Consumer complaint received 2017-12-14
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC.
State: FL
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
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:
My husband is currently XXXX, thus out of the country. I am his Power of Attorney so that I am able to maintain his accounts. Florida is my husband 's Home of Record and we will be living in Florida when he returns from XXXX. Therefore, I need to reregister the vehicle in Florida. Since the title is a California title, Florida will not register the vehicle until the title is received by the department of motor vehicles. I called Citizen 's One Auto Finance ( XXXX ) to determine steps to have the title sent to FL, and was told to send my POA, the request form from FL for the title to be sent to the XXXX County Tax Collectors Office ( motor vehicles ), and a letter explaining the circumstances. I did as instructed and was not contacted as I was told I would be. The next week, on XX/XX/XXXX, I called to follow-up. I was granted access and told that my POA had been received, but the request form was not scanned or noted in the account. The representative told me that this likely meant " they '' were processing the request for the title. Having not heard from XXXX, I followed up again on XX/XX/XXXX, as the CA is now out of date and I am unable to legally drive the vehicle. On XX/XX/XXXX, I was told that the POA on file was invalid, as there was no name on it. I read my copy of the POA to the representative and he confirmed that there was, in fact, my name listed as my husband 's POA on the document. This representative consulted with management and informed me that, contrary to what the previous representative had said, XXXX does not process titles and I would have to request through a third party and that the third party was only open Monday through Friday XXXX-XXXX. This was at XXXX on Friday evening, so I was unable to contact them. I was also given the contact information for the " consumer counseling '' department of XXXX, and was told that this department may be able to help since the issue is, in part, due to my husband 's military XXXX. The representative stated that the recording would mention collections, but that they handled other things as well. After being given the run around from the third party and being told that it would take six weeks for the title to be received by FL or I could request the lienholder ( XXXX ) to send the title to FL, I contacted XXXX again on XX/XX/XXXX. The representative told me that there was no POA on file. I informed her that the last person I talked to was able to find it and the representative continued to insist that there was no POA on file. I asked to speak with management and was able told again to contact the third party. Before calling the third party again, I attempted to contact the XXXX " consumer counseling '' department that was referred. The representative informed me that I could only get the title if the loan was paid off, even after I explained multiple times that I understood how liens work and did not personally need to title, but rather needed it sent to FL. I then spoke with this representatives manager who rudely informed me that my account was not past due and she could not help me, then transferred me - without informing me - back to customer service. I had to explain what I needed to yet another representative who told me there was absolutely nothing she could do for me and I had to go through the third party ( i.e. pay the third party to get the title from XXXX and send it to FL ). I spoke with this representative 's manager, who said she was consulting with " the back room '' to find a solution to avoid waiting six weeks to use my vehicle. The manager ultimately informed me that there was no other option.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation