Consumer complaint received 2025-07-21 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan — Denied request to lower payments
Company: AMERICAN HONDA FINANCE CORP
State: LA

Complaint narrative:
If a dealership advertises a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX at an MSRP of {$28000.00} on its own website, and XXXX XXXX XXXX identifies the same car with an MSRP of {$27000.00} and a fair purchase price of {$26000.00}, what reasonwhat honest, fair, and defensible reasoncould there possibly be to charge a vulnerable customer {$29000.00}? And if that inflated figure is then expanded through hidden costs to {$34000.00}, what name should we give to that conduct other than manipulation and gouging?

If the total obligation is driven, through a financing rate of 18 %, to XXXX XXXXXXXX than {$10000.00} above even that inflated pricewhat are we witnessing if not the extraction of wealth through exploitation? Is this the free market at work, or is it predation dressed up as commerce? 

If I am on a fixed income of {$960.00} per month from XXXX, and the monthly payment imposed upon me is XXXX XXXXXXXXnearly 88 % of my entire incomecan anyone in good conscience call that sustainable? Would any reasonable person argue that a payment structure consuming almost nine times the widely recommended 1015 % of income is fair?

If the dealership and American Honda Finance Corporation reviewed my application, saw that I had no trade-in, no down payment, no cosigner, and knew I was unemployed and reliant on XXXX, what did they see? Did they see a person in need, or did they see an opportunity to profit? Is this what our economic system was designed to doto punish those who are already struggling?

If my credit score is XXXX, and if a credit score is merely an opaque three-digit construct devised by private corporations like XXXX, one that does not consider income, assets, or life circumstances, why is it used as a weapon against me? Who decided that a late paymentnot a missed payment, but merely latemeans that I should be subjected to terms far harsher than industry norms? And what do we say about a system in which studies show over 45 million Americans are credit invisible or unscored, and yet these same arbitrary numbers are invoked to justify overcharging those with the least power?

If the Federal Reserve reports that the average interest rate for nonprime borrowers on new car loans is between 12 % and 15 %, how can an 18 % APR be justified except by greed? If the CFPB itself warns that transportation expenses above 20 % of income are dangerous, what can we call an 88 % burden but financial strangulation? 

If a contract is signed under circumstances where one party has no meaningful choice, is it truly valid? When I was stranded without a car in Louisiana, where over 90 % of residents depend on vehicles due to inadequate public transportation, what freedom did I have to walk away? If coercion takes the form not of threats but of circumstancessign here or lose your ability to live and functiondoes that not meet the very definition of duress and undue influence that renders a contract voidable?

If corporations hide behind the words policy, procedure, or the system, do those words absolve them of moral responsibility? Or do they simply reveal a deeper truththat these systems and policies were built to protect profit, not people? When a dealership claims they can not lower the price, is that really true, or is it that they simply will not? And if they will not, what does that say about their priorities?

If fairness and justice matter, why should I be forced to pay {$13000.00} more than the fair market value for a car simply because I am poor and XXXX? Should the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau not investigate such conduct, given its mandate to stop unfair, deceptive, and abusive acts and practices?

Requested Resolution : If the numbers demonstrate manipulation, should they not be corrected? If a fair price is known XXXX  XXXXshould that not be the price reflected in my contract? If industry averages show a fair APR range of 1215 % for someone in my credit bracket, should that not be applied to me rather than an 18 % rate? If my payment consumes nearly all my income, should it not be recalculated to an amount that allows me to live? 

I therefore request that the CFPB investigate and require XXXX XXXX and American Honda Finance Corporation to : Adjust the sales price to the fair market value of {$26000.00}.

Reduce the APR to a fair and reasonable level consistent with industry averages.

Recalculate the monthly payment to a sustainable amount.

Examine whether this case reflects systemic exploitation of other consumers in vulnerable financial situations.

Conclusion : What is the purpose of consumer protection laws if not to prevent exactly this kind of abuse? What justification can there be for turning a persons hardship into a corporate windfall? What defense can XXXX XXXX or American Honda Finance Corporation possibly offer that will stand against the clear arithmetic of exploitation?

If the CFPB believes in its mission to protect consumers from unfair and abusive practices, then I ask you : is there any case more deserving of your attention than this one, where the numbers, the circumstances, and the choices all point to deliberate exploitation?

I await your response, prepared to provide every piece of documentation necessary, confident that when the facts are laid bare, no amount of corporate rhetoric can obscure the truth : this was not fair dealing. This was predation, and it must be corrected.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation