Consumer complaint received 2022-11-18
Company: FORD MOTOR CREDIT CO.
State: VA
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem with paying off the loan

Complaint:
I have two situations with Ford Motor Credit Finance that I feel are unfair business practices.

1- We purchased a XXXX XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX and a XXXX XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Both vehicles were financed with Extended Warranties and GAP Contracts, for 84 months with 0 % financing and 90 days no payments. In XX/XX/XXXX I received an email that a payment on the XXXX was due. When I called the dealership, I was told that they had made a mistake with the 90 days no payments and that I would need to call Ford Finance to discuss. When I called Ford Finance, they apologized for the error and said they could defer our payments for 90 days to make up for the mistake- and I accepted. NO ONE stated that this would automatically cancel the GAP contract I had just paid {$1000.00} for- but it did. 

2- I found out that the GAP Contract was cancelled before our first payment was made when the vehicle was wrecked and deemed a total loss by our insurance company in XX/XX/XXXX. In XXXXXXXX XXXX  XXXX, Our insurance company sent Ford a check for {$32000.00} on XX/XX/XXXX. This left a balance of around {$1300.00}. We made a full payment of {$680.00} as this was due for XXXX. This left a balance of around {$700.00}. When we spoke with the GAP company and found the contract had been cancelled before our first payment was made, they let us know that the contract would be " officially '' cancelled and the balance of what we paid for it would be sent to Ford Finance to help settle the remaining balance- although at that time, they could not tell me the exact amount that would be applied as it needed to be figured with the age of the contract/mileage of the vehicle at the time of loss, etc. I continued to log into my online Ford account to check daily if the money was applied so I could settle the balance. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I tried to login to my online XXXX account and was given a message that my account was not available online due to the " status of the account '' and that I would need to call XXXX XXXX directly. When I called XXXX XXXX on this day, I was told that monies from the official cancellation of the GAP contract were applied and the balance of {$180.00} was then " charged-off. '' When I got upset about this terminology, I was told that it " wasn't anything bad for me- just an internal XXXX XXXX. '' When I asked to pay the balance, I was told that the account had not worked its way through to the correct department yet and that I should be able to call on the following Monday to get to the XXXX department to pay this amount. This was on a Thursday and on Saturday I woke up to a credit report alert telling me my XXXX score had dropped XXXX points due to XXXX XXXX charging off the {$180.00}. 

On Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, my wife, XXXX, and I called XXXX to find out what was going on with my account being reported as a charge off. XXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX not only very rude but also informed us that this was a standard practice as anytime there is a small balance like this that " no one ever pays them, '' My wife told him that that decision should not be XXXX 's XXXX make and explained that he should be able to see from the notes on our account where we had been calling and logging in to get this amount because we were waiting to find out how much the XXXX cancellation was going to be, XXXX asked XXXX " if we expected them to hold onto thousands of small balance accounts that were never going to be paid. '' I disputed the charge-off on my credit report- explaining everything I have here- and XXXX validated it. Not only has this ruined my experience and loyalty to XXXX XXXX, it has lowered my credit enough that I have been turned down for loans to try and replace the vehicle we lost. I am asking for help from you in getting this resolved as I do not feel that XXXX has acted in a lawful or ethical manner. 

Thank you XXXX XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief