Consumer complaint received 2020-08-28 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Lease
Issue: Incorrect information on your report — Account status incorrect
Company: HYUNDAI CAPITAL AMERICA
State: MA

Complaint narrative:
I lease a XXXX through Kia Motors Finance. I have always paid on time without issue. I am enrolled in auto-pay for my bills with electronic statements so I don't need to give my payments much thought. In XX/XX/2020, unbeknownst to me, Kia included a charge for " property tax fees '' in the amount of {$280.00} on my statement. Kia never sent me an email about this. Kia never sent me a letter about this additional charge. Kia never left me a voicemail about this additional charge. My monthly auto-pay continued each month. I never heard a word from Kia. 

Due to the pandemic, I had changed residences temporarily. My mail was being forwarded to another location while I was living at a different residence. Thus, my mail was delayed. On XX/XX/2020, I finally received a letter from Kia, dated on XX/XX/XXXX, that I owed property taxes on the vehicle. I immediately paid the amount owed as this was the first time I had learned of it. In fact, I paid the property taxes, and I paid for an extra month inadvertently. Thus, Kia owes me {$170.00} currently. 

Kia never informed that I owed this money until the account was already severely delinquent. They are required to notify me of my debt and make a good faith effort to collect the money. They never did this and merely reported me unfairly to the credit bureaus. 

The money I owed Kia was not even for the car payments. It was for taxes owed on the car. This is something that is outside the contract. The account was not actually delinquent. As you can see in the payment history, all my payments were made each month. I was never charged a late fee. These were for property taxes. I can not be reported to a credit bureau for late payment of property taxes. 

As a result of this, my credit has been severely damaged,. I am in the process of trying to purchase a home, and this will cost me thousands of dollars,. My once pristine credit has been destroyed. I gladly would have paid this debt on time if Kia had just picked up the phone and called me. I gladly would have paid this debt on time if Kia had just sent me an actual letter in the mail notifying me. Because I was set to auto-pay, I don't look at my statements. I continued to make payments regularly on the account without knowing there was this additional fee. 

It is unconscionable that Kia would destroy someone's life and credit over {$280.00} in the middle of a pandemic. I had the money to pay {$280.00}. I don't have the thousands of dollars it will now cost me for a subpar mortgage due to the damage that has been done to my credit. 

Please, I am begging Kia, to remove the delinquency from my credit report. You never notified me about the debt. If you had just left me one voicemail or sent one letter before reporting me as delinquent, I would have paid. I have been a reliable customer, always paying my bills on time. The only reason I didn't pay this fee is because I didn't know about it. 

Please help me.

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