Consumer complaint received 2026-03-31 00:00:00
Product: Debt collection — Auto debt
Issue: Attempts to collect debt not owed — Debt is not yours
Company: Exeter Finance, LLC.
State: FL

Complaint narrative:
XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, FL XXXX Phone : ( XXXX ) XXXX Email : XXXX XX/XX/XXXX Consumer Financial Protection Bureau XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX Washington XXXX DC XXXX Submitted via : consumerfinance.gov/complaint FORMAL COMPLAINT AGAINST EXETER FINANCE CORP Re : Unlawful Deficiency Collection, Improper Fee Assessment, and Inaccurate Credit Reporting Exeter Finance Account XXXXXX/XX/XXXX COMPLAINANT INFORMATION Full Name : XXXX XXXX Address : XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, FL XXXX Account Number : XXXX Company Complained Against : Exeter Finance Corp, XXXXXX/XX/XXXXXXXX, XXXX, TX XXXX XXXX. NATURE OF COMPLAINT I am filing this formal complaint against Exeter Finance Corp for : ( 1 ) unlawfully collecting and reporting a deficiency balance that is legally barred due to failure to provide a compliant pre-sale notice ; ( 2 ) improper and duplicative fee assessment in violation of the Retail Installment Sales Contract ( RISC ) and UCC Article 9 ; ( 3 ) inaccurate credit reporting of inflated amounts to all three major consumer reporting agencies XX/XX/XXXX in violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act ( FCRA ), 15 U.S.C. 1681s-2 ( a ). III. FACTUAL BACKGROUND I entered into a Retail Installment Sales Contract ( RISC ) with XXXX XXXX, subsequently assigned to Exeter Finance Corp, for the financing of a motor vehicle. The account number is XXXX. The vehicle was repossessed, and Exeter Finance has since claimed a deficiency balance of {$10000.00}, which it is actively reporting to all three major credit bureaus. I obtained a detailed transaction history from Exeter Finance. The statement reveals the following : Beginning Principal Balance : {$15000.00} Outstanding Principal at time of statement : {$6700.00} Outstanding Interest : {$1300.00} Outstanding Fees : {$2100.00} Total Outstanding Balance Claimed : {$10000.00} IV. SPECIFIC VIOLATIONS A. Failure to Provide Pre-Sale Notice Deficiency Barred Under Florida Statute 679.614 and UCC Article 9 9-614, a secured creditor must provide the debtor with a written, compliant pre-sale notice before disposing of repossessed collateral. This notice must include : the method of intended sale, the time and place of any public sale or the time after which a private sale will occur, and a statement of the debtor 's right of redemption. I did not receive a legally compliant pre-sale notice prior to the disposal of my vehicle. Under Florida law, failure to send a compliant notice bars the creditor from collecting any deficiency balance. Exeter Finance 's continued collection and reporting of the {$10000.00} deficiency is therefore unlawful. B. Duplicate Repossession Fee Assessment Exeter Finance 's own transaction history reveals the following repossession fees charged to my account : XX/XX/XXXX Repossession Fee : {$720.00} XX/XX/XXXX Repossession Fee : {$200.00} XX/XX/XXXX Repossession Fee : {$720.00} ( duplicate ) Total repossession fees assessed : {$1600.00}. Charging a {$720.00} repossession fee twice is a direct violation of the RISC terms and UCC Article 9, which limits post-repossession charges to reasonable and actual costs. The duplicate {$720.00} fee alone artificially inflates the deficiency balance by {$720.00} and is improper under any standard. C. Undisclosed Auction and Repair Fees The transaction history further reveals : XX/XX/XXXX Auction Fee : {$280.00} XX/XX/XXXX Auction Repair Fee : {$15.00} These fees were assessed nearly a year after the initial repossession. For such fees to be recoverable, they must have been disclosed and itemized in the pre-sale notice. Without a compliant notice which was never provided these fees can not legally be added to the deficiency balance. D. Unexplained Payment Reversals Inflating the Balance The transaction history shows a pattern of payments received and then immediately reversed in XX/XX/XXXX : XX/XX/XXXX Payment Received : {$270.00} Reversed : ( {$270.00} ) XX/XX/XXXX Payment Received : {$730.00} Reversed : ( {$730.00} ) XX/XX/XXXX Payment Received : {$400.00} Reversed : ( {$400.00} ) XX/XX/XXXX Payment Received : {$710.00} Reversed : ( {$710.00} ) These reversals total {$2100.00}. No explanation, authorization, or notice was provided to me for these reversals. If these payments were improperly reversed, the true outstanding principal would be substantially lower than claimed. Exeter Finance has not provided a valid accounting justification for this pattern. E. Inaccurate Credit Reporting in Violation of FCRA 1681s-2 Exeter Finance is currently reporting the inflated and legally barred deficiency balance of {$10000.00} to XX/XX/XXXXReporting a deficiency balance that is : ( a ) barred by failure to provide pre-sale notice; and ( b ) inflated by duplicate fees, undisclosed auction charges, and unexplained payment reversals constitutes a violation of FCRA 1681s-2 ( a ), which prohibits furnishers from reporting information they know or have reasonable cause to believe is inaccurate. V. RELIEF REQUESTED I respectfully request that the CFPB : 1. Investigate Exeter Finance Corp 's failure to provide a compliant pre-sale notice prior to disposing of the repossessed vehicle. 2. Investigate the duplicate repossession fee of {$720.00} assessed on 02/26/2024 and all other improper fees identified herein. 3. Investigate the unexplained payment reversals totaling {$2100.00} in October 2023. 4. Direct Exeter Finance Corp to immediately delete the tradeline ( Account No. 5081493 ) from all three major consumer reporting agencies Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. 5. Direct Exeter Finance Corp to cease all collection activity on the disputed deficiency balance of {$10000.00}. 6. Impose appropriate civil penalties for Exeter Finance 's violations of the FCRA and applicable consumer protection laws. VI. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION The following documents support this complaint and are available upon request : Exeter Finance transaction history statement ( Account XXXX. XXXX ) showing beginning balance, fee assessments, and payment reversals XXXX reports from XX/XX/XXXXshowing current tradeline reporting Any pre-sale notices ( or absence thereof ) in my records I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief. Respectfully submitted, _________________________________ XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, FL XXXX XX/XX/XXXXXX/XX/XXXX

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation