Consumer complaint received 2019-12-05
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Lease
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease — Problem while selling or giving up the vehicle
Company: JPMORGAN CHASE & CO. (VA)

Chase Auto Finance were the lease holders when I leased my XXXX XXXX in XXXX. When the lease ended in XXXX of XXXX, I turned the car in, and they started sending me notices for tolls they received when my nephew was driving the car months earlier. I paid each of these as I received them, until they sent a {$550.00} fine they indicated was from the state of Delaware and said I had to pay it. Chase could only tell me limited information about this fine, so I called the state of Delaware and started to piece it together. 

From XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, my nephew drove the leased car through a Delaware XXXX   toll plaza, where you don't have an option to pay cash, 11 separate times ( drivers either have an XXXX or the Delaware Department of Transportation bills the registered owner of the car directly via mail ). As is typical, they bill the owner of the car at a rate of {$5.00} per event, totaling up to {$61.00}. Delaware sent the bill for these tolls to the registered owner of the car, Chase Auto, on three occasions : XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX XXXX Delaware was kind enough to provide me with copies of all three notices, which I will attach ). The first two notices indicated a total of {$61.00} was due for the tolls, to be paid by XX/XX/XXXX and then XX/XX/XXXX. When Chase didn't take action to pay or notify me that I should directly pay, Delaware added a {$50.00} fine per toll, totaling up to an extra {$550.00}. That extra {$550.00} charge was included on the notification sent on XXXX. Unfortunately, the first correspondence Chase sent me to notify me about the tolls was dated XX/XX/XXXX, and received over a week after that. A couple weeks earlier, however, I did call Chase around XX/XX/XXXX to attempt to pay my close-out balance and was told verbally about the {$61.00} in tolls that they had paid on my behalf. I mailed a check to Chase for that amount, and it was cashed a few days later. At that point, they didn't tell me that they had failed to pay the initial {$61.00} on time or notify me so that I could pay it directly. I first received notice of the {$550.00} fine when Chase mailed me a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX indicating I must pay a fine of that amount. 

In the proceeding months, I attempted to work with Chase to resolve this issue, explaining how their negligence had led to the additional fine. They refused to accept responsibility and insisted I pay the {$550.00}. I even faxed them documents on XX/XX/XXXX, proving that they had not paid the {$61.00} in tolls in time and had not notified me until XX/XX/XXXX, after the state of Delaware had already charged the {$550.00} in late fees. I received a letter from Chase on XX/XX/XXXX, that simply said their research showed that I received enough notice, without any evidence as to any timely notice or establishing a timeline. Many, many calls with Chase to come to a fair and just resolution have lead to nothing but threats from them that I must pay the fees they accrued because the contract I signed, according to them, allows them to accrue additional fines without notifying me, and they are still my responsibility. 

To make matters worse, I've reached out to the state of Delaware Department of Transportation many times, and they agreed to refund the entire {$550.00} plus the initial {$61.00} in tolls to Chase if Chase would fax them a letter on their letterhead requesting a refund and asking them to bill me directly. Chase initially indicated they would do this, but after months of stalling, recently indicated that they would no longer consider this option. I've worked extremely hard to provide a reasonable solution that allows neither party to pay for Chase 's mistake of not paying the tolls or notifying me to pay in time, but they are refusing to utilize that path because they think they can't be held accountable and can just send my bill to debt collection. 

I would be satisfied if Chase would just request the refund from the state of Delaware Department of Transportation so I could handle the matter directly ; but I firmly believe it's wrong for me to be responsible for an additional {$550.00} fine that could've been avoided if Chase, as the registered owner of the vehicle, would have paid the tolls in time or notified me so I could pay them before the fine was added. Thanks for any assistance you can give!