Consumer complaint received 2025-04-10 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Lease
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Billing problem
Company: NISSAN MOTOR ACCEPTANCE COMPANY LLC
State: NJ

Complaint narrative:
We recently financed multiple vehicles around the same time : one for myself, my husband and another for our XXXX daughter. In those transactions, automatic payments were set up at the time of signing. Historically, when leasing or financing with other lenders, the payment setup has been part of the standard purchasing process, which is why we assumed my Nissan lease followed the same procedure. However, Nissans shift to handling everything electronically through the app caused confusion, and I was unaware that payments were not set up as expected. 

We also did not receive any USPS mailed notifications of missed payments or bills, so the first indication of an issue came when we were alerted by our credit monitoring service. The moment we received that alert, we investigated the situation and immediately paid the full overdue balance of {$1000.00} the same day to bring the account current. We also have plans to utilize automated payments as we have done for years. 

This was never a case of financial irresponsibility or attempting to avoid payment It was purely a miscommunication due to Nissans changed process. 

Contributing Factors That Led to This Issue : Nissans Lease Process Change Unlike other recent vehicle purchases, Nissans reliance on electronic setup through the app caused confusion regarding payment obligations. 

Lack of Proper Notification No mailed notices were received regarding missed payments. We request proof of any sent notifications or notices of past due bills mailed to our residence. 

Multiple Vehicle Purchases Around the Same Time Automatic payments were successfully set up for two other vehicles ( one for my husband and one for our daughter ), reinforcing the assumption that the Nissan lease was also set up correctly. Why this was not the case has never been fully explained to me. 

Failed Customer Support When initially imploring about the issue after numerous SPAM phone numbers calling my phone or bypassing calling my phone and getting sent straight to voicemail. I asked Nissans financial manager ( XXXX Nissan ) who provided no real assistance with the matter and gave me an irrelevant phone number that didnt lead to anything to do with Nissan . 

Security Concerns with Phone Payments Due to increased and past scam attempts on my phone with scammers pretending to be someone or an organization, weve always remained cautious about providing banking information over the phone. The numbers that called my phone were marked by XXXX XXXX XXXX as XXXX by default. 

Credit Damage Due to Preventable Issue My near-perfect credit score took a significant hit over this misunderstanding, which could have been avoided with clearer communication and even sending something an alternative means when Nissan was unsuccessful at establishing contact via my phone. Nissan had my email address tied to my Nissan account ( which was used to satisfy the overdue balance on XX/XX/year> ). 

Long-Term Customer/ Good Standing We have a well-established history of making on-time payments to Nissan, and this was a one-time incident due to process confusion. This is incredibly unlikely to ever happen again. This is a one off incident that we ask for grace to be given due to preceding points. 

Immediate Resolution Upon Discovery As soon as we were notified of the issue, we investigated it the same day and paid the full balance immediately and even wrote this letter to be sent to you. 

Request for Goodwill Removal Many financial institutions offer courtesy removals for first-time issues, and given our responsible financial history, this is a reasonable request. I would like to request a Goodwill Removal letter to supply to the credit agencies if Nissan is unable to correct the negative impact on my credit report. 

Why This Request Matters This situation has resulted in a substantial and unjustified drop in my credit score, which is unacceptable given my long-standing record of financial responsibility. We are appealing to Nissans sense of understanding, customer loyalty, and grace to remove the late payment marking from my credit report as a goodwill gesture. 

We are not trying to avoid our obligations. We never have. This was a unique circumstance caused by Nissans new process and a lack of clear communication.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation