Consumer complaint received 2022-07-25
Company: GOLDEN 1 CREDIT UNION, THE
State: CA
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan
Sub-issue: Denied request to lower payments

Complaint:
On XXXX of XXXX, I fell behind on my auto loan payments due to financial hardship. In XXXX, my sole income was Unemployment benefit payments due to Covid19. It was about that time that I fell behind on many of my bills so I decided to contact Golden One credit union, regarding my auto loan payment, which was only a few weeks past due. I advised the representative that although I was behind due to hardship, my intent was to make any efforts in keeping my auto as it is my only source of transportation. I continued to make payments on my loan as I could. 


On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Golden One to explain my hardship and to request assistance from them as far as a payment deferment on my auto loan so that I would avoid the loan from going into collection or repossession. I spoke to XXXX XXXX she explained to me that the credit union did have a payment deferment due to hardship and that she would send me the application via email. 
I received and completed the application and mailed it directly to Golden One member services. 


On XX/XX/XXXX I called Golden One to check on the status of my loan deferment application. I spoke to a gentleman who stated that the application was pending documents. I told him I had already mailed them to Golden 1 directly, but that I would re-submit the documents via email. 
I then told him that I also wanted to make a payment over the phone towards my Auto Loan in the amount of {$380.00} ( which is my regular monthly payment ) I told him that I had to make a split payment using two different cards. He was to charge my first card in the amount of, {$300.00} and the remainder balance to charge the second card that I provided to him. 
I later discovered that the representative incorrectly applied the first payment of {$300.00}. Instead of applying the payment towards my auto loan, he applied the payment towards my Golden One Visa Credit Card, which had been delinquent and closed for months, and I had not been making payments on it. Regarding the second payment he did not process that payment. In the end, the only payment that was applied was the {$300.00} and that wasnt applied to my auto loan, which caused my auto loan to fall further behind than I anticipated. 


On XX/XX/XXXX I called Golden One to inquire on my deferment application and I spoke to a representative by the name of XXXX. XXXX told me that my application was denied due to No Income. 
I told XXXX that I did have income that I was receiving unemployment benefits. She told me to mail in those documents. I explained to XXXX that I had mailed them and emailed them to Golden 1 already, but that I would mail them again. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I called Golden One regarding the status of my application for deferment, I spoke to XXXX XXXX, who told me that they did not receive the documents that I mailed and they did not receive the documents that I stated that I had emailed. 
I told her that I would resubmit the documents to them again. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from Golden One representative, XXXX XXXX XXXX stating that my application was denied due to maximum deferments reached. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I called Golden One to try and reach an agreement with them regarding my past due balance on my loan and I explained to them that I was receiving different responses from different representatives. And that I was under the impression that my application for deferment was in a pending status. I also explained that I was making payments towards my auto loan but my previous payment had been misapplied causing me to fall further behind. The representative told me there was nothing that they could do on their end to correct the misappropriation of funds. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from XXXX XXXX stating that my request for assistance was denied due to them not receiving the documents by the deadline of XX/XX/XXXX. She also stated that my application was missing documents. 
At this point I am even more confused because I had just been notified that my application was denied due to maximum deferment reached. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I reached out to Golden one via email because I was confused about the contradicting statements regarding the status of my hardship application. I informed them that I was paying on my auto loan, and I intend to keep the vehicle. 
I sent an email to Golden One in efforts to appeal the decision they made on my hardship application, as I did submit all the documentation they requested, and I was unfairly denied. 




On XX/XX/XXXX I called Golden One requesting that they provide me answer regarding the payment that was incorrectly applied to another account. I asked if they received my appeal on their decision. I spoke to XXXX XXXX, who stated that I did not qualify for that initial hardship application but that they had another program that could possibly help me and that all I had to do was submit the required documents required to them again. I told her that I have been sending the documents over and that I have been making payments towards my auto loan but I was not current on the loan. She stated that they could help me but that I needed to submit documents to them again. As far as the payment I made in XXXX she said there was nothing that could be done regarding the misplaced payment. 


On XX/XX/XXXX I called Golden One and spoke to XXXX, in Member Care. I told her if she could take a look at my auto loan and tell me if they received my appeal and also if they received the documents I mailed to them. She told me there were no notes on my auto loan account regarding any appeal. She began to speak to me in a rude tone and she was being very short with me. I told her that I would like to make a payment towards the loan over the phone. She told me that she could not take my payment over the phone because my account was past due and that unless the payment amount was the full past due balance that she could not take a payment if it was less than that and that further payments would have to be completed in person at a Golden1 Branch. I told her that going out to a branch to make the payment would create a further hardship for me because there are no local branches where I live. I have to make a long distance drive to the closest branch. 
I felt that XXXX was being very rude to me and she was making me purposely upset, she constantly placed me on long holds. When she came back on the line I asked to speak to a different representative. She transferred to the call to XXXX. XXXX stated that she was going to look into the account and give me a call back. But that she could not process a payment for me over the phone for my auto loan. 
On this day I sent an email to XXXX at Golden One loss mitigation department explaining the situation to her and why I felt that I was being treated unfairly. 



The following day, XX/XX/XXXX I drove out of town to the branch located in XXXX and made a payment in person. This is the payment they refused to take over the phone. At this point I am extremely overwhelmed and I am beginning to feel that Golden One does not wish to assist me with any hardship and that there intention was to close my auto loan account. 


On XX/XX/XXXX I made a payment at the branch for {$360.00} because that is all that I could afford at that time. 


On XX/XX/XXXX I called Golden One to check the status of the loan and spoke to XXXX. I asked her if she could help me regarding the missing payment misapplied on XX/XX/XXXX. She told me that they would look into the payment and call me back. I did not receive a call back regarding this. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I walked into the Golden One branch to make a payment on my auto loan in the amount of {$400.00}. The bank teller informed me that my XXXX XXXX Account had been closed and is now in a charge-off status. I told her that I did not understand why they charged off my loan if I had been making payments towards the loan and I had been in constant communication with them. I had not receive any notices from Golden One regarding their intent to charge-off my loan. I was under the understanding that a loan modification application was pending, this was the second application that XXXX sent me in XXXX. She told me the account was closed but that she could process a payment towards my auto loan but that it would be deposited into my savings account and then manually transferred over by them to my auto loan. I asked her if they could reverse the charge-off as I believe they made a mistake. She processed my payment and told me that there was nothing they can do. 


On XX/XX/XXXX I called Golden One and asked to speak a manager in the auto loan department. I was told that the manager, XXXX, was in a meeting and that he would call me back. 
On XX/XX/XXXX I received a call from XXXX, he was very short with me and told me that I had been given many opportunities to catch up on my loan and that because I had failed to do so, that my auto loan was charged off and that I needed to pay the past due balance on my auto loan in the amount of {$1500.00} by XXXX pm that following Monday. I explained to XXXX my financial hardship and my pending loan modification application and he told me that was no longer an option. 

On XX/XX/XXXX After my phone call with XXXX, I received a call from XXXX XXXX, she began speaking to me using a rough tone and warned me that if I was recording the phone that she was going to hang up, ( almost screaming ) at me. She was reprimanding me over the phone going on about how I had been given many opportunities to bring my auto loan up to date and that I had been been misinformed about the opportunity at a loan deferment. She stated that she had corrected the payment that was misapplied on XX/XX/XXXX. I told XXXX, that if my payments had been applied correctly my account would only be 3 months past due and that a charge-off was unfair. 
She stated that there was nothing that can be done and that I must pay the past due balance of {$1200.00} by XX/XX/XXXX to avoid repossession of my vehicle. 
After the phone call, I was in distress, I called my family and I was able to borrow the past due amount. I drove the following day to the branch in XXXX and made the payment in full in the amount of {$1200.00}. On the receipt the payment indicates applied to my savings account and they were going to do the transfer from their end. At the top of the receipt see my loan # XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter from Golden One titled, Notice of membership termination. The notice stated that I had the option of paying the total amount past due and membership with the option to prevent termination by paying the total past due and submitting a letter requesting not to terminate. I replied to Golden One, I had already paid them the past due balance and I submitted a letter to them requesting them not to terminate my membership with them. 


XX/XX/XXXX I received a letter from Golden One titled Final notice of termination, it provided me with the option to object termination in writing. I submitted a letter to Golden One in writing appealing their decision to terminate my membership. 


On XX/XX/XXXX I called Golden One Member Care and spoke to XXXX. I told him that I was under a lot of stress and that I felt that I had been treated unfairly by Golden One. I felt that my car was in the process of being repossessed and that I no longer felt that Golden One was trust worthy or clear in the practices and that my auto loan had been unfairly charged off without due notice. 

XX/XX/XXXX On this day, I received a statement from Golden One indicating that my auto loan had been closed. They did not send me any other notice regarding my loan modification application.

Currently I am making payments towards my loan. Although I am still unemployed due to a medical XXXX aggravated by XXXX, I have been making payments towards my loan and I have maintained them current. 

I recently checked my credit report and noticed that my auto loan with Golden One is now in a charge-off status on my credit report. Golden Ones quick decision to charge-off my loan has caused me a financial loss. I am writing this complaint in the hopes that my auto loan charge-off could be reversed and reflect the status as paid current. I feel that I could not trust Golden One and that they might repossess my vehicle unjustly at their will. 
Please help

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