Consumer complaint received 2022-02-24
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem — Investigation took more than 30 days
Company: GOLDEN 1 CREDIT UNION, THE (CA)

Hi CFPB, I feel so safe already just knowing that your agency exists to help me resolve our dilemma. 
1. We've had this vehicle loan with Golden 1 since around XXXX. Never been behind until Covid hit. 
2. We entered into a Covid deferment and payment reduction around XXXX from around {$390.00} per month to {$290.00} per month. Never been late on this new payment. 
3. The new payment of {$290.00} was set up for autopay through Golden 1 's website not through our bank. 
4. Around XX/XX/XXXX, I checked my credit report and found that Golden 1 had reported a 30-day late for the month of XX/XX/XXXX for {$98.00}. 
XXXX. Upon learning this, around XX/XX/XXXX, I immediately contacted Golden 1 to research. I first spoke with XXXX who transferred me to XXXX ( the only Golden 1 representative who seemed to care enough about consumers to listen ). XXXX confirmed my address. Here I found out that they still had my very old address. I told XXXX that I already changed that address around XXXX in writing when I applied for new Covid payment, XXXX told me that the address change need to be done by phone, I told XXXX that I changed the address again by phone BEFORE and AFTER I entered the new payment plan. I have several notes of when I spoke with different Golden 1 representatives in XXXX. This was red flag # 1 to me! If Golden 1 still has not updated my correct address, how would I receive proper notices and billing statements from them? 
6. XXXX told me that my new payment plan ended around XX/XX/XXXX. I told XXXX that I around XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with XXXX / Golden 1 and my notes listed 4 options. On my notes, I circled # 2 which said, " long modification extends 3 years. '' But XXXX told me that the paperwork I signed was only an extension of 12 months. I told XXXX, that if it's 12 months only, that meant that the payment of {$290.00} on Golden 1 autopay should have been rejected by their system when the term expired- IF GOLDEN 1 started billing me for the original payment of {$390.00}, or that I should have gotten a notice than I owe Golden 1 {$98.00} for each month around XX/XX/XXXX ( upon expiration of the 12 month plan ) - BUT I DID NOT GET ANY NOTICE OR ANY BILL from Golden 1.

7. IMPROPER AND INACCURATE BILLING LED TO INACCURATE CREDIT REPORTING AND DAMAGING OUR CREDIT. 
ATTACHED are proof that Golden 1 billing system is not accurate.

7.1. Screenshot of Golden 1 online account services. Please see where it says that my outstanding bill is {$390.00} for the month of XXXX. Screenshots of their website does not show an area where I could have seen that {$98.00} was delinquent since the Covid term expired. There's no breakdown! Nothing to even give me a hint that I needed to pay them {$98.00} per month. 
XXXX.2 IF I owed {$98.00} per month since XXXX, that means, as of XX/XX/XXXX, I owed Golden 1, {$290.00} ; and as of XX/XX/XXXX, I owed {$390.00} ; and as of XX/XX/XXXX, I owed {$490.00}. But when I logged on to the website around XX/XX/XXXX, the screen showed that I owed {$390.00} not {$390.00} ( total of {$98.00} from XXXX to XXXX ) or {$490.00} ( as per phone conversation with Golden 1 representatives ).

7.3 Over the phone, on XX/XX/XXXX, per XXXX, my account shows that it is 54 days past due and the outstanding balance is {$490.00}. 
XXXX. INABILITY TO KNOW HOW MUCH I OWE WITHOUT TELEPHONE CALL - It sounded like XXXX 's figures are close or accurate BUT the problem is that although Golden One 's internal system shows their representatives how much a customer like me owes but as a customer, I am not able to see what I actually owed them? I did not receive any bills in the mail and their online system was showing an inaccurate amount due. 

One of their representatives basically told me that customers would need to call Golden One in order to be sure of how much is owed. What? How many customers do they have? And how many would have to phone them to make sure that they are charged an accurate bill?

8. INACCURATE INFORMATION OVER THE PHONE ABOUT AUTOPAY. The day after I spoke with XXXX, the representatives I spoke to blatantly told me that the autopay was set up externally - to imply that the payment was being sent from my bank to Golden XXXX - that I set that up and that I should contact my bank to get information.

Basically I felt like Golden 1 was washing their hands- passing the blame on me as consumer, instead of investigating on their end so they could fix the issue- if it's a technical glitch which harmed the consumer. 

I told the representatives that I already checked external transfers from my bank and nothing was set up by me. I told them that the autopay was set up by Golden 1 either on their website or by their representatives over the phone- since I believe that Golden 1 required verification of accounts when setting up payment from banks instead of transfer from a Golden 1 savings or checking account.

ATTACHED is a screenshot showing that the autopay was set up from Golden 1 's end not my bank. 

9. AUTOPAY ISSUES - Their autopay system should have rejected my {$290.00} a month payment as soon as the Covid term expired so that I would be alerted that the payment is due - since I was not receiving any notices. I don't routinely log on to their website but even if I did, there is nothing there that showed I owed {$98.00} for a number of months. 

10. PROBLEM AND HARM DUE TO IMPROPER BILLING PRACTICE WAS THE INABILITY FOR ME TO PAY WHAT I ACTUALLY OWE MINUS PHONING THEM.

Because the website only showed {$390.00} outstanding balance for the month of XXXX, IF I only paid that amount online, I would have had 60 days derogatory for around {$190.00} ( {$98.00} per month x 2 months ). 

11. FINANCIAL HARM- I am not the primary on this account. The Primary account holder has been financially harmed by this irresponsible and neglectful billing practice. Due to the derogatory reported on his credit, he was not able to refinance for lower rate. 

I am a cosigner on my children 's financial aid. My children 's future was also impacted due to the 30-day late that Golden 1 posted on my credit. I had to use our emergency reserve funds to pay the balance of the tuition just so my child can remain in school. 

PLEASE NOTE THAT ONLY XXXX cared enough about customer service - had empathy to find ways to help me. 

NOTE that I paid twice on XXXX ( {$490.00} and {$490.00} ) even though the payment due on their website was only around {$390.00} - just to make sure that any delay on Golden One 's end would not give them a reason to post 60-day late on our credit report. I paid once online and another inside a Credit Union.

I had to pay online and then also go into a credit union that would accept the car payment so that we would not get hit with 60-day late because I'm told that even if I make the payment of {$490.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, it may not post until couple of business days later.