Consumer complaint received 2022-07-15
Company: Mercedes Benz Financial Services
State: KS
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Lease
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Unable to receive car title or other problem after the loan is paid off

Complaint:
I have a lease with Mercedes Benz Financial Services that is set to expire on XX/XX/2022. I want to purchase the vehicle for the amount listed in my lease agreement. Around XX/XX/XXXX, I called XXXX, who indicated I could not perform the buyout directly with them and that I would need to contact my local dealer. I preferred to just arrange financing on my own for the buyout amount, since I did not lease the car locally. I contacted a company called XXXX who arranged the new loan for the buyout amount. XXXX  provided the buyout amount with taxes and fees to XXXX. I entered into a loan agreement with XXXX XXXX  for the full purchase amount on XX/XX/XXXX and completed the required paperwork. XXXX end sent a check for the buyout amount to XXXX  and all required transfer paperwork. XXXX  cashed this check on XX/XX/XXXX and posted the payment to my account with them. They also reported my lease trade as paid to the credit bureaus. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a call from XXXX  indicating that Kansas is a non-sellable state and that I was prohibited from using a third party to arrange my lease buyout. They indicated that they would be refunding the check they had cashed and that I would be responsible for additional lease payments since that wouldn't happen before the lease expired. XXXX  has yet to issue that refund as of XX/XX/XXXX. I call them and they indicate that they refund is 'waiting on an approval ' and that it is imminent. In the interim, I'm paying for a new loan on the vehicle. There is no clause in my original lease agreement with XXXX  indicating that Kansas is a 'non-sellable state ' and that I must arrange the buyout with my local dealer. Mercedes Benz Financial is being abusive and unfair in its practices here. They are not providing clear direction on how to perform a lease buy-out and are not issuing a refund in a timely manner at all ( not that I agree one is necessary and that they can't accept this third party payment ). It is completely unacceptable to put me in this situation where their policies are not clear and I now have unbelievable stress and am completely unable to resolve the situation. Their lack of a timely refund is the sole reason I have missed the deadline on the lease termination. If they are unable to accept such third party payments, they should not be disclosing my personal information to such a third party to facility that payment in the first place. Given they did disclose the buyout amount to the third party ( XXXX ), and then CASHED the check they received, it is completely unfair to then suggest that this is a practice that is somehow prohibited. I want a refund for any interest I've paid on my new car loan to date and a fast resolution to this issue. As far as I'm concerned, I've paid XXXX  the amounts they are due in our lease agreement to buyout the vehicle and they are holding my title transfer XXXX in an attempt to extort an additional lease payment from me. Completely unacceptable.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation