Consumer complaint received 2020-04-01
Company: HYUNDAI CAPITAL AMERICA
State: TX
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Account status incorrect

Complaint:
Complaint : Hyundai Motor Finance reported my account for a leased vehicle over 120 days delinquent to the credit bureaus. It took them 4 months to close my account after I'd already returned the vehicle to them. 
Problems : This inaccurate reporting is negatively effecting my credit and my ability to purchase a home. 
Company : Hyundai Motor Finance ( HMFUSA ) What Happened : XXXX of XXXX I leased a new XXXX XXXX for a 36 month term. This was my first lease and it was explained that at the end of my contract I would have 3 options : Keep vehicle and pay balloon payment, Refinance the balloon payment, or Sell the vehicle back to Hyundai instead of paying the balloon payment. The balloon payment was {$17000.00}. 
I kept the car the entire term and never made a late payment. 
I contacted Hyundai to make sure I handled the turn in of my vehicle correctly in XXXX of XXXX ( 2 months before vehicle return was due ). I got a timely inspection done. I paid {$250.00} in estimated repair costs ( car was in practically immaculate condition and over XXXX miles under mileage allowance ) and I paid the {$400.00} disposition fee totaling {$650.00}. They told me to turn my car in at any authorized XXXX XXXX. I returned the vehicle to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I admit the personnel on location did not seem too confident on how to proceed with the return, but they contacted Hyundai Motor Finance directly via phone and Hyundai Motor Finance gave the staff there specific instructions. I then signed a limited power of attorney for purposes of transferring title back to XXXX. At the end I was given a VEHICLE RETURN RECEIPT signed by myself and a Representative at the XXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. I asked if there was anything else I needed to do to make sure my account was closed they said that was all. I also contacted Hyundai Motor Finance via phone to make sure there was nothing else I needed to do to ensure the proper and full closing of my account or if I needed any additional paperwork. They told me there was nothing else on my end. 
I check my XXXX XXXX pretty regularly because I wanted to start preparing to purchase a home. I noticed that my account was still showing open. I contacted Hyundai to find out why. They advised it could take some time ( 45 days ) but it should be closed soon. So I wait I called back a couple times and nobody could seem to help me, but at the time, I just wanted the account to show closed because the debt still showed this balloon payment. On XX/XX/XXXX I called Hyundai Finance again, and representative Bill in Lease End Department and inquired why my account still wasn't closed months after i returned my car. He explained that my car was grounded and delayed somehow in getting to auction and as of that day had been at auction 30 days. He said account could not be removed from credit report because proceeds would come from sale at auction. Nowhere is this mentioned in the sales contract or any addenda. To my knowledge once I handed over the keys and signed the car back over to Hyundai, I should've been released of any responsibility. He said this situation was not typical and to wait longer for it to process. He also told me it wasn't negatively impacting my credit because my account showed current. I told him that wasn't the point, there was an {$18000.00} debt on my name that did not belong to me showing active on my credit and it could hinder me in my home-buying process. He said he could provide my bank with a lease balance letter showing I had 0 payments left. I was agreeable to this. Moments later he comes back on the line and says he can not do that or close the account because my account was a balloon payment. So I wait more. XX/XX/XXXX I contact Hyundai Motor Finance again. I speak to rep XXXX in Lease End Dept. I explain the situation, ask again why several months have passed and the account still isn't closed. He reviews my account and assures me it will be closed by Friday. The account was finally closed XX/XX/XXXX. I check my XXXX XXXX again and now all of a sudden it shows my account closed, but XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX show account past due and my credit score plummets. I contact Hyundai and the rep in customer service acknowledges those late payments don't make sense after reviewing my account and I explain the situation and she sees the vehicle was returned in XX/XX/XXXX. She says but at this point it has already been reported to the credit bureaus and I would have to handle it through them. I am hoping this will get me better results, and I do have my original contract as well as my Vehicle Return Receipt. Not once in 3 years did I pay late and I did everything I was told to do and still was not handled properly.

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