Consumer complaint received 2024-05-01
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Repossession — Account reinstatement or redemption after repossession
Company: BHFC Financial Services INC (AZ)

Dear CFPB Investigator. 

I'm writing in regards to an auto loan/ ongoing repossession involving BHFC located in XXXX , AZ . Time is not on my side in this situation and I pray that your organization can help me before it is too late. 

In late XXXX, a video posted on XXXX XXXX by the XXXX XXXX went viral. A video where a bunch of teens show how easy it is to steal a XXXX or XXXX, only certain years and models would be affected by this damaging video. Police in the area where the video had taken place said that they began noticing a problem in XX/XX/XXXX, by XX/XX/XXXX there were 110 XXXX and XXXX thefts, that's a huge difference if you compare it to the 7 total thefts for those vehicles in the entire previous calendar year. And it hasn't slowed down. 

In XXXX of XXXX insurance agency XXXX XXXX announced they would no longer be writing policies for certain models and years of XXXX and XXXX. They would not be the only company to make this promise. But In my own little world in XXXX, I had no knowledge of any of this nor did I care about it, I had my own life to live. 

At around the same time the XXXX XXXX videos were going viral, in XXXX of XXXX I got a job at XXXX as the XXXX XXXX, it was the first real w-2 job I had ever had, I was so proud of myself. But with the dark cloud that followed me something inevitably had to happen and In XXXX of XXXX my car broke down and I was getting evicted from my house. This would be around the same time the insurance companies announced they wouldn't be covering certain vehicles. 

I tried to apply for an auto loan at multiple different dealerships but I was denied on every occasion. My credit was bad, I was at XXXX in XXXX, with a dozen recent hard inquiries and a few accounts in recent collections. I had pretty much given up hope, without a vehicle I would have no way to move my stuff out of my home, and still keep my job, making it impossible for me to find another place to live. 

I was spending almost every extra penny I had on rentals because my job required me to have a vehicle. I was on my last {$100.00} when XXXX XXXX in XXXX found me. I was told that they had a vehicle that they could get me approved for with only {$1000.00} down and spread out over the course of a month. Desperate, I jumped at the deal knowing that the 29 % interest would probably kill me. I didn't question how I got the loan. I didn't care. It was the answer to all of my problems, but knowing what I know now, I would have felt so lied to. I should have questioned why or how I was approved for the car. I know now, even though I can't really prove it on paper, that this was done with ill intentions. 

The car was a XXXX XXXX XXXX. I call her XXXX for short. She was, or still is kinda like my baby. I finally felt like a real adult, and on track in my life. Even with the XXXX XXXX monthly payments and the {$250.00} insurance payment that took a good chunk of my income each month, XXXX was still the best. At the end of XXXX I was evicted from my house, because my landlord didn't want to take the money I had made since I got my job. 

All without missing one day of work, my boyfriend and I packed up our stuff and moved it into a little storage shed, and we spent about a week living in my car. And believe me, those fold down seats don't fold down quite flat enough to make it a bed for 2 and a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX My mother in law was kind enough to open her doors to us, and that is where we have been ever since. 

At first I made my payments on time and for even more than what was asked, around {$500.00}, because I really wanted to be responsible with this opportunity I was given. But in XXXX of XXXX i lost my job and i was dead broke again. During that same summer just one month after I lost my job, XXXX and XXXX agreed to a XXXX XXXX dollar settlement for affected owners of stolen cars. More and more insurance companies were blacklisting certain models. 

But absolutely oblivious to any of this my boyfriend and I did whatever we could to make sure that XXXX payments were made. My payment history got a little sporadic, you know {$200.00} Here and {$140.00} there or {$1000.00} because I'm almost 2 months late, but I always, always paid it. And I always tried to keep insurance on her. Insurance became a really annoying problem for me and i didnt understand why. I am a XXXX XXXX XXXX single female, with no tickets and no accidents and no claims. But yet my insurance was around {$250.00} - {$300.00} each month. I thought that was normal for full coverage, but it seemed I would start these policies at about XXXX XXXXXXXX {$600.00} dollars and at the end of the month, I'd be canceled. I just didn't understand. 

In XXXX of XXXX I started delivering papers for the XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I basically lived in my car. But I was making {$450.00} a week, which was just enough to cover my car payment, gas, and food, and a regular insurance payment, but I wasn't making regular insurance payments, I was paying to start a new policy every month. Needless to say, I fell a little behind on my car payment. I really didn't think it was a big deal, the bank knew that I always paid and that I would when I could, I never in a million years thought they would repo me. But they did. I like to joke and say they kidnapped her and are holding her for ransom. But it's how I really feel. Without XXXX, I can't work and I'm stuck at home all day trying to figure out how to get her back. 

The bank says I need to pay about {$1300.00} to redeem my car. They are holding it in XXXX, which is about XXXX miles from where I am. I really have no way to get up there if I am able to pay for it, but that is something I can figure out later. My boyfriend is willing to sell his own vehicle for {$900.00} so that I have just enough to pay for XXXX. But just as we were about to go to sell his car, I called the bank to see how long after payment they would release my car so that I could figure out how to get up there. They informed me that I would also need to provide 2 paycheck stubs and proof of full coverage insurance.

Ok, no problem. I had my bank statements showing my direct deposits, and I was just pulling up my declaration page on my insurance app whenwe 're sorry, but we will not be able to continue your coverage. no option to reinstate, nothing.omg. Now what, I just don't have the money to get a new policy right now, and redeem the vehicle. What should I do? I decided I would start looking anyway, maybe I could find something really cheap. That's when I found out that my car, my XXXX, is blacklisted on the insurance market. Evey single quote i got was between XXXX XXXXXXXX to start a new policy, in addition most companies wanted current pictures and the proof that i had gone to the dealership for the recall service. 

With XXXX being in car jail, I couldn't take her to the dealership. I asked the bank if I could have some pictures, so that I could maybe obtain insurance. The first person I spoke too, said that she would take care of it. When I called later that day to check on the status, the second person I spoke too, said that it was not in the notes at all, and that she would have it taken care of. If i have to pay anything over {$200.00} to start a new policy, i won't have enough to save my XXXX. 

I wrote the bank two emails over XXXX hours, begging for assistance in finding affordable insurance or to renegotiate the terms of my redemption, or to let me just acquire the state minimum until I could find affordable full coverage, with my next paycheck coming in, in a week. They said that they could possibly hold the car for a little while longer than 10 days, but I was told that if they held her anytime past the XXXX of XXXX that they would have to add on another month 's payment, which would leave me exactly where I am now. 

Being a XXXX at XXXX, i know how the repo system works, i know how the redemption cycle goes, and how to sell cars at auction. I know because I did it. I know that they could work with me a little more, especially knowing that I want to resume my regular payments and get my car back. They would make more off of me keeping the car than they would taking it to auction, because I still have to pay my 29 % interest. 

I fell behind on my payments because I was sold a vehicle that everyone in the car dealing industry knew was going down. I was given a loan, when nobody else offered me even a {$50.00} payday advance. And i hadn't had my job for more than a few weeks, and I had a lot of recent hard inquiries and collections and no loans in my credit history. 

So Why was I given the loan in the first place? 
If it was not set up for me to fail? 

Even though I can't prove that, I believe it to be true. Because of the cycle. The bank approves someone who otherwise wouldn't be approved. Knowing more than likely that person will not be able to afford the payments on it, along with the knowledge of my car 's current theft issue and knowing that my insurance would eventually be too expensive. Knowing that they will eventually repo it, and sell it at auction, to more than likely another dealership, and the cycle repeats. In the process, ruining essentially, my life,,, with a recent eviction a year ago, and now a repo on my record. I will never find a place to live, especially because I will eventually lose my job if I have no car to go to work in, all while still having to pay off the balance of my car. 

I'm not saying that I didn't sign the contract. I did. I knew then it was a bad deal. But what choice did I have? I did not know that all of this would happen. Like I said before, I've been late on more than a few payments, but I never had a lapse in coverage at the same time as being in default. Until the XXXX of XXXX. That is when my coverage got canceled. I didn't even know it. They came and took XXXX on the XXXX. And again I can't prove that they took her knowing that she wasn't covered at the time, but it seems a little too convenient. Especially with how I've begged for some assistance to redeem my vehicle. 

The law says that to finance a used vehicle i only need to have liability coverage, it's the bank 's own policy that says i have to have full coverage. But I can't obtain full coverage until I can take my car to the dealership for the recall. I only ask that they allow me to insure her at a minimum until I can get the recall done and can upgrade the policy. I've been met with no assistance or compassion. If they gave me the loanin the first place because they are so into giving people a shot, especially when they are down, then why when I'm trying my best to get my vehicle back, are they throwing roadblocks that I just can't move in my way? Almost like they dont want me to get my car back, and keep me from doing so. You demand something of someone when that person is literally unable to do whatever it is that you want because you are keeping it from them. Giving me no choice but to witness unwillingly as my car goes up for auction, and a repossession goes on my record, all while I lose my job and any chance of getting into my own home, and still owing the balance to her. 

I have until XX/XX/XXXX to redeem my vehicle. A vehicle that can not be insured the way the bank wants without taking it to a dealership first. I'm stuck, and even though I've asked for advice and help, I've just been told that I can only redeem the vehicle with full coverage insurance. Please, anybody, Please help me save my XXXX.