Consumer complaint received 2023-09-16
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Billing problem
Company: BMW Financial Services NA, LLC (CA)

on XX/XX/XXXX, I wrote a {$70000.00} personal check from my XXXX checking account to BMW bank of north America to pay my auto loan. 

on XX/XX/XXXX, the check was cashed and I received a payment confirmation from BMW Financial Service ( BMW FS ). ( ref : XXXX ) on XX/XX/XXXX, BMW FS sent me a notification ( ref : XXXX ) saying " Your payment on XX/XX/XXXX in the amount of {$70000.00} credited to your above referenced account was return unpaid by your bank ( ... ) Please contact your banking institution with any questions regarding this returned payment. '' I called XXXX and asked them if the transaction was rejected. XXXX confirmed it was completed and corrected amount was deducted from my account and there was no returning payment. So my payment was neither canceled nor returned. I asked XXXX to FAX the proof of payment to BMW FS. The FAX item # is XXXX. I also sent BMW FS my up-to-date Checking account history ( ref : XXXX ) and the photo of the cashed check ( ref : XXXX ) through their message system ( ref : XXXX ). I called BMW FS later after sharing the documents and got the same claim the payment was return unpaid by your bank. BMW FS shared the loan account transaction history ( ref : XXXX ) with me but it's not helpful for solving the issue as there's no information about when and how my payment was returned. 

on XX/XX/XXXX, I had a 3-way call with BMW FS and XXXX. In the call, XXXX survey team assured the check was cashed and there is no returning deposit to my account. BMW FS made the same statement, they can't process the payment because it was return unpaid by XXXX and the money should be returned to me. Issue remains unsolved. XXXX recommended me to visit local branch to take further action. 
I visited the a XXXX local branch. My banker examined the check and also talked to XXXX back-office to confirm clearance of the check. XXXX back-office told us the check was cleared and was deposited to a XXXX account. They can't share any information about the account owner. XXXX back-office asked us to report a check fraud and obtain a police report case number and then file a claim with XXXX ( ref : XXXX ) so that they can perform further investigation. I reported check fraud online to XXXX Police Depart and waited for police officer to review and approve the report. 

on XX/XX/XXXX, I sent a request thru BMW FS message system ( ref : XXXX ) to complete " provide the information from payee '' section in page 3 of my XXXX  claim. 

on XX/XX/XXXX, BMW FS declined it ( ref : XXXX ) because they're not authorized to send the information through message system. Since the section " information provided by payee '' in my XXXX  claim is optional, I didn't follow up with BMW FS to get the information. Besides, I've documented all ( and the same ) information BMW FS kept stating repeatedly from all my previous calls with them in the police report in detail. 

on XX/XX/XXXX, the incident was approved and police report number XXXX ( ref : XXXX ) was assigned. Then I visited XXXX branch to submit my claim with claim # XXXX. The claim in brief is : " check payee claimed they didn't receive the payment. However, the check was cashed and my money was gone. Please undo the transaction and help to get my money back as I may be a victim of check fraud ". 

on XX/XX/XXXX, BMW FS manager contacted me and asked for the information regarding this incident. I shared the check that got deposit, my account history up as another proof of payment, the payment confirmation I received from BMW FS, and the approved police report document. I asked BMW FS to provide proof of returning payment. No matter it's wired or BMW FS sent a check to me, they should have a proof of returning. I got a reference document number XXXX ( but not the document itself ) and was told it's a XXXX  document according to what BMW FS. So I asked my XXXX banker to add this reference document number to my claim as additional material. 

on XX/XX/XXXX, BMW FS asked me to share my checking account up-to-date history to make sure the fund was never returned to me. And I shared it ( ref : XXXX ) as they requested. 

on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX claim team reached out to me and told me my claim # XXXX was declined. The reason is " after they examined the check, the account that the check was deposited into, and the transaction history regarding this check, everything is correct as my check requested. It was deposited to a chase account *owned by BMW bank of North America* and the transaction was completed on XX/XX/XXXX and never got cancelled. The proof of check clearance is the stamp by XXXX - XXXX deposit to XXXX XXXX -in the back of the check. And there's no cancellation record about this check so there's no extra information XXXX could share with me. The claim is concluded and closed ''. So according to XXXX, BMW bank of North America holds my money at the moment. Till this day, all information are essentially the same as the ones I provided to BMW FS back on XX/XX/XXXX. All my effort are just double/triple confirmation of the clearance of my check and never received a returning from BMW bank XXXX 

final note : I've contacted BMW FS and XXXX a lot more times than what I documented above to try to solve the issue. However, every time BMW FS reply with they'll reach out to accounting team to confirm and then came back to me with the same response they didn't received my payment. Besides, no proof of returning/check deposit cancellation are provided to me. Things are in total deadlock. And the bottleneck is XXXX and I can't get anything decisive proof from BMW bank to prove the returning or cancellation of check deposit. I've done my best effort but still failed to resolve the issue. Being troubled with the issue for about 1 month makes me totally drained and frustrated. I don't believe I can solve it with my effort anymore. So I'd like to ask CFPB to intervene and arbitrate this incident or request solid evidence to support BMW bank 's claim for not receiving my payment.