Consumer complaint received 2025-12-19 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Billing problem
Company: PENTAGON FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
I became unemployed earlier this fall and contacted Pentagon Federal Credit Union to discuss my auto loan. PenFed provided a courtesy skip payment for XX/XX/year>. Once I became employed again, I made a partial payment of {$240.00} on XX/XX/year>, intending for it to be applied toward my XX/XX/year> payment in order to reduce the financial burden during the holidays. 

In XX/XX/year>, I logged into my PenFed account to pay the remaining balance due for XXXX. At that time, the account reflected a balance due of {$350.00}, which I paid on XX/XX/year>. 

After submitting the {$350.00} payment, I began receiving calls from PenFed stating that my payment had not been received. I logged back into my account and saw that the balance had changed and was now showing that I owed approximately {$450.00}. I immediately contacted PenFed, as it was clear something was wrong. 

PenFed confirmed that both the {$240.00} payment and the {$350.00} payment had been received, but stated that the {$240.00} payment had been applied to fees rather than toward my XXXX payment. I disputed this because my account had reflected the {$240.00} as being applied toward XXXX until after I made the {$350.00} payment. It was only after that paymentand after the XXXX due datethat the account was retroactively adjusted to show an additional balance due. 

I was never informed that I had outstanding fees. These fees were not reflected in the amount due shown on my account, nor were they disclosed during the multiple conversations I had with PenFed representatives prior to making these payments. I relied entirely on the information presented to me by PenFeds system when submitting payment. 

Despite this, PenFed has refused to apply the {$240.00} payment toward XX/XX/year> and has stated that it can only be reapplied as a principal-only payment, which would leave my XXXX payment delinquent. This was not my intent when making the payment and does not reflect how the payment was represented at the time. 

I have spent countless hours attempting to resolve this matter with PenFed, but have received no meaningful resolution. Instead, I have been given inconsistent explanations, including being told that principal payments can not be made using an external account despite the fact that I have used an external account to make payments for the past three years without issue. 

This situation is not the result of my failure to pay. I made payments in good faith based on the balances displayed on my account and reasonably believed my XXXX payment was satisfied. The retroactive reapplication of payments and refusal to correct XXXX has caused my family unnecessary stress and financial hardship. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated issue, but part of a pattern of ongoing problems I have experienced with this institution over the past several years.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief