Consumer complaint received 2020-09-02
Company: BANCO POPULAR DE PUERTO RICO
State: PR
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Billing problem

Complaint:
I am trying to resolve an unapplied payment for almost one ( 1 ) year and it has not yet been resolved. The unapplied payment was made on XX/XX/XXXX which corresponds to the payment for the month of XX/XX/XXXX. 

My auto loan was acquired by Banco Popular ( BPPR ) during the merger with Reliable Auto. 

Please reference the line of events and actions taken on my behalf : XX/XX/XXXX o Discovery of the unapplied payment While visiting the BPPR - XXXX XXXX XXXX Once the merger was finalized between BPPR and XXXX XXXX, to make a payment and the Branch teller informed that the payment I was making was for the previous month. I proceeded to inform her that this is incorrect and showed her the previous payments and she directed me to speak with a Branch Employee to open a claim. 
I sat and waited to be attended by a Branch employee who informed that she would contact the auto department to have them validate their records as they have had several issues with missing payments due to the conversion of their systems/records with Reliable Auto. 
She informed that she would establish a claim with the department and took copies of my payment book. 

XX/XX/XXXX o I had contacted BPPR to establish a claim for the second time since I did not receive any letters or calls from my first claim and they informed that they would send me a payment history for my review. 
o I received an E-mail on XX/XX/XXXX with the payment history which I revised and informed that they did not include all the dates. 
2nd Call ( XX/XX/XXXX ) o After speaking with an agent, they sent me the remaining payment dates which I proceeded to review with the agent and they informed that their system showed all of the payments and there are no discrepancies. 

XX/XX/XXXX o Due to my frustration with the situation and the pandemic, it was not until XX/XX/XXXX that I decided to present myself to the auto department to pay off my loan and resolve the unapplied payment issue. 
The first employee that was assisting me informed that there was not an error and that I needed to make the payment ; which was included in the payoff balance. 
I requested to speak to another employee ( XXXX XXXX ) who took the time to review my payment book and receipts with me. 
o XXXX XXXX discovered that XXXX had inverted the account number by one digit for the payment made on XX/XX/XXXX which corresponded to the month of XX/XX/XXXX. He then informed that the payment was applied to another customers loan, however that they would reverse that payment and then apply it to my loan. 
o XXXX XXXX then proceeded to open a fourth claim to correct this unapplied payment and informed that they would be contacting me to come in and they would provide me with a new payoff balance once the payment was applied to avoid me overpaying. 
The employee also took copies of the payment book to include in the claim. 
XXXX XXXX scheduled an appointment for me for XX/XX/XXXX to come and payoff the loan. 

XX/XX/XXXX o I proceeded to visit the office once again on XX/XX/XXXX and the XXXX XXXX was not available and I was attended by XXXX XXXX who informed that my claim was still in process and the payment was not yet applied. 
o I proceeded to request to speak to a supervisor and XXXX XXXX attended me and I requested that she escalate my case since Im trying to pay off the loan and that every day that goes by, I am subject to additional interest fees. 
o XXXX XXXX informed that she is unable to escalate the case since the employees are working remotely and that she would attempt to contact the department. 
o After waiting three ( 3 ) hours in their office, with no status updates, I asked to speak to XXXX XXXX again and she informed that she was unable to reach the department and that she would call me to let me know when I can come to make the payment once the payment was applied. I provided her with the copies of the claim and payment that were provided to me by XXXX XXXX. 

XX/XX/XXXX o As of today, XX/XX/XXXX I have not received a call and I proceeded to contact Customer Service and the agent informed that my claim was closed out with no notes from the claims department. 
o The agent proceeded to re-open my case ( XXXX ) and referred it to a supervisor by E-mail in order to see if they can escalate the situation since this has been an ongoing case.

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