Consumer complaint received 2023-10-18
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Repossession — Company explaining amount owed
Company: M&T BANK CORPORATION (NY)

This is a follow up to a complaint filed yesterday for this same issue. In the last XXXX hours I have been continually materially impacted by incorrect information and misrepresentations made by the repossession department at M & T. I was told by M & T representatives that in order to release my vehicle, they needed the towing company to respond with total costs so they could add it to my payoff balance. I was told to wait and that this could take several hours. After nearly a full day I simply began calling tow companies locally. I was told by M & T employees on XX/XX/17 that they were not at liberty to disclose the towing company or location of my car as a matter of protecting the outside company. After simply calling a few companies I found that XXXX XXXX, a local tow company, had my car and was more than willing to let me know exactly where it was and how much the costs were associated with the tow. Not only did she tell me that the costs are always the same, she told me that this bank in particular ( M & T ) continuously holds up repossessed cars from being reclaimed by their owners for this reason. Furthermore, she informed me that her company had immediately sent all necessary information to M & T the morning that they took my car. There will be at least XXXX instances on the recorded line of M & T employees claiming that they did not have that information when in fact it had been provided before the bank had even opened that day. After speaking with the tow company I called back to M & T and was told, again, that the information was not available and I would have to wait. When I informed the representative I was speaking with that I had called to the tow company and learned that they had in fact furnished the needed information I was told " it ain't gon na make a difference ''. The M & T representative said that my speaking with the tow company did not matter and I would simply have to wait. At that point I asked for identifying information for the call so I could reference it in the future. At that point I was put on hold before the representative came back on and told me that suddenly the company did in fact have the information they needed and I was next on the list to be called. After several hours I received a call back giving me directions on how to pay my loan balance and was told that I would need to bring cash or a certified check in the amount of {$1600.00} to an M & T location so I could have my car released. This will be on the recorded line on XX/XX/17 around XXXX. When I arrived at the M & T Location with a certified check for {$1700.00} I was told that the payoff amount was in fact {$2000.00} and that I would need to use the ATM ( for a fee of course ) to pay the remaining balance. At nearly every juncture of what was already a critically damaging moment for my family and I, M & T bank has proven unable to furnish me with accurate information, or provide systems that can be relied upon. The lack of professionalism or attention to detail in any company would be shocking. The fact that this organization is XXXX families rely on to perform critical functions in their financial lives is frankly horrifying.