Consumer complaint received 2023-04-21
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease — Problem with paying off the loan
Company: FIRST CITIZENS BANCSHARES, INC. (GA)

XX/XX/XXXX : Contacted XXXX to request a 10 day loan payoff letter with a per diem. Was told by representative that it would be emailed to me. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I had not received the loan payoff so I contacted XXXX again. The representative was extremely rude and informed me that emailing the payoff was not an option and that the letter had been mailed to me and I would have to wait 7-10 business days to get it. I requested a supervisor. She was every bit as rude as the representative and provided no help. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I also sent a secure message through the First Citizens app to request the payoff. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Im not 100 % sure about this date ( it could have been XX/XX/XXXX ) but I chose to reach out to XXXX again because I had received conflicting information. I spoke to a gentleman, who was very nice. He said he didnt have the option to email the letter but he would reach out to the loan department. I told him I would just wait and see if I received the letter in the mail or if someone responded to my message on the app. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I received a response to my message on the app that read, Dear XXXX XXXX, Thank you for your message. We appreciate the opportunity to respond to your inquiry. Our records indicate that you contacted us in regards to this inquiry. If you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to send us a message or call us toll free at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX. You can also contact us internationally at XXXX. Our representatives are available Monday - Friday XXXX to XXXX XXXX, Saturday & Sunday XXXX to XXXX XXXX. Thank you for contacting XXXXirst Citizens Bank. We appreciate your business. Sincerely, XXXX Customer Support Specialist XX/XX/XXXX : I responded to the message on the app. My response read, Yes, in fact, I have contacted more than once about this inquiry and I havent received a loan payoff as of yet. Every other bank I have ever dealt with has NEVER had a problem sending me the loan payoff. The last bank I dealt with, I was able to print off the loan payoff myself. Seems to me that First Citizens is mighty eager to collect that {$7.00} per day in interest, which is exactly why no one will send me the payoff so that I can have this loan transferred to a company that I actually trust and enjoy working with. I have never dealt with more difficult people, or such awful customer service than I have with First Citizens Bank. I look forward to paying this loan off and moving on from this company. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I received another response on the app that read, Dear XXXX XXXX, Thank you for your message. We appreciate the opportunity to respond to your inquiry. Our records indicate your loan payoff request was mailed on XX/XX/XXXX to the mailing address we have on file. Please allow up to 10 business days for this to arrive at your location. If you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to send us a message or call us toll free at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. You can also contact us internationally at XXXX. Our representatives are available Monday - Friday XXXXXXXX to XXXX XXXX, Saturday & Sunday XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. Thank you for contacting First Citizens Bank. We appreciate your business. Sincerely, XXXX  Customer Support Specialist XX/XX/XXXX : I still had not received the loan payoff letter that was supposed to have been mailed on XX/XX/XXXX. I contacted XXXX again and spoke to a very nice girl. She apologized for the frustrations and explained that they could email me the loan payoff but told me I would have to make the request from the email account on file and include my name and loan number. She provided me with the email address of XXXX. She informed me the request would take 24-48 hours to receive a response. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I emailed the provided address @ XXXX XX/XX/XXXX : I also sent another message on the app that read, Good afternoon : First of all, your customer service leaves a lot to be desired. It is extremely sad that you and other representatives are either uninformed, or misinformed about the options for requesting a loan payoff. I first requested a loan payoff on XX/XX/XXXX through customer service. All you can tell me is that it was mailed on XX/XX/XXXX. I have not received that letter yet. Mail is delivered on Saturdays, so that is 11 days since you say it was mailed, which is absolutely unacceptable. Letters do not take that long to be delivered. Fortunately, the girl that I spoke with today was able to simply give me an email address so that I could make the request to have the payoff emailed to me, which is what Ive been asking for since XX/XX/XXXX. She seems to be the only person who knows how to do her job, which is really sad for your company. Please keep responding with your generic, unhelpful responses though, I love the confirmation that Im doing the right thing! 

XX/XX/XXXX : I received a response on the app that read, Dear XXXX XXXX, Thank you for your message. We appreciate the opportunity to respond to your inquiry. We apologize for the frustration this may have caused. A complaint has been filed on your behalf ; your case number is XXXX. If you need further assistance, please do not hesitate to send us a message or call us toll free at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. You can also contact us internationally at XXXX. Our representatives are available Monday - Friday XXXX to XXXX XXXX, Saturday & Sunday XXXX to XXXX XXXX. Thank you for contacting First Citizens Bank. We appreciate your business. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I still had not received either the mailed letter or an email with the loan payoff information. I contacted XXXX again and spoke with another nice lady. She apologized again for the frustrations and contacted the loan department for me. She informed me that the loan department told her that the requests usually do take 24-48 hours for a response but they had an overload of requests and it could take up to 72 hours. I was advised to wait another day and if I did not receipt to contact them again but hopefully that wouldnt be the case. 

XX/XX/XXXX : I still had not received either the mailed letter or the email with the loan payoff information. I contacted XXXX again and spoke to a nice lady but she told me again that the payoff could not be emailed to me. A supervisor told me the same thing. According to the supervisor, she didnt see that the letter had been mailed on XX/XX/XXXX. She said she saw that the letter was mailed on XX/XX/XXXX after they received an email request on XX/XX/XXXX. She was absolutely no help at all. 

I STILL do not have anything more than a verbal payoff and per diem from this financial institution and I am waiting to finish a refinance with another company.