Consumer complaint received 2019-12-11
Company: General Motors Financial Company, Inc.
State: FL
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Lease
Issue: Managing the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Billing problem

Complaint:
My father had a car lease through GM Financial Leasing. On XX/XX/XXXX, my father passed away. He lived in the state of Florida which is where the car was also located. I lived in XXXX, PA at the time and my sister ( and only other family member ) lived in XXXX, TN. At the time of my father 's death, we were in the state of Florida but left shortly afterwards ( about 1 week ), locking up his home ( and the car which was located in the garage ). Prior to leaving, I did pay any of my father 's monthly XXXX bills including his GM Lease payment for XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$380.00} ( paid out of his account ). Towards the end of XXXX/beginning of XXXX, I contacted an estate lawyer in Florida to discuss settling an estate/costs, etc. It was recommended during that call, that I stop paying all of my fathers incoming bills, with the exceptions of the one that needed to keep his house running ( i.e. electric, water, etc ) and he advised me to contact all his creditors to report his death. I had not formally retained the lawyer at this point. Over the next several months, while struggling with XXXX, I contacted all the creditors my father had to notify them of his death and provide a copy of the death certificate when required. I notified GM Financial of his passing on XX/XX/XXXX and that I was named the executor of his estate. I spoke to a man named XXXX who informed me that I needed to fax over his death certificate which I did the next day ( it was later confirmed in one of many phone calls with GM Financial that they had received the faxed copy of the death certificate ). During this call, XXXX informed me that I needed to get down to Florida immediately to return the car to a XXXX dealership or they would attempt to repo the car. I explained to XXXX that I lived in XXXX and worked full time job and could not just hop down to Florida to do this. I also noted that I was interested in buying out the lease on the car ( which was up in XX/XX/XXXX ) but XXXX informed me that I did not have the right to do this. He was rude and pushy during this car and made comments such as I was going to run away with the car, they had to make sure I did not do that and that they would find and pursue other family members about getting the car. Again, I reiterated that, I could not just get down to Florida to return the car and his reply was that all he could do was notate the account but could not promise that repo action would not occur. I noted to XXXX that I would try to get down to Florida in about a months time to return the car. Following that phone call, I began to receive almost daily calls from GM Financial trying to collect a debt. It was always a different person that I spoke to and I always had to repeat that this was not my account, that my father was deceased and that I was not living in the same state that the car was in ( etc ). I eas continually, told the account would be notated of this information yet everytime they called it seemed as though this was new information to them. On XX/XX/XXXX, I got a text message ( and multiple phone messages ) from a man named XXXX ( repo guy ) wanting to come pick up the car ( phone number XXXX ). At this point, I was not aware I had the option to buy out the lease from the car and explained to XXXX that I did not live in the area but was trying to come down the week of XX/XX/XXXX to return the car. On XX/XX/XXXX, a woman named XXXX called me from GM Financial. I once again explained the situation to her at which point she told me that I could buy out the lease but until I had the paperwork from the court showing that I was the executor of the estate they could not provide me with any information about the payoff amount ( which I would have immediately secured financing for ). I explained to XXXX  that I was tired of repeating myself to GM Financial and I no longer wanted to calls from multiple people and would like to have one contact at GM Financial to work through this with. At that point she told me her system went down and she would call me back ( this was around XXXX ). I never received a call back from Brie and assumed at that point that GM would wait for the court paperwork so that I could buy out the lease. Also, during the month of XXXX, I formally retained and entered into an agreement with the estate lawyer I spoke to in XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received another text message/multiple phone calls from a different repo guy ( phone number : XXXX ) asking if the car was ready to be picked up. I responded via text that I already discussed this with GM Financial that I planned to buy out the lease on the car. On XX/XX/XXXX I received a call from a woman named XXXX XXXX at GM Financial. Once again, I had to repeat everything and told her I wanted one contact there to deal with, my intention to buyout the lease and that I had retained an estate lawyer who would begin the process with the courts of getting me the paperwork showing that I was the appointed Personal Representative for my fathers estate. She agreed to be the point person and provided her email address so that we could communicate via email ( as I wanted everything documented in regards to my communication with the company ). Her email address provided was XXXX. She noted during that call that the lease was going to be charged off that evening and that I had to make a payment of {$380.00} ( +  {$10.00} processing fee XXXX that day. She noted that if I did not do that and the lease charged off, then I could not buyout the lease on the car. So, I made the payment out of personal bank account. Not long after that call, I got another call from a woman named XXXX, checking on the status of the court paperwork. I explained that I did not have it yet and was moving to Florida ( into my fathers home where the car was stored ) at the end of XXXX ( at which point I would be going into the lawyers office to sign all the paperwork for the court filings ). She was very nice ( the nicest person I spoke to the whole time I dealt with GM ) but did note to me that the car was still out for repo. I explained to her that they would have a hard time getting access to the car as it was in the garage of a locked home within a gated community. She noted to me that she had seen a lot during time working in that department including repo guys breaking into homes to get access to cars. This comment added to my concern/anxiety/frustration about what lengths GM Financial would go to get the car despite my ongoing conversations with them about my plan for the lease. On XXXX, I began to receive emails and regular phone calls from a man at GM Financial named XXXX XXXX stating that my lease was in default. There were a series of emails that went back and forth with him, including an email to him from my lawyer ( they are all attached ) and an eventual phone call between my lawyer and XXXX  ( which occurred on XX/XX/XXXX ). Despite, all this communication with GM Financial, I got another email from XXXX the morning following the call ( XX/XX/XXXX ) with my lawyer asking what my intention was with the car. Up until this point ( the day of XX/XX/XXXX ) my intention was and remained to buyout the lease on the car. However, when the call with my lawyer was not enough to stop GM Financial from contacting me ( at which point I still did not have the paperwork from the court naming me the personal representative and knew it would be several more weeks until I got it ), I made the decision ( out of fear that repo guys would be knocking on our door now that they knew we were living in the home and frustration over continually being harassed by them ) to give the car back at the point and no longer buy out the lease. On Friday XX/XX/XXXX, I emailed XXXX to notify him of this and requested that a phone number for a towing company be provided to me that I could call in order to schedule a time for the car to be picked up. My intention was to call the towing company on Monday XX/XX/XXXX to do that. However, at XXXX on Monday XX/XX/XXXX a repo man ( phone number XXXX ) was ringing our doorbell and wanted access to the car to repo it. At this point, I had not cleaned out the car and my husband denied him access to the car and stated that he could come back tomorrow to get the car. The repo man agreed to call the next morning to arrange a time to get the car, however at XXXX : XXXX he was ringing the doorbell again to get the car. At this point, I turned the car over ( he sent me a text acknowledging the pick up-screen shot attached ). I then got a letter on XX/XX/XXXX, in the mail from GM Financial in the mail ( dated XX/XX/XXXX ) noting that the estate had defaulted on the loan ( see attached ) along with confusing next steps. At this point, as stated earlier, I no longer wished to buyout the lease on the car and as advised by lawyer, planned on treating GM Financial as a creditor of the estate so I did not respond in anyway. 
I am appalled at how I was treated by GM Financial. I felt pressured, stress and frustration over the constant phone calls, texts from repo men and comments made by GM Financial. I also was severely depressed after my father died ( to the point that I had to take leave from work under FMLA ) and dealing with this type of harassment made a difficult time even more difficult. I did not have any other issues with any of my fathers creditors and in fact had very opposite experiences in which companies were kind and followed the proper procedure that a company should when an estate is being settled.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation