Consumer complaint received 2023-05-29
Company: HUNTINGTON NATIONAL BANK, THE
State: OH
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:
I fell behind on my loan payments in XX/XX/XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX I contacted Huntington Banks auto loan customer service to setup a payment plan. The customer service representative I spoke with let me know I could make a full monthly payment and setup a payment plan of {$120.00} per week to catch up. I let her know that I would not be able to make the full monthly payment until XXXX. I also let her know at that time I could begin making the weekly payment. 

I made a {$500.00} payment in XXXX and commenced the weekly payments on auto debit. I never missed one payment once this started. 

On XX/XX/XXXX my car was repossessed from my driveway. I contacted the XXXX XXXX department and they provided details on how I could redeem my car. He also mentioned applying for a loan modification to which I responded ; I applied in XXXX or XXXX and was denied for making too little money. I asked how the car had been repossessed while on an active and current payment plan, I was told to reach out to customer service, which I did. That same day I contacted customer service for answers on the payment plan. I was initially told there were no notes on my account. The rep I spoke with could see the payments I'd made but no notes. While she continued to search for them I explained the situation. She stated she could see my payments but there were no notes pertaining to a payment plan. 

I then asked to speak with a supervisor. Once I requested that the rep found notes from XX/XX/XXXX related to the payment plan. She then told me the rep I spoke with in XXXX did not properly notate the account, causing my account status to remain " out for repossesion ''. I asked her how I could be held responsible for a notating error on Huntington 's end, she apologized and let me know there was nothing she could do and offered to put in a request for a supervisor call back. With that request, I asked for the supervisor to listen to the recorded call before calling me back. The call was ended. 

About 3 days later I hadn't heard from a supervisor. I called back in and was transferred to a supervisor. She told me there was no way I could make a payment arrangement with a customer service rep because the only agreement was my initial car loan. I asked if that is the case how was a payment arrangement even possible. She said there was nothing she could do and I'd have to call asset recovery back. In the mean time ( I believe withing the same 3 days ) I reapplied for a loan modification and was approved on XX/XX/XXXX. I had until XX/XX/XXXX to return the paperwork and forms of payment. I called in on or about XX/XX/XXXX to request an extension. I received a voicemail for 3 entire business days. I was finally able to get through and let them know My church 's benevolence fund agreed to pay the loan modification principal payment for me but I did not know how to have them process payment as the church would only pay the institution. I received an extension and needed to reapply because I still had no answer on how the church could process the payment.

In the meantime, Huntington continued to process my weekly payment of {$120.00}. I called in to ask could those payments count towards the repossession fee and was told no. I asked how is that possible when the payments were posted to repossession. I did not receive a response and suddenly the next weekly payment was stopped but eventually picked up again. 

My new extension lasted until XX/XX/XXXX. On or about XX/XX/XXXX, I went to Huntington to pay the {$470.00} repossession fee. On XX/XX/XXXX I sent the principal payment in and other required documentation via XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX I was informed that my car had been released and I could contact the repo lot to arrange pickup. At that point I found out my car was no longer at the local repo lot and had been sent to XXXX. I asked how is that even possible when I made arrangements long before both potential repo dates. The customer service rep let me know that someone should have let me know on XX/XX/XXXX that my car could be sent to the auction lot. My letter does not state anything of that nature. I was also told on that call that my car had been sent to the auction lot on XX/XX/XXXX. I ahd been in contact with huntington AND approved for a loan modification and repossession redemption BEFORE that date. I can not understand or find any language in any of my communcations with Huntington to support that. I also do not understand why no one informed me of that until 5 weeks later. This entire process from beginning until now has been unfair and arguably abusive. As a consumer who feel behind, I made attempts to resolve my arrears AND redeem my car. 
There have been CFPB publications in summer of XXXX and spring of XXXX speaking to this very wrongful repossession in which Huntington appears in direct violation of. Due to the latest occurrence ( my car being sent to the auction lot, despite my cooperation with redemption requirements ) has caused me to incur another {$800.00} in fees at minimum.

Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief