Consumer complaint received 2025-10-20 00:00:00
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan — 
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: TN

Complaint narrative:
My late husband and I took out a loan years ago. We sat in a Suntrust ( now Truist ) branch and signed the paperwork together. I guess I figured that meant the loan was through Truist, or at least was able to be accessed and managed through Truist. I was wrong. My husband passed away in XX/XX/XXXX and I have been paying the loan ever since. Its almost {$800.00} a month, and I recently requested a loan extension to lower the payment. Its been quite a journey but, ultimately, it hasnt impacted anyone but me. 

I have incurred an embarrassing amount of overdraft fees due to Truist taking this loan out and overdrafting many smaller transactions. I was told by Lightstream XXXX who the loan is actually through ) that I could try to put a stop payment on the loan but they couldnt guarantee it would be effective. It wasnt. So, I spent {$36.00} for a stop payment only to have it NOT be honored, in addition to paying overdraft fees for when the loan was paid out. 

This created a snowball effect, when my paycheck was put through and I was back to a positive balance, it all just started over again. 

I have taken all of the necessary steps, again and again, to obtain a lower payment. I have been transparent with Lightstream and I have demonstrated willingness to pay the loan in full, but at a lower monthly amount. The fact that Ive managed to cover it by myself for as long as I have should also have some bearing on this. I HAVE to have relief from this payment. I have incurred hospital expenses and have other pressing debts that absolutely require my attention. 

This is exhaustive, I know, but I wanted to document everything. Below is the timeline of interactions with Lightstream/Truist concerning extension of my loan : XX/XX/XXXX : Received an email stating that Lightstream and Truist would be sharing information re : customers. Because of this, I assumed that the death certificate on file with Truist was also on file with Lightstream. I was later informed by a customer service rep at Lightstream that they DID have this documentation on file. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Requested via phone call to Lightstream customer service to put in for an extension of my loan. I was informed it was too close to the date of autopay for me to do so and that I need to allow XXXX business days on each side of the date of autopay before trying to request a loan extension. So, effectively taking half of the month out of the equation when requesting an adjustment. 

XX/XX/XXXX : Submitted loan extension request online ( the only way this can be done, according to customer service ). 

XX/XX/XXXX : Returned a call to Lightstream re : my loan. I was under the impression that being approved for the loan extension was all I had to do. However, the request for extension I submitted was not approved because I did NOT sign the documents sent to me in XXXX. That was an oversight on my part. So, trying again I resubmitted on XX/XX/XXXX, and signed off on the document in XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. Only to be informed via email on XX/XX/XXXX, that the loan extension was voided due to me not signing the documents. 

These steps have been repeated multiple times ( XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, XX/XX/XXXX, and XX/XX/XXXX ) as the emails attached will attest, with some instances occurring while I was on the phone with customer service, with them stating they would add a note to make sure that THIS time it goes through. 

Ive visited XXXX in person and spoke with XXXX XXXX, Senior Relationships Banker, at the XXXX, TN, branch on XX/XX/XXXX. He was kind enough to call Lightstream Customer Service while I was in his office. We attempted to speak with the customer service representative, but eventually gave up due to poor connection quality. During that visit, he mentioned that, although XXXX and Lightstream are the same company, Lightstream isnt under their jurisdiction. XXXX XXXX called me the following day ( XX/XX/XXXX ), to tell me he was able to get through and the connection was much better, so perhaps I should try again and request to speak to a supervisor. 

So I did that. And again, the same thing occurs. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX a.m., I made a call to Lightstream customer service and spoke with XXXX. After I set up a payment for an overdue payment, and ONLY after I set that up, did she put me in touch with a supervisor, XXXX. I explained everything to XXXX. He stated that the application cant be hand fed, it has to go through the process that Ive gone through and that XXXX is tasked with processing the application. This goes directly against the information that XXXX XXXX provided to me. 

At this point, with me being repeatedly informed that the extension had been approved, only to not have it processed, I would like to bring a breach of faith claim against XXXX and Lightstream. It seems their technology has outpaced the intelligence of their employees, and thats unsettling, at best.

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 explanation