Consumer complaint received 2023-07-27
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: NY
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 experienced hardship during XXXX in XXXX and fell behind with my auto payments at which time I tried modifying my loan with Citizens bank auto finance. After review, my payment did not change but I was offered a payment extension which would end in XXXX. I started making regular payments in the amount of {$480.00} and did not miss any payments. However, I was locked out of my online account and was instructed to contact Citizens bank customer service to make payments upon calling them on XX/XX/XXXX, I was directed to their loan counseling department at which time a representative was reviewing my account to take my payment and resolve the issue at hand I then questioned why I was locked out of my online account and why I was being told that I had a past due payment. The representative continued reviewing the history of my account and informed me that the reason my online payment was noted as past due is because in XX/XX/XXXX my regular payment of {$480.00} was applied to my principle and did not satisfy my regular payment. I informed the representative that upon making the payment in XX/XX/XXXX I selected the regular payment box and did receive any confirmation that the payment was not reapplied to satisfy my monthly loan obligations. This error meant that in addition to the XXXX principle payment I was still responsible for making another regular payment in the same amount to satisfy my payment agreement. I informed the representative that I have never made any principle payments in my history of payments and always paid the regular scheduled payment each month. She then transferred me to collections to discuss and resolve the issue. I spoke to a collection representative and his manager and were told that they could not reversed the principle payment and apply it a a regular payment because it has been over 90 days. I explained that I made the payment online as regular payment and never deviated from that practice as well as was never made aware until today XX/XX/XXXX that the past payment was applied to my principle. I explained that the amount was the regular payment amount and it shows consistent within my payment history as acknowledgment that I am responsible for a monthly scheduled payment if {$480.00}. However, despite my plea, the representative, his manager and another supervisor refused to help me. They then transferred me to the finance department who also could not provide me with any assistance. The collections department also blamed me for their online payment website problems. I was told that it was not an error made on the behalf of the bank and therefore can not be reversed. I informed the collections representative that I made the payment correctly and that I have no control of the transmittal process and the internet issues surrounding their online services. They continued to ignore my plea despite my defense that I have never made a principle payment in the history of the loan and that the amount I paid was the regular payment amount I was expected to pay. I also explained that I have been struggling with the regularly scheduled payments as it stands and would never make additional payments in an effort to offset my principle amount. I further explained that my payments have always been made at the end of my grace period on the XXXX  of each month in addition to reiterating the hardship of meeting my past financial payment obligations with regards to this auto loan. Nonetheless, the representative did nothing to resolve the matter and after speaking to his supervisor I was directed to speak with the financial department who could not help me and directed me back to collections. The finance representative informed me that she has no idea why I was transferred to speak to her department as the matter is in the lap of the collections department due to repossession. I was appalled by this news and requested to speak to corporate to file a complaint as I had already paid off more than half of my loan and for the most part was making monthly payments each month on a timely basis which was all in good faith despite facing financial setbacks in past and present. However, Finance ignored my concerns and told me that there is nothing that can be done and transferred me back to Auto collections. I then spoke to XXXX who reaffirmed that they could not help me and that he would file an internal complaint. I requested to file a dispute but he informed me that they did not have a process for filing a dispute on this matter. I requested again to contact corporate department but was told that they do not have any information to reach out to corporate directly. I had been on the phone for several hours and was receiving no assistance to resolve the issue. I was very concerned that the back and forth has not provided me proper assistance and customer satisfaction, particularly since I have made every effort for the past several years since XXXX to keep on top of my loan payments. Now with this error coming to light, I was hoping that they would focus on proper customer satisfaction and not make excuses for attempting to repossess my car. The bank approach is also very deceptive in regards to blocking my online payment so that they can repossess my car without me knowing. I also couldnt understand why I needed to call them directly as they were seeking control in how and what payment they will accept. In fact I perceive this practice as an attempt to blindside me with their attempts to repossess my vehicle over past discrepancy and payment submitted over a year ago, and unknown to me. This approach by the bank leads me to believe that they were going to repossess my car over this online error causing my payments to fall further behind. I no longer trust their online payment website and supports due to this outcome as what I have done in good faith and with good intentions were now negatively impacting me and my family. I also suffered harm with my credit report and is currently on the hook for more payments than I can handle. The bank representatives and supervisors refused to evaluate my concerns based on my payment history. and continued to make a case that I was at fault for this problem. In addition, they attempted to use this discrepancy to their advantage knowing that the payment amount was within the realms of my regularly scheduled monthly payment This further provides a lack of trust in their practices and online Support services. They clearly dont care about their customers satisfaction, resolution and their on line support services that they provide to their consumers as a matter of convenience, when they advertise that their online services are quick, easy and secured. Thus, they refuse to acknowledge that online supports and services can also be problematic and will need constant monitoring and maintenance as with many other online services/ websites. In addition to errors that may occur which can adversely impact their consumers as no one is completely immune from any cyber attacks or problems. But instead of listening and caring about my concerns they engaged in a repeated back and forth with an outright refusal to accept responsibility for what has occurred to me. The bank failed to also acknowledge that they should be more supportive a to their customers when they stand to benefit from their transactions.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation