Consumer complaint received 2023-05-31
Company: HYUNDAI CAPITAL AMERICA
State: VA
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Lease
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account status incorrect

Complaint:
I am writing to dispute the inclusion in my credit reports of a charge off of a debt to Hyundai Motor Finance ( HMF ). The background and basis of my dispute are as follows : We returned the leased vehicle at issue to a Hyundai dealership at the expiration of the lease term, in XXXX  or XXXX  of XXXX. We thereafter received an end of term bill from HMF in the amount of about {$760.00}, I believe, for personal property taxes on the vehicle, despite our having paid all bills to that point. 

I immediately contacted HMF to inquire into this bill, questioning why we were being charged for expenses not incurred until after the return of the vehicle and expiration of the lease. HMF representatives on this phone call informed me they would look into this matter and get back to me. 

I thereafter received another notice of this bill, this time in the amount of {$400.00}, dated XXXX XXXX XXXX. I again telephoned HMF ( on XXXX XXXX XXXX ) and spoke to XXXX, who advised me to turn in the vehicle plates, which had apparently not been done, and I had not been advised to do. I returned the plates on Friday, XXXX XXXX XXXX 

I then called HMF again on Monday, XXXX XXXX, XXXX and spoke to a XXXX XXXX, who informed me HMF needed to send this information to the property tax people and file an abatement, a process that would take 6-8 weeks. He further told me to disregard any further statements I received until I heard back from HMF. 

To the best of my recollection, this issue then remained dormant and appeared to me to be resolved until XXXX of XXXX, when I received yet another bill, this time from XXXX XXXX XXXX, a collection agency to which HMF had forwarded the account without prior notification to me. The amount of this XXXX XXXX, XXXX collection notice was again {$400.00}. 

So, I once again called HMF and spoke to a series of individuals, some wholly uninformed, others more willing to assist. Eventually I was able to speak to XXXX on XXXX XXXX XXXX  who told me, again, that HMF needed to review and check back on the status of the request for a tax abatement based on dates of the lease and the relevant tax period and, once again, to ignore further notices from XXXX or HMF till this review was finished and HMF contacted me again with word of the final amount owed, or a full abatement of the amount. 

I did as instructed and ignored the one other Settlement Offer I remember receiving from XXXX, dated XXXX XXXX XXXX again in the total amount of {$400.00}. Again, as far as I could tell, this issue was resolved, and I never heard from HMF or from XXXX again. 

However, in applying for a small loan to finance a new furnace in XXXX XXXX  I learned that this debt had been reported to the credit agencies as charged off in the amount of {$260.00}. This was news - and an unpleasant surprise - to me. So, I once again called HMF on XXXX XXXX XXXX, to inquire into what had happened here. I spoke to XXXX, who told me his review of the account indicated an abatement had in fact been granted, and he didnt know why a charge off had been submitted or how much ( if anything ) might still be owed, but would look into it. 

Because of the negative credit impact and the immediate need for the financing for the furnace, I decided to pay off this amount of {$260.00} on XXXX XXXX XXXX I did this over the phone with XXXX, who told me to check back in a week and see if there was news about the abatement which, if it had been granted in full, might result in a refund to me of the money I had just paid. 

So, I called back on XXXX XXXX XXXX, and spoke to an individual whose name I asked but didnt quite catch, who told me it looked like there had been an abatement granted, but apparently not in the full amount. He had no further advice or information, except to give me the address to send a credit dispute to. 

I sent same, and this resulted merely in HMF sending the credit reporting agencies a notice that I had paid off the amount owed in XX/XX/XXXX, but not doing anything about the original charge off, and which showed over 2 years of " late payments '' I knew nothing about. 

In XX/XX/XXXX, my wife and I applied for a mortgage to purchase a home and discovered this faulty credit reporting was adversely impacting that effort as well, resulting in far worse terms than would otherwise have been available. 

This instigated a new spate of phone calls from me to HMF, between XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, wherein I spoke to numerous individuals, all seemingly incapable of helping in any substantive way, but informing me that the 'escalation department ' would pull the old phone calls referred to above to confirm that I was actually told not to pay bills until I heard back from HMF while the abatement process played out. 

Today I received final word - after calling them once again - that the 'care team would not be overturning the charge off. ' At this juncture I dispute that this was a debt that was past due by 2+ years, as reported by HMF and shown on my credit reports. Rather, it was a genuine dispute over the debt and an ongoing discussion over the proper result, and all reports from HMF should so reflect. 

I emphasize that at no time did any representative of HMF contact me to inform me or inform me when I contacted them that the abatement process was complete and the amount owed was definite and due. I was told only and repeatedly - to await further word, until finally the debt was sent to collection and the credit agencies, without anyone at HMF notifying me of same. In fact, only twice during the entire 3 and a half years between the return of the vehicle and today has HMF ever contacted me via any other method than a mailed bill or mailed collection notice, despite the innumerable phone calls I have placed and the many assurances that HMF would be looking into it and getting back to me with information about the abatement. ( Both times I received a call ( from XXXX ) they left no voicemail ( despite claiming they had ), and nobody at the number ever answers return calls, despite multiple hours I have waited on hold for same. )

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