Consumer complaint received 2026-05-29 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Problem with the interest rate
Company: NAVY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION
State: NC

Complaint narrative:
Navy Federal received my title on XXXX and only needed a single SIGNATURE to complete the being reflected as the lienholder. I was only notified via snail mail, and it went to address I no longer lived at. I received no phone call, text message, in-app notification, or secure message, despite my account having paperless statements on. Navy Federal rate increased on XXXX. I first noticed in early XXXX when checking my account and going to make a payment. Immediately, vehicle was titled and registered in NC on XXXX with Navy Federal Recorded as lienholder. Title agency said everything was kosher. At that point I figured this had been dealt with within the 90 day timeframe. Back and forth with Navy Federal for months with no resolution in sight. They kept stonewalling saying I needed to record them as the lienholder, which I DID, and proved with several documents. I received no direction and the title agency and XXXX DMV kept saying everything was fine on their end. Someone from Navy Federal FINALLY reached out to XXXX DMV in XXXX, almost 4 months since the rate increase, and they informed me I needed to order a duplicate title from FL and surrender it to XXXX DMV. This was the FIRST I heard of this. So I ordered a duplicate FL paper title and immediately surrendered it on XXXX. The lady at the office said quote " navy federal was lying '', that there were absolutely no errors or notes on my account, no additonal documents I needed to submit, that I could not complete an XXXX Lien Recording Application because the lien was ALREADY FILED SUCCESSFULLY. She would take my duplicate title and send it to XXXX DMV but as far as she could see, I had a legal NC title and Navy Federal was properly recorded as the lienholder. So, she re-submitted an entirely new title application and MANUALLY added a dependency/note/letter so the XXXX DMV and Navy Federal could finally see it and record themselves as the lienholder. Navy Federal continued to stonewall into XXXX. On XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX I reached out again, and the reps only solution was that I should AGAIN order another duplicate title and surrender it. Navy Federal said quote " On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, Navy Federal contacted the XXXX XXXX DMV and was advised that a title has not been issued because the registered owner did not provide the required documents ''. " On XX/XX/XXXX, Navy Federal again contacted the XXXX XXXX DMV but has not yet received a title ''. Again- the title was surrendered to the XXXX DMV XXXX XXXX. At this point there was no end in sight and I grew increasingly frustrated. I started a CFPB complaint on XXXX and reached out to the NC Attorney Generals office. It took Navy Federal until XXXX to respond. All communication between that timeframe through the secure message portal was " We are working on your CFPB complaint, please give us more time ''. Delaying the process almost another 2 months. ( When I finally received a response from CFPB complaint on XXXX, Navy Federal clearly was ignorant to the timeline or deliberately lied about dates to make things seem favorable to them, saying " On XXXX XX/XX/XXXX, our member contacted Navy Federal to advise they were working on a lien filing in North Carolina. '' acting like that was the FIRST TIME I had reached out to them to try and fix this, when I have in fact been dealing with this since XXXX. ). I went BACK to the title agency on XXXX, spent about an hour there, and the lady really took her time to help me solve this. She called the XXXX DMV herself through their personal connections and was able to escalate the situation to someone higher up. The XXXX D MV rep said even though the title had been surrendered for over a month at this point, that the XXXX DMV had not removed the letter when they received the title. So when Navy Federal was calling the XXXX DMV, it was showing I had not submitted the documents. I don't know where this all went wrong, clearly there is miscommunication issues between all parties. Navy Federal, XXXX DMV, title agency, and Navy Federal 's inability to contact me through the portal, phone call, or text message. I have done everything asked of me by Navy Federal. Acting quickly within a week or two to first get my car registered and titled in NC on XX/XX/XXXX, shortly after seeing my rate increase 2 weeks prior. AND in early/mid XXXX when I was asked to request and submit a duplicate title, I did so IMMEDIATELY on XX/XX/XXXX. Now I'm being told by Navy Federal, quote " Due to the amount of time that has passed since the rate was converted and the title was received, any additional interest paid will not be credit back to you ''. I believe this is EXTREMELY unfair, not only because Navy Federal sometimes took 1-2-4-8 weeks to respond to my messages, but also due to the fact that the XXXX DMV made in error in recording when my duplicate Florida title had been surrendered, delaying the process an additional month. Not to mention the fact that Navy Federal 's last communication on XXXX said " We have received your NC lien recorded title. At this time, nothing additional is needed from you. If you have further questions, please let us know. ". IT HAS BEEN 3 WEEKS SINCE THEY RECEIVED MY NC LIEN RECORDED TITLE, AND MY RATE STILL HASN'T CHANGED. I AM STILL MAKING INCREASED PAYMENTS. AND YOU TELLING ME I AM NOT ELIGIBLE FOR ANY REFUND? All in all, my interest rate has been increased from 5.99 % to 14.790 %, and my payment has been increased from {$510.00} to {$620.00} for the last 7 months. Just going off the payment increase, I estimate I've lost {$730.00} in overpayment. But what's confusing is when I check my XXXX statement, it says my ENTIRE payment went towards interest. Almost like the loan had been restarted and the interest had been front-loaded again. So how much have I actually lost during this ordeal??? When I asked Navy Federal exactly how much additional interest I've paid, they simply gave me my year-to-date interest amount. That is clearly not the metric I was looking for. Not to mention, I have had to take an estimated 30-40 hours off of work to solve this issue. Countless trips back and forth to the XXXX DMV. Dozens of phone calls and secure messages to Navy Federal. Completing every task asked of me by Navy Federal in a timely manner. My labor rate is $ XXXX/hr, just going off that I estimate this entire ordeal has cost me {$3700.00} in lost wages and additional interest paid!!!! Not only that, but I called today, and the rep mentioned Navy Federal moved their mailing address from Pennslyvania to California and are offering 90 day extensions for title transfers!!! But I STILL was probably not getting a refund. Absolutely unbelievable terrible customer service from Navy Federal. During the entire process, the customer services reps assured me they would try and make an exception to credit the additional interest I've paid. Otherwise, I WOULD HAVE JUST REFINANCED IN XXXX AND TAKEN THE SMALL LOSS. NOW I AM OUT SEVERAL XXXX DOLLARS AND DOZENS OF HOURS OF MY TIME I WILL NEVER GET BACK. All the while I had to deal with this during a stressful home move, building a new home, my grandmother getting a rare XXXX XXXX and having a XXXX XXXX I needing to take care of her, my other grandmother getting XXXX XXXX and needing full time attention. And me being incredibly busy with work, having to take hours off every week to try and deal with this mess. Words can not describe how unhappy I am with Navy Federal 's customer service, lack of empathy, lack of urgency, and terrible process.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief