Consumer complaint received 2016-07-12
Company: DriveTime
State: TX
Product: Consumer Loan
Sub-product: Vehicle loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease

Complaint:
I purchased a XXXX Chevy Trailblazer from DriveTime in XXXX XXXX and paid on it for approximately 5 years. In XXXX XXXX, DriveTime said if I did n't pay them a lump sum of almost $ XXXX, they would repossess my vehicle because my maturity date expired in XXXX XXXX. Under the threat of repossession for an almost paid for vehicle, I had no choice but to purchase another vehicle from DriveTime, so I traded it in and bought a XXXX Chrysler Aspen, being advised that it would improve my credit since I had paid off a vehicle. In XXXX XXXX, I noticed that the previously paid for vehicle was no longer listed on any of my credit reports, so I contacted them immediately to have it corrected. I was advised by XXXX in their customer relations department that the information had been purged from all XXXX bureaus in XXXX XXXX, and they were only able to correct it/reinstate the trade line with XXXX, but not the others, she would email their credit reporting department and follow-up with me once it had been corrected, which could take XXXX days. I made numerous follow-up requests by telephone and email since XXXX XXXX to have it corrected, but it 's still as if the transaction never occurred. The most recent contact I had was with a XXXX XXXX in customer relations, and I explained to him that I felt I had no choice but to file a complaint since I had exhausted all my efforts to have it corrected, advising that DriveTime ca n't just sweep this under the rug by simply changing their name to XXXX. He assured me he would be personally handling it and was confident he could have it resolved but I never heard back from him to date. In XXXX XXXX I fell behind on the XXXX Chrysler Aspen but maintained frequent contact with DriveTime, the last being with XXXX on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX, who assured me she was handling my account and we could work on bringing it current as long as I made the payment on XXXX/XXXX/XXXX. I expressed my frustration over the excessive phone calls from multiple call centers, emails and texts but at no time did I request to be placed on a " do not contact '' list. She apologized but stated they would continue until the account was current. I made the payment we discussed and had no further contact with DriveTime until today, when received a credit monitoring email alert and learned XXXX had charged off and closed my account without notifying me. Obviously in disbelief, thinking it had to be an error, I contacted customer relations to speak with XXXX, but he was n't available, so I spoke with another representative who transferred me to the charge-off department. I spoke with XXXX and a manager, XXXX XXXX, who advised me that XXXX XXXX had placed me on a " do not contact '' list, the vehicle had been charged off, the account was closed for non-payment, and they were within their rights to do so without notifying me in any manner. I explained that I never requested to be on a " do not contact '' status and was n't sure it was even legal for them to charge off and close my account with notifying me since I still had possession of the vehicle. XXXX XXXX said there was nothing they could do to change the charge off/closed status and advised that even if I pay the required {$2300.00} to retain the vehicle and continue making payments, the charge off status will remain on my credit report. DriveTime ( now XXXX ) has been negatively impacting my credit since at least XXXX XXXX when the paid for vehicle was purged from all XXXX bureaus, making it impossible for me to purchase or refinance my current vehicle, which they have still not corrected. DriveTime has already paid an XXXX fine but is still using the same deceptive trade practices under the name XXXX and should be liable for damages to the consumers they are negatively impacting and preventing from purchasing vehicles elsewhere.

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