Consumer complaint received 2022-10-18
Company: PNC Bank N.A.
State: DE
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem related to refinancing

Complaint:
I and my wife have been customers of the PNC Bank for over 20 years. Early in XX/XX/XXXX, my wife got approved by the bank for an auto loan. On the strength of the PNC check, she bought a new car from XXXX XXXX, an authorized car dealership in XXXX, DE. A couple of weeks later, she was confronted with a barrage of telephone calls from the PNC Bank about some technicality regarding her auto loan. The bank wanted her to pay the difference between the approved loan and the MSRP price of the car. This meant that PNC wanted her to pay a sum of money for the cost of title, licensing, extended warranty, and other stuff. 

Among the Check Ready instructions at the back of the banks check was the one which stipulated as follows : The check may include costs related to tax, title, license, and extended service warranty, so long as the check is written in an amount that is within the range printed on the check and does not exceed the customer 's approved loan to value. 

It did not matter to those PNC Bank guys that my wife did not exceed the value of the approved auto loan. The poor woman was not only compelled to take several hours off her work schedule to answer calls from the following PNC staff, XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX XXXX but she also lost her voice in the process of talking to them. The ensuing fiasco ended with the PNC Bank bouncing its own check, thereby compelling the XXXX XXXX dealership to demand for the return of the car. A puzzling aspect of it all was that one of the PNC Bank staff, XXXX XXXX, let it slip that the bank customers were usually given the courtesy of an exception in a situation such as this one involving my wife. Asked why the same courtesy was not extended to her, the guy simply told her that she was not considered to be fit for the exception. Then, the reality struck her in the face. Obviously, my wife belongs to the minority group of Americans whose patronage is desired by corporate America, but not good enough to be treated equally with other customers that are considered worthy of all forms of courtesy. 

It's grossly pathetic that in the XXXX XXXX XXXX and having been a customer of PNC Bank for over 20 years, my wife could be subjected to such a shamefully discriminatory practice. " What is good for the goose is also good for the gander. '' This therefore was enough reason to confidently reject the final decision made by one XXXX XXXX XXXX on behalf of the PNC Bank on XX/XX/XXXX, when she gave my wife the ultimatum to either pay the shortfall or return the car to the dealership. What this arrogant ultimatum means for my family is that someone of my wifes caliber in XXXX is not fit to drive a XXXX brand new car. 

In view of this disappointment therefore, my wife and I have resolved to close our accounts, which include a XXXX XXXX XXXX savings account with the bank. We have realized that being customers of PNC Bank for more than XXXX decades can not remove the fact that we belong to a minority group of people that does not qualify to be treated equally with those other customers that are respected. 

The lesson here is that if my wife could be treated in this discriminatory manner by the PNC Bank, notwithstanding the fact that she has been its customer for over 20 years, then anyone among the minority group of people, and especially the XXXX community, can be a victim of the pervading corporate systemic racism in the United States of America.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation