Consumer complaint received 2021-01-19
Company: NISSAN MOTOR ACCEPTANCE COMPANY LLC
State: TX
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem while selling or giving up the vehicle

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I was in a car accident that resulted in the total loss of my XXXX XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I reported the accident to my insurance company, XXXX ; and on or around XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX deemed the vehicle a total loss. 
On or around XX/XX/XXXX I signed and returned a Power of Attorney that would allow XXXX  to talk to and work with Infiniti Financial Services directly, which XXXX did. 
To my understanding, that same week of XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX sent a check in the amount of {$35000.00} directly to Infiniti Financial Services. On or around XX/XX/XXXX, I contacted Infiniti by phone to find out 1 ) if they received the check from XXXX, and 2 ) when it would be posted to my account. Until that amount from XXXX was posted, I could not engage my GAP insurance. From that phone call with Infiniti Financial Services, I found out that they were missing the Valuation Report, Settlement Breakdown, and copy of the check from XXXX. They would not confirm at that time whether they had the original check from XXXX in hand, but I did relay to XXXX that they were missing those documents. XXXX promptly emailed those documents to Infiniti Financial Services on or around XX/XX/XXXX. 
The following week, I contact Infiniiti Financial Services again via online chat to find out 1 ) if they had received the check from XXXX, and 2 ) why it had not been applied to my account. They confirmed receipt of the check, but they were holding it because they were STILL missing documentation, although the documentation missing was not included in the original list of documents they told me about on XX/XX/XXXX when I called. Again, I went back to XXXX and asked them to send the Letter of Guarantee that they were missing. XXXX sent that promptly by email on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called what I was told was the " supervisor number '' for Infiniti Financial Services. I asked them when the check would be applied because they already confirmed the week prior that they did have the original check in hand. The lady I spoke with went ahead and pushed the last piece of documentation through their system so that they could cash the check. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received email notification that they check from XXXX in the amount of {$35000.00} had been applied to my account. 
In the same phone call on XX/XX/XXXX, I inquired about my responsibility to continue to pay. I was told that I would have to continue to pay the $ XXXX/month on the car loan, even though the car is totaled. AND, that if I didn't pay within 30 days after the payment was due, they were going to report the late payment to the credit bureaus. I protested that that was not right, especially since I don't have the car anymore, Infiniti Financial Services is aware that the car is totaled, they have a check from the insurance company for most of the loan, they are aware of the GAP insurance coverage I have AND would be sending the necessary documents to them, AND I had already purchased a new vehicle, which of course I would need to pay for. I was told that the system reports the late payment automatically and that I am still responsible for paying, so there was nothing they could do. 

The following week ( week of XX/XX/XXXX ), I contacted my GAP insurance and they confirmed that they received the documentation needed from Infiniti Financial Services to process the GAP insurance claim. They said they need 7-10 business days to process and payout. Because of the short turnaround, I chose not to pay the $ XXXX/month for the car loan that was due XX/XX/XXXX. I thought that everything would be resolved and paid out before Infiniti Financial Services could report a late payment on my credit. 

As part of my GAP insurance claim, I had to cancel 3 of the service contracts that I originally selected when I purchased the vehicle in XXXX. 2 of the contracts were with the same company as the GAP insurance, so those were easy enough to cancel. One service contract was directly through the dealership I purchased the vehicle from. I figured out how to get that one cancelled, but unfortunately, that one takes 30 days to process and payout. Because of that, I was up against a wall. I had no choice but to pay {$800.00} on the car loan for XX/XX/XXXX, even though I no longer have the vehicle AND I now have another car note due and payable in the same month. I am in the process of building a home, I can not afford to have any negative marks on my credit report between now and XXXX XXXX. So, I had to make the payment to avoid the negative reporting of a late payment. 

Infiniti Financial Services, in my viewpoint, has unfair and unreasonable practices, ESPECIALLY during a pandemic situation. I do not understand how it fair for me to still be responsible for a vehicle that I no longer own, that no longer exists, and for which Infiniti Financial Services KNEW from as early as XX/XX/XXXX was totaled and would be receiving compensation for that would pay off the loan in total. I got the car loan and the service contracts directly from an Infiniti dealership. Infiniti Financial Services has been servicing my car loan since I purchased the vehicle in XXXX. So, they are the ones that paid out the service contracts and GAP when I purchased them back in XXXX, so they should KNOW that those would be and had to be canceled and the remaining balance would be returned to them. The fact that they have no problem sticking it to the customer even when there is clear evidence that the car loan will be paid off is ridiculous. Additionally, it is not fair that I have to continue to pay the full $ XXXX/month when the remaining balance of the car loan has been significantly decreased over the last month due to payments received and applied. 
So far, Infiniti Financial Services has received almost {$40000.00} in payments from XXXX  and service contract cancellations, and yet, I'm still responsible for the full $ XXXX/month AND responsible for the payment of the loan even though they know it will be paid off through GAP and service contracts. That's not right. 

Also, I asked them specifically for the governmental agency to report complaints to. Their response was the XXXX  or call Infiniti 's complaint department and ask them. The fact that customer service does not know or is not allowed to give information to the regulating governmental agency is ALSO a concern.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation