Consumer complaint received 2024-01-28
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Lease
Issue: Repossession — Account reinstatement or redemption after repossession
Company: AMERICAN HONDA FINANCE CORP (SC)

American Honda Finance Corporation operated under abusive and deceptive practices. This company informed me that I was going to get my vehicle back if I paid the past due balance and any fees that they tacked on to the amount owed after they repossessed my XXXX XXXX XXXX for the account number. I suffered a XXXX XXXX  in XXXX of XXXX and almost XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 

I fell behind on my payments due to not being able to work from the excessive amount of doctor appointments that I and my child had to have for the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX the possibility of her having XXXX XXXX and my complications from XXXX XXXX. I continued to update Honda Financial Services and they told me that I was going to be ok even with making small payments here and there which I was doing. 

I was able to start working slowly in XXXX and begin to make more frequent payments to catch up on the balance owed. After picking up more hours and taking care of my XXXX XXXX, I was so focused on both her health and mine but still was making some type of payment towards a car payment. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I signed in to the account around XXXX XXXX  EST and was able to see the balance and I was still able to make a payment. I didn't have all of the funds on my card, so I had to transfer the funds to another account. I signed back into my online account and attempted to make a payment on the automatic payment system at or around XXXX XXXX EST and my account was locked out. I attempted to call the company at XXXX XXXX  EST on XX/XX/XXXX, to make a payment through the phone, but they were closed according to their normal business hours. 

I woke up around XXXX XXXX  EST the next morning and realized that my car was missing. I reached out to American Honda Finance Corporation at XXXX XXXX  EST, and they told me they repossessed my XXXX XXXX XXXX and I would have to waXXXXt 24-48 hours for their intake process to be completed as they could not relinquish any information to me until the process was complete. 

I called them again on XX/XX/XXXX, and began to request information about the vehicle and who picked the vehicle up. They proceeded to inform me that the vehicle was picked up at an unknown location, that I was not aware of. This location was approximately 1 mile from my place of residence. 

I asked the agent : how the car got to the location if I had both sets of Keys. They then proceeded to tell me that that was where I left my vehicle. Several neighbors have surveillance cameras that show and indicate that my vehicle was picked up from in front of my house. My information was disclosed to a third party without my consent and my car was stolen by this agent that picked my car up. 

On the weekend when I would attempt to call XXXX the pre-recorded messages state to call back during normal business hours, but the hours are not disclosed. 

This company operated in an abusive and deceptive way by providing me with two options to obtain my vehicle back and violated 15 USC Code 1692e : A debt collector may not use any false, deceptive, or misleading representation or means in connection with the collection of any debt. This company is liable civilly 15 USC code 1692k and operated with pure intent to deceive me into thinking they were going to relinquish my car back to me after making the {$2100.00} payment they requested. I sent them the check and had to pay telegram fees as well. The company held the check and made me think it was going to be processed. Instead, they held the check for almost two weeks and never called or let me know that I was going to get my car back. I had to make a report to XXXX XXXX to determine if they cashed the check. XXXX XXXX stated that it was still sitting in their account which was accruing interest One way was to reinstate ownership/pay off the balance they requested or to have another company finance the car. The agents that I spoke with informed me that I was going to receive my car back if I sent the company a check or money gram for the past due balance and the fees associated that they tacked onto my account. 

They requested that I send them {$2100.00} to reinstate and to provide them with a declaration page from my insurance company to show that I had full- coverage on the vehicle. After I provided them with all that they requested, they sent a letter to me that stated they were still going to sell my vehicle, that I was not going to get it back, and that I needed to pick up my belongings out of the car. 

I requested to speak to a supervisor on several occasions of which I was only passed to leads. I was told the only way to speak to a supervisor was to request a callback and they would return my call in 48 hours. The supervisor would call back at inconvenient times and would only call once or twice back to back and not leave a direct number for me to reach back out to them, who stated that they had the authority to stop the repossession. When I asked the lead why was I given the option to reinstate if they were not going to allow it in the first place. 

The lead proceeded to tell me that he didn't care about my car being repossessed and that I should have made the payment when I said I would. I told him that I tried to make the payment but the system in my profile was locked and there was no way for me to make an immediate payment. 

I was offered to pay {$2100.00} and since the car sold for around {$16000.00}, there was a deficiency balance of approx {$3500.00} that the company wanted me to pay. The vehicle was also involved in an accident before the repossession, and they didn't want to provide me with a condition report to show the extent of the damages. I am requesting monetary relief and this debt removed from my credit report due to the deceptive practices that they played in. 

I was unable to find any XXXX liens on this vehicle and this security is still being traded at the Securities Exchange Commission and has been sold from the original creditor XXXX XXXX XXXX to American Honda Finance Corporation to XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. 

This company also never reimbursed me for a service that I no longer wanted and it did not reflect my loan balance. My car payments were {$280.00} before I added the service and {$320.00} after the service was added. I called to cancel the service and my car payment amount still stayed the same. 

My car payments were {$320.00} and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX IN XXXX NY, is requesting that I make double that every month to pay the balance off.