Consumer complaint received 2022-07-01
Company: BMW Financial Services NA, LLC
State: MT
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Lease
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem when attempting to purchase vehicle at the end of the lease

Complaint:
I leased a 2021 BMW from BMW of XXXX, which assigned my lease contract to BMW Financial Services. BMW of North America is not a party to my lease. 

On XX/XX/2021, I attempted to contact BMW Financial Services regarding a " litigation hold '' they had placed on my account preventing an authorized BMW dealership from paying off the balance of my lease. BMW FS would not speak to me and referred me to BMW of North America, who would also not speak to me, as they indicated I had a " litigation hold '' on my account. 

In response, I filed CFPB Complaint XXXX. BMW Financial Services, unwilling to acknowledge that they have allowed BMW of North America to put a " litigation hold '' on my lease account, responded with a response suggesting I attempted to contact them about the car and not my financial services account. I never contacted them about the car, I already know the car is awful. I contacted them about the " litigation hold '' which is preventing my ability to exercise my rights under my contract to purchase the car, return it to a BMW dealership, or trade it in. Again, I want to be clear, since BMW Financial Services is seeking to distort their improper actions, I am not asking to trade the car in at a third party dealer. After providing a letter misrepresenting the nature of my call, BMW FinanciaXXXX closed my CFPB case. 

In response, I filed a second CFPB Complaint, XXXX. Again, BMW Financial Services, unwilling to acknowledge that they allowed BMW of North America, who is not a party to my lease agreement, to put a " litigation hold '' on my account which is preventing my ability to exercise my rights under my contract to purchase the car, return it to a BMW dealership, or trade it in, responded with a series of letters. 

Also again, these letters seek to misrepresent the facts of my interactions and circumstances with BMW Financial Services. The letters acknowledge that I may pay of my car directly, return it to an authorized BMW dealer, or trade it in. However, what these letters did not state, was that I did take it to an authorized BMW dealer, and that dealer, which has had the car for almost a month, is attempting to pay it off but can not because BMW Financial Services has allowed BMW of North America to put a litigation hold on my account. After providing this misleading letter, BMW Financial Services closed my complaint. 

I again make complaint to the federal government. BMW Financial Services has entirely misrepresented every single aspect of my complaints about this lease. I never called them to speak to them about the car, I called them to speak to them about the " litigation hold '' that they had placed on the car preventing me from trading it in at an authorized BMW dealer, an act they acknowledge I am permitted to do in my second letter. 

Again, I am asking the CFPB to use its authority over BMW Financial Services to resolve this matter for me. I will follow this complaint up with a call to the CFPB today, since it seems so tough for BMW Financial Services to get their act together and fix this issue. 

And we will continue to do this, every single day, until they either fix this problem or the CFPB takes notice of their action. 

Enjoy your day.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation