Consumer complaint received 2017-05-12
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease — Problem with paying off the loan
Company: CITIZENS FINANCIAL GROUP, INC. (VA)

I  purchased a vehicle just over 6 years ago and shortly after setting up my auto loan, it was transferred to Citizens One Auto Finance. I  set up an auto debit right away so I could directly pay my auto loan #  XXXX . The payment was scheduled to come out of my   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX    checking account on the  XX/XX/XXXX  of every month, in the amount of {$550.00}. I knew my last payment was coming up a nd assumed everything was being handled and still being paid automatically until I received a letter dated  XXXX / XXXX /  XXXX   telling me my loan was past due, to send a payment of  XXXX , plus a late fee of {$27.00} immediately and for any questions I should contact the collections department at  XXXX . I received the letter in the mail last Friday (  XXXX / XXXX /  XXXX    )  and called the number referenced right away. When I called the number the prompt was n't working and the message just kept replaying. I looked up the customer service number online and while the message was replaying on one phone, I dialed customer service from another phone and finally spoke to "  XXXX  '' aroun d   XXXX   XXXX   .  XXXX  told me auto debit does not work for the last car payment, nor does the online payment option. If I paid by phone I would be charged {$20.00} and it 's not an option to waive that fee. I was never given an explanation as to why I was not provided a final bill or contacted any other way to inform me of the way I needed to pay my last payment.  XXXX  told me he would waive the late fee as I had never been late before and I needed to mail my payment to "  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX , RI  XXXX  ''. I put a check in the mail in the amount of {$560.00} ( a different amount from what was listed on the letter  )  the next day (  XXXX / XXXX /  XXXX   ).     Today,  XXXX / XXXX /  XXXX  , I reviewed my bank account and the check still had not cleared. I called customer service again and this time spoke to  XXXX  around     XXXX   XXXX   this morning.  XXXX  could not explain why my payment had not posted but warned me it could take as long as  XXXX / XXXX /  XXXX   to post ( this is several days after the " 30 days past due '' date ) and she also could not articulate when my information would be sent to the credit bureaus. I asked to be transferred and she told me I needed to tell her exactly what department I needed to be transferred to or she could n't help. I then asked to speak to her boss and I was transferred to  XXXX .   XXXX   said it would take 30 days before anything was transferred to the credit bureaus, she was n't sure why my payment would n't have auto debited, was n't sure why I could n't make my last payment online but nonetheless, offered to enter a case for research as my payment still had n't processed.     Tonight when I got home from work I had another letter from the collections department, dated  XXXX / XXXX /  XXXX  , stating my account was/is delinquent and if I do n't pay within 10 days of receiving this letter my information would be sent to the credit reporting agencies. My biggest concern at this time, is that the address on this letter ( Citizens One Auto Finance, Collections Department,  XXXX   XXXX   XXXX ,  XXXX , RI  XXXX  ) is different than the address   XXXX   from customer service provided last week - where I sent my payment.     At this point I have 6 days left to make a payment. I sent a check ( potentially to the wrong address ) 6 days ago and nothing has processed. I 'm being threatened that after making every single payment on time for  six  years, and even though I never received a final bill or disclosure on how to make a final payment, my information will be sent to the credit reporting agencies ( please note that my current  credit score is  over  XXXX   XXXX .