Suntrust regarding financial difficulty with pandemic. On XX/XX/XXXX the car was repossessed by Truist who had just taken over the account. I made payment of XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX to redeem the vehicle and deferral application submitted and approved on that day for a 90 day deferral on payment. The next payment would be XX/XX/XXXX. I received email from Truist in XX/XX/XXXX stating my account was XXXX past due and on my credit report it indicates they only deferred XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX payments which is 60 and not the 90 days that it should have been. I tried to log in online to my Suntrust account to make a payment only to find Suntrust website was taken down and therefore I could not contact anyone or even get a record of my account number of past statement. On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from Truist indicating that a new account number would be assigned within the next 1-2 months and that I should wait to hear back from them regarding my new account or loan number. Without the loan number I was not able to register online with Truist, nor get through on the telephone to talk to a live person without the loan number. On XX/XX/XXXX my car ( a limited edition collector item ) was again repossessed. I struggled that day in attempt to get in contact wiht someone via telephone and even after bypassing the loan number information there would be a 60+ minute wait time and i could leave a message to get a call back. I never received a call back. I then went online in attempt to register with Truist despite not having any of my account information. I was able to get access after a few hours and found that there was one statement online dated XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$3700.00} due by XX/XX/XXXX and if not paid by XX/XX/XXXX it would incur a late charge. I then submitted direct payment in the amount of {$8700.00} which posted on XX/XX/XXXX. I also at that time submitted another deferral request and was granted another 90 day deferral on my account. The current statemetn indicates that account is paid and that the next payment is not due until XX/XX/XXXX. At the end of the day on XX/XX/XXXX I was finally able to talk to a Truist representative ( after being transferred 7-8 times to incorrect departments ) and I was told that nothing in my online account mattered, and that my {$8700.00} payment also did not matter because they repossessed the car and they would not be releasing it back to me unless I paid the full loan amount within the next 7 days. Otherwise it would go to auction. She indicated that I must wire to Truist {$78000.00} in order to get my car back. She was not certain regarding the pay off amount because she said the amount she was looking at did not reflect my recent payment. I inquired about the fact I have not received any correspondence from Truist other than the two emails I received In XXXX and XXXX She told me that it did not matter because they sent them by mail ( despite the history on the account being e-statements and paperless. When asked she indicated that was through Suntrust and that they were now Truist so I had to adjust those settings independently in my online Truist account ( which recall I just accessed for the first time that day ). I also asked as to why I received an email about my account number change pending, and not any email from them with the follow up information, or at all. She indicated that she did not know why and that it was all sent by mail. She could not tell me where or when anything was sent, what was actually sent, and what figures and amounts were indicated. She also was not able to provide me with any copies of said documents. She said she would make a request and get back to me. I received an email 7 days later on XX/XX/XXXX with a " secure message '' from Truist. I clicked the link only to find it was a dead end, and received error XXXX message ). 
Given the account was brought to date on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX with a 90 day deferral, my next payment of {$1600.00} would be due the end of XXXX, the end of XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX. Without any ability to access my loan status, nor the loan history I was forced to wait until I received information from Truist about my new loan number ( which never happened ). The car was repossessed before I received the information in order to pay the loan in the first place. Once I was able to gain any access I immediately paid XXXX to account to cover the payments for XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX and XXXX. Truist is considering my payment " late '' and refuses to consider the technical and other issues that arise on their end from their takeover of SunTrust and BBT. This is a company error and administrative issue and a problem that arose on their end for not only just me but multiple customers. They refuse to ackowledge this issue within their system and they refuse to take any kind of accountability or responsibility to the customer for their administrative delay and error that continued to occur over 60-90 days uncorrected. They also refused to have any further discussion with me because they did not have any of the information regarding the car or account available to them with having to make a special " request '' for that information which I still do not have. It has been two weeks since my payment posted and my account paid to date yet I still have no information, no documents, and no idea where my car is at, if they have auctioned it, or what is going on. I don't even have any notification from them with an accurate payoff amount. I have never had problems with Suntrust and only after changing to Truist has it been a reoccurring problem wiht them and this particular vehicle of mine. I will mention that this is a XXXX limited edition vehicle and considered a collector item and worth over XXXX XXXX. My XXXX used vehicle and its loan were also behind on monthly payments ( that is now also paid and brought to date since ) yet they have never attempted to repossess that vehicle or collect on the loan what so ever. I stand to loose XXXX XXXX dollars I have in equity on this car and I can not refinance or even get a loan to pay the payoff because my credit report is desecrated because of this issue with Truist.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation