Consumer complaint received 2018-05-09
Company: TMX Finance LLC
State: VA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Title loan
Issue: Problem with the payoff process at the end of the loan

Complaint:
I took a car title loan out in XX/XX/XXXX at XXXX located at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, TX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I sent XXXX  a cashier 's check for the full amount owed on the loan and the check was received by XXXX  on XX/XX/XXXX. When I spoke to XXXX XXXX at XXXX  a couple of days before I sent the check, XXXX informed me that once the check was received, he would overnight my car title to me the next day. When I called XXXX   on Wednesday XX/XX/XXXX to inquire about the tracking number of the package containing my title, XXXX informed me that there had been some sort of issue with the title with the DMV and that it would not be available until XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX acknowledged that the issue with the title was due to an error on the part of XXXX and he accepted full responsibility for the error. 

I informed XXXX that waiting another week and a half for my title was unacceptable. I had paid TitleMax the full amount owed, I expected to be handed by title immediately. XXXX informed me that he would go down to the DMV the next day ( Thursday XX/XX/XXXX ) to get the title ( which goes against the previous explanation he gave that he wouldn't be able to get it until the XXXX ) and that he would overnight it to me and a check for {$50.00} for the inconvenience. On Thursday XX/XX/XXXX,  XXXX called me and gave some sort of non-sensible explanation as to why he couldn't get the title and that he hoped to have it by Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX. I told XXXX that this was unacceptable. 

I spoke with XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX to get an update on the situation. He said that he was still expecting the title to come in by tomorrow. I spoke with his District Supervisor, XXXX XXXX and she informed me that she had spoken to XXXX on Friday and that he was expecting the title to arrive last Friday, but told me that it would come in on Monday or Tuesday to build in some lead time in case it didn't come in on Friday. XXXX also said that the DMV mailed out the title on XX/XX/XXXX. 

I have been getting bad vibes about the whole situation from the very beginning. It didn't make any sense that if the DMV had in fact mailed out the title on XX/XX/XXXX that it had not shown up by now. With this in mind, I called up the DMV to see if they could provide any insights. The following bullet points are the highlights of that call : 1. ) The original title was not surrendered to the XXXX County Tax Office until XX/XX/XXXX ; on XX/XX/XXXX, there was a title correction issued with the XXXX County Tax Office. 
2. ) As of XX/XX/XXXX, no title has been re-issued ; the DMV does not expect the title to be issued until the end of this week, per the 7-10 day  guidelines in issuing a title. 
3. ) Once the new title has been issued, it will take 5-10 business days to reach XXXX ; DMV estimates that I will not receive title until early XXXX. 
4. ) XXXX has apparently sent me the release of lien letters to my address in Virginia ; DMV has informed me that these release of lien letters are essentially worthless, since a ) there hasn't been a new title even issued yet and b ) I can't do anything with them until I receive the title from TitleMax ( which could be weeks ). 

Upon talking with the DMV representative, I called XXXX at XXXX   again on the afternoon of XX/XX/XXXX and asked him to repeat his version of events as to what the status of the title was. Again, he informed me that the DMV mailed out the title and that he should be receiving it by tomorrow. I informed XXXX of the information that the DMV presented me with that directly contradicted everything that he had been telling me. He seemed shocked and said that he would contact the DMV and reach back out to me. I received a call from XXXX later on and he confirmed that the statement of facts that I presented him earlier were correct and that his were wrong and that he " had gotten some bad information from the DMV originally. '' I had not heard from XXXX or the District XXXX, XXXX, yesterday XX/XX/XXXX even thought I had been granted assurances by the TitleMax corporate office that I would hear from them. Having not heard from them by XXXX XXXX  yesterday, XX/XX/XXXX, I called the XXXX corporate office again to ask to speak with the Regional Manager, XXXX XXXX XXXX. The representative informed me that " the Regional Manager and District Manager will not be speaking with you until cleared by our legal department due to you filing a complaint with the XXXX. '' XXXX  and the various parties associated with them have been untruthful, unresponsive, and quite frankly, deceitful ever since I presented them with the payoff check last Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX. Had I not contact the DMV today, I would have been under the assumption that my title would be showing up sometime on XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX. From how it actually stands, the DMV indicated that the title will not even be created until XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX,  and I won't receive it until the first week of XXXX. I realize XXXX  has ten business days from final receipt of payment to hand me my title. It appears that they will overshoot this contractually mandated time-frame by several weeks, at best. 

This whole situation could have been completely avoidable. XXXX   has had my title since XXXX. They have admitted fault in this situation, yet have tried to pass blame on to the DMV on several occasions. Whatever issues that XXXX created with handling my title could have been resolved the three and a half months prior to when they had my title ; not the day they received my check for full payment of the loan. They have been unresponsive, untruthful, and unhelpful. I ask for the CFPB 's assistance into this matter.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation