Consumer complaint received 2021-11-02
Company: AMERICAN HONDA FINANCE CORP
State: OH
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:
1. I have been a customer with Honda Financial Services/AHF since XXXX. This is my 3rd auto loan with the company.

2. I began the refinancing process in XX/XX/XXXX and was approved by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I received a payoff check from them to sign and send to American Honda Financial, which I did. 
3. My payoff check was sent to American Honda Financial XX/XX/XXXX and received XX/XX/XXXX. I was informed by XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, the refinancing company, that the check was then cashed on XX/XX/XXXX. 
4. I received no contact from Honda Financial until XX/XX/XXXX. I spoke with Customer Service XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. She informed me of what happened with my payoff check - that the account number was not present on the check and that because the last name on the check did not match the last name on my HF account. She informed me to send my marriage license to XXXX, which I did on XX/XX/XXXX. I did not receive a confirmation email or phone call that my marriage license had been received via email. NOTE : It was during this time that myself and my husband tested positive for XXXX ( I have proof of positive test results if needed ) and were in quarantine. I was very sick and my mobility was limited ). 
5. I had a payment due with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. I made the payment to them as I assumed that everything would be resolved with Honda Financial, they would apply the payoff amount and I would be fine moving forward. 
6. I got a phone call on XX/XX/XXXX from HF indicating that my acct was still past due. I spoke to the representative XXXX and told her about the ongoing issue. She was the first to inform me that the marriage license had NOT been received. I re-sent it that day ( XX/XX/XXXX ) to XXXX with attention to XXXX. 
7. I looked into having to pay my monthly note to XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX y, and the loan balance was {$0.00}. This was on a weekend so I had to wait until at least XX/XX/XXXX to speak to customer service from AHF. 
8. I spoke with XXXX for the first time the week of XX/XX/XXXX. She was very pleasant and helpful. I wanted the issue resolved. We had an extensive conversation where I expressed my displeasure with the way the incident had been handled as well as the lack of communication to XXXX, the consumer. She acknowledged that someone in her department should have contacted me and apologized for the lack of communication and that she was going to make sure everything got resolved for me. XXXX expressed frustration because the marriage license that was sent on XX/XX/XXXX was not processed and used to update the last name on my account. This was not communicated to me by the Customer Service Representative XXXX that received the email on XX/XX/XXXX. Also, my marriage license was the only document I'd ever been asked to send in. If additional information was needed to update my last name, no one ever told me. XXXX told me that she was " Just going to put it through '' and assured me that my last name had been updated. I trusted that she would help. 
9. I was also informed from XXXX that American Honda Financial sent back the payoff check from XXXX XXXX. I remember this because she remarked that it was odd they paid themselves off " with their own check. '' 10. XXXX instructed me to speak with the refinance company and give her a call back. I told her I would. I asked for her direct number so that I wouldn't have to go through customer service and to get the matter resolved more efficiently. She was unable to provide a direct number. I did inform her that I was still behind and very busy catching up with work and other obligations after recovering from XXXX but I would do my best to get back to her quickly. 
11. NOTE : From my first time speaking with XXXX, I only spoke with her as she said she would be handling the issue for me. There was no conversation where XXXX ever indicated that I needed to make a payment to Honda Financial to avoid repossession. No customer service representative indicated that their calls were an attempt to collect a debt or that my account was that delinquent.

12. I spoke with XXXX XXXX the week of XX/XX/XXXX. I was sent documentation from them showing proof that American Honda Finance had not sent back the payoff check as XXXX reported to me. Instead, they created a whole new check to send to XXXX XXXX. XXXX had previously informed me that XXXX XXXX paid themselves " with their own check. '' As it turns out, this was FALSE. It must be noted that XXXX XXXX received this check from AHF AFTER I had emailed my marriage license to AHF so that they could apply the original payoff check from XXXX XXXX to my account. 
13. I attempted to contact XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, but was unable to call during AHF business hours due to the difference in time zones. I planned to call the morning of XX/XX/XXXX, but my child was sick and I was unable to call. 
14. The morning of XX/XX/XXXX, I came outside to my car being completely gone. Thinking it was stolen, I contacted XXXX who informed me that car companies are supposed to inform XXXX Police that a car is being repossessed. The car had not been reported as repossessed to the police, so I moved forward with a police report and statement. I called to speak to XXXX during business hours and she will no longer take my call. I also spoke to other customer service representatives, who told me to contact the Recovery department to handle my issue, but did not give me the phone number for the Recovery Department. The communication and customer service ( up to my first time speaking with XXXX ) has been XXXX XXXX. 
15. At no point in any conversation did XXXX ( or any other representative ) ASK if I was able to make a payment or that a payment of a certain amount was needed to get the account current. She made me feel as though everything would be resolved. I thought the process was simply to get my name updated on my AHF account so that AHF could receive the funds from the original payoff check and complete the refinance process. If I had known my car was in danger of being TAKEN, I would have done everything I could to prevent this from happening.

16. My credit has now been RUINED beyond repair and AHF is at fault.

17. This whole situation feels EXTREMELY predatory, as if AHF wanted to keep me locked into a high car note/high interest rate so they botched my refinance and now that my credit is destroyed, I am stuck with them or without a car. I am reporting all of this to the CFPB and XXXX.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief