Consumer complaint received 2018-08-14
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease — Problem related to refinancing
Company: BB&T CORPORATION (AZ)

Due to a family fall out, I am currently having to refinance my vehicle to get my father off of loan that he is a cobuyer on. I was told by the bank that is willing to refinance my vehicle for me that I needed to request a payoff from my current lender. Not an issue. I called them on Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX and spoke with a rep who told me the only way I was able to get my payoff was to go into a local branch or make an online account and get it from there. I live in Arizona and originally got the loan financed through a bank in Georgia. So the closest actual branch to me was in Texas, I told the gentleman that. He said if that was the case that I would just have to make an online account and would be able to receive my payoff from there. Yes, I did mention to him that I needed it for refinancing purposes. Due to not having an email on file, he told me because my email needed to updated that it would take 2 business days to get my account set up. Due to needing to email me a confirmation that says my account is ready to be set up. He said to wait for an email and that's what I did and never received one. So I followed up yesterday, XX/XX/XXXX and they told me that the account was never set up. I was then on the phone with a representative for 32 minutes just trying to get my account set up - not that representatives fault, she was very helpful and informative. My sole complaint is about the gentleman that helped me on Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX. I told him that I have never heard of it being so difficult to get a payoff for a loan, did not even offer to mail it to me. Nothing. It was frustrating because I work for a finance company myself and I know there are many ways to receive a payoff then what I had been told by him. I did not mention that I needed a payoff to the individuals that I spoke with on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, because I was just anxious to get online to get my payoff - like the rep from Thursday had told me. Once I finally got help with setting it up on Monday, I quickly logged on just to have a message online tell me that I needed to contact them if I wanted a written payoff. At that point I was absolutely upset. It's already stressful the situation I am having to deal with, let alone not even being provided the correct information prior to get this done the right way. I was also at work while trying to do this and having to go back and forth to get a hold of someone but the wait was constantly 50 minutes or more and when they called back, I was always on the phone at my own job with a customer to where I couldn't answer. I called later Monday night, still XX/XX/XXXX and at that point they told me the loan servicing department was  closed, which I thought that's who I had been dealing with the whole time, but at this point it just sounded like customer service. That rep provided me the number and business hours to call and speak with someone in regards to getting a payoff. I called this morning, Tuesday, XX/XX/XXXX, and the representative I had spoke with informed me that the easiest and quickest way for me to get a payoff since I am refinancing is to have the other lender fax in a document request with my name and loan account number. She said the soonest they would have it is 24-48 hours. At that point I finally got the answer I needed, but why didn't the representative that I spoke with on Thursday inform me of this? To save the time, the hassle and the absolute headache. I would have never had to make an account, I would have never had to wait on hold for 32 minutes to make my account and I am just really mad and upset that I was relayed the wrong information in the first place because I could have had the payoff to me by now, if not within the next 24 hours - I could have had the current lender that I am working with request it that same day on Thursday if I was told the correct information. I can not wait to be done with this company and really hope that a training opportunity is taken upon that rep so no one has to go through what I went through. Like I said, I work for a finance company, so I know how big of a deal this complaint can be and that's why I am making it known because it really did frustrate me and make it a struggle to get something so simple.