Consumer complaint received 2022-09-21
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease — Unable to receive car title or other problem after the loan is paid off
Company: HYUNDAI CAPITAL AMERICA (OK)

In early XX/XX/XXXX, I opened an account with Hyundai Financial ( XXXX  XXXX XXXX ) to finance the purchase of a XXXX XXXX XXXX vehicle. In late XX/XX/XXXX, I contemplated selling this vehicle. At that time, I had a principal balance of approximately {$34000.00}. On or about XX/XX/XXXX, I called the customer service phone number of XXXX XXXX that was referenced on a recent statement ( XXXX ) and spoke with a company representative. I told the representative that I was considering selling the vehicle to a local dealership, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, for {$45000.00}, or approximately {$10000.00} more than the loan balance. I asked the XXXX representative for guidance on to go about completing the transaction in such a way as to 1 ) pay off the existing loan ; 2 ) receive the approximately {$10000.00} difference between the purchase price vs. the amount owed, and 3 ) provide XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX a vehicle that was free of a loan & to receive a clear title. The XXXX XXXX representative suggested I have XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX make the entire {$45000.00} check payable to XXXX XXXX. She then provided an address for the company to which to send the check. The representative stated that upon receipt of the payoff, XXXX XXXX would then mail me a refund check for the difference between the check received from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and the amount owed on the vehicle within 30 days. I didn't need the money within XXXX days and thought that would be a reasonable course of action. On Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX, I then completed the sale of the XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX sent XXXX XXXX a check for {$45000.00} via overnight mail along with documentation showing my account number there for which the payment would be credited. I received a letter on XX/XX/XXXX from XXXX XXXX dated XX/XX/XXXX saying that my loan account there was paid in full. Approximately 30 days later on/about XX/XX/XXXX, I had not received a refund check and called XXXX XXXX customer service to inquire about the status. I spoke with a XXXX XXXX representative who stated that the company had recently changed the time frame in which they processed refund checks for overpayments of vehicle loans from 30 days to 45 days. In addition, she told me that it would take an additional XXXX days after the 45 day waiting period for me to receive the check. I expressed frustration about them arbitrarily extending the period of time to process a refund check. I further stated that I had relied on the first XXXX XXXX representative 's statement to me that the refund check would be processed within 30 days. The representative apologized and stated there was nothing she could do. I was very upset about this and asked how I would go about filing a complaint. The representative provided an address for XXXX XXXX where complaint letters should be mailed ; they did not have an online option for filing a complaint. On XX/XX/XXXX I mailed a letter to XXXX XXXX in which I filed a formal complaint about this. 

XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, a man named XXXX from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to discuss my complaint letter. He stated that because of the size ( more than {$2000.00} ) my refund was in a pending status waiting for a manager to approve it. He further explained that the check would be mailed as soon as it was approved. XXXX gave me his direct phone number in case I needed to speak to him about this matter again. 

XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I called XXXX from XXXX XXXX to check on the status of my refund check. He said that the check was still in a pending status and that I should just be patient ; it would go out soon. 

XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, I called XXXX with XXXX XXXX to again check on the status of my refund check. I brought to his attention that the loan had now been paid off for 48 days. I asked if my refund check had been issued. He told me that he could not send a refund check to me ; rather, their company policy was that any payments made in excess of the balance of an loan account had to be paid to the payor ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) and not to me, as the account owner. I protested this policy and stated that the first representative with whom I spoke ( person who recommended I have the full {$45000.00} payment amount made payable to XXXX XXXX ) never told me that and never told me that there would be up to a 45 waiting period before a refund check would be made. He said there was nothing he could do. I asked to be transferred to a supervisor. 

I was then transferred to a lady named XXXX, a supervisor in XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX executive office. She told me that they were going to call XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX to see if they would grant permission for them to pay me the difference between the {$45000.00} payment to my account and the {$34000.00} loan balance. She stated that if they gave verbal permission, they would mail me a refund check. 

Late in the day on XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX from XXXX XXXX called me and said that she had " good news. '' They would be sending me a refund check via overnight mail. She asked if I would like to have the tracking number when the label was generated. I said " yes, I would like to have that. '' XXXX said " I will call you on Monday, XX/XX/XXXX and provide that to you. I thanked her. 

Late in the day on Monday XX/XX/XXXX, I had not heard from XXXX nor XXXX XXXX. I called and left a message for XXXX and she called me back. I told her 1 ) she hadn't called me, as she stated she would ; and 2 ) she didn't provide the tracking number. She said she now had a overnight mail tracking number to provide me. I asked, " So the refund check will go out via overnight mail tomorrow, XX/XX/XXXX? '' She replied, " No, it won't go out until Thursday. '' I told her I didn't understand why they had to wait an additional two days to send me the refund check. I told her it had been over 50 days since they received a check to pay off the loan, yet I still didn't have my refund. I told her that this is the worst experience I've ever had with a lender. I also stated that they have misrepresented their refund payment process several times, had held my refund for an unacceptable amount of time, and not honored any of the commitments they had made to me through this entire process. XXXX did not apologize for any of this and was anxious to get me off the phone. I told her that I would never again purchase a XXXX or XXXX XXXX, nor would I ever do any business with XXXX or XXXX XXXX ever again.