Consumer complaint received 2022-11-25
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: CA
Product: Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan
Sub-product: Installment loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan

Complaint:
Hello. To whom it may concern. Due to identity theft, multiple deaths in my family, losing my job all due to COVID, XXXX XXXX, thousands of dollars stolen from my personal bank accounts, and fraudulent loans taken out in my name, my husband and I had to file for bankruptcy in XXXXXXXX XXXX  XXXX. Our lawyer advised us to file XXXX XXXX, wipe everything clean of all the wrong-doing. He was able yo save our house and assets. We have gone through a nightmare of an ordeal not only with our mortgage company, but many other companys. My mortgage complaint will be separate. 

We have gone two years to where weve been treated like XXXX from many companies. No one would listen to our circumstances to get approved for anything. So we had to wait it out. We saw the opportunity to refinance, which we planned to do. Our mortgage was included in the bankruptcy, so all of our credibility was lost, and we technically didnt own our house. Another day for that compliant,. So, we shopped around. Our credit was good enough to be able to do an fha refinance since fha was the only thing we can qualify for cause of our bankruptcy. We were on a huge roller coaster with that process. So we were finally able to convince a lender to take us on. Escrow runs title. And low and behold, there was a lean out in our home. We had no clue about this lean. We were never informed. The lean stated it was created by XXXXXXXX XXXXXXXX. We had never done business with XXXXXXXX XXXX. So were called XXXXXXXX XXXX, they said they would give us a call back. Why did a creditor which would be Service Finance Company LLC call me back pertaining to the lean? We discharged their debt in our bankruptcy. A guy calls me and says I have to pay that amount in Order for them to lift the lean. The amount was XXXX. According to the XXXX XXXX company, the lender will not go through with the loan if there is a lean on our home. 

Service Finance company LLC fraudulently registered the lean under a different name in order to collect their discharged amount they didnt receive. It was a UCC -1 lean that was placed under XXXXXXXX XXXX that was not registered until XX/XX/XXXX. We purchased the hvac unit from XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. Service Finance was the lender, whom we did not originally sign a contract with, of XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX was the company we voluntary signed to hold the lean on the hvac system. We even obtained a copy from Service Finance that a lean was not attached to our mortgage in XXXX. However, when we filed for XXXX XXXX, we included the amount due to Service Finance, in which that amount was discharged with our bankruptcy on XX/XX/XXXX. So here is a breakdown list of where I find this company in the wrong and in violation. 

1. Original Signed contract does not Service Finance. Only XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
2. Service Finance claimed no leans on our property were in place not working there ever be one with them in XXXX. Letter, signed and dated by Service Finance.

3. Service Finance then went and placed a lean on our property under a completely different name that filed. XXXX XXXX 
4. We were not informed of a lean placed on our property, being that weve never done business with XXXXXXXX XXXX. 
5. When we called XXXXXXXX XXXX, our return call callback was Service Finance Company LLC. claiming the amount owed was the discharged amount included in the bankruptcy in order to lift the lean.

6. Service Finance knew we were under a time restraint which they used against us. And not only did they use strong-arm tactics, they also used a bait and switch scheme.

7. Because of time restraint, we were forced to have to pay them in which they in formed us AFTER the initial inquiry of original amount owed, that we pay {$5000.00}. They also informed us that this was a negotiation. When it clearly wasnt, it was a demand.

8. After agreeing to pay the {$5000.00} they switched the amount to {$7000.00}. Stating that {$5000.00} was the negotiable amount. That was not the negotiable amount, that was the agreed amount including a hardship letter.

9. Service Finance company forced us to pay {$7000.00} to lift a lean for part of their discharged amount that was included in the bankruptcy.

10. Service Finance company should not have been in contact with us in any regard under bankruptcy laws. Why were they able to harass us for their payment? We never reached out to Service Finance LLC. We only contacted XXXXXXXX XXXX, the lien holder on our property, whom weve never done business with in any regard. Who has no rights to anything on our property.

11. This goes with out saying, the hvac unit is included in the equity of our home that was filed exempt for our Bankruptcy. If the unit is part of our equity, then there is, essentially, nothing that a lean can be placed on since the hvac is included in our equity in which the unit is exempt. So the UCC-1 lean does not stand since it is not allowed to be attached on an exempt item.

12. Service finance did not go through the proper protocol of suing us to place the lean.

Consumers like ourselves are trying to pick up our lives and live with a prosperous financial future. We paid on the loan for 3 years until we filed. We went through the proper protocol to discharge our debt. Which does not go with out any reprimand with rebuilding our financial future. Service Finance had their cha
nce to show up to court and prove why they should be repaid. They never showed up to the creditors/ lenders claim portion on our filing date with the court.

Because Service Finance Company LLCs shady practices including strong-arming us, bait and switched us with their demanding legally discharged settlement agreeing to XXXX and last minute to XXXX, harassed us, forced us to have to pay them {$7000.00} in order to lift a lean, placed by XXXXXXXX XXXX whom we have never done business with. I literally compare it to having a XXXXXXXX XXXX to our heads by Service Finance Company LLC, because we were XXXX

I will be filing everything possible with every department, and we will go to litigation if we have to in order for this company to return our money, and get reprimanded for their shady practices. I will stop at nothing until those two demands are met. 

Thank you for your patience and time.

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 monetary relief