Consumer complaint received 2025-12-08 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Lease
Issue: Getting a loan or lease — Confusing or misleading advertising or marketing
Company: Mercedes Benz Financial Services
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I applied online for financing on a XXXX Mercedes-Benz XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX XXXX ) through Mercedes-Benz of XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 

Shortly after submitting the application, I received a text message from XXXX XXXX ( Internet Director ) stating that I was pre-approved. That set the expectation that my application for the XXXX XXXX had been legitimately reviewed and that financing was realistically available. 

After that, I began communicating by text with XXXX XXXX ( Sales Consultant ). During XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX repeatedly told me I was approved, but when I asked multiple times for the lenders written approval/denial, lender name, terms, conditions, and any down-payment requirement, she refused to provide any of that in writing. Instead, she sent me a dealer-created XXXX Motors worksheet for a completely different vehicle ( a XXXX Mercedes-Benz C-Class XXXX never applied for ) showing {$5000.00} down and a {$330.00} monthly payment. No lender was identified on this document, and it did not match the vehicle I applied for. 

Throughout the text conversation, XXXX gave me several different down-payment amounts that she attributed to the bank : first {$5000.00}, then {$20000.00}, then {$60000.00} for the XXXX XXXX. None of these amounts were supported by any lender documentation. When I continued to request written lender terms and asked to move the conversation to email, she refused, stayed only in text messages, spoke negatively about my creditworthiness, and made me feel like I was bothering her. The conversation ended with her telling me, Let us know when youre serious about coming in, which felt humiliating and unprofessional. At XXXX point she even claimed she could not email lender information because of HIPAA, which is not accurate for auto financing. 

Because of all this, I escalated the situation by emailing the stores General Manager, XXXX XXXX. In his reply, he stated that the only complete vehicle inquiry they show on file is for a XXXX XXXX and that there is no submitted documentation or lender information for a XXXX XXXX  XXXX. This directly contradicts what I was told by both XXXX XXXX who said I was pre-approved for the XXXX ) and XXXX XXXX who said I was approved and repeatedly quoted down-payment amounts as if they came from a lender ). 

Separately, on XX/XX/XXXX, I received an adverse action letter from XXXXl XXXX stating that Mercedes-Benz of XXXX submitted a request for auto financing on my behalf on XX/XX/XXXX and that XXXXl XXXX did not approve the request. The dealer never informed me of this denial, never identified XXXX XXXX as a lender they used, and never provided me with any written lender terms, approval, or denial when I asked. All of the information I received about approval and down payments came verbally or by text from dealership staff and was inconsistent, undocumented, and misleading. 

In summary, my complaint is that the dealership : Misrepresented my approval status for the XXXX XXXX XXXX. 
Provided a dealer-created worksheet for a different vehicle I never applied for. 
Quoted multiple, unsupported down-payment amounts as if they were lender requirements. 
Refused to provide the lender name or written approval/denial after multiple requests. 
Failed to inform me that an application had been submitted to XXXX XXXX and that it was denied. 
Used unprofessional, shaming, and dismissive language when I asked for transparency. 



I am requesting that the CFPB review whether my rights were violated under all applicable federal consumer protection laws, including but not limited to : ECOA ( Equal Credit Opportunity Act ) adverse action disclosure requirements and misrepresentation of approval status TILA ( Truth in Lending Act ) failure to provide accurate finance disclosures and refusal to produce lender terms in writing FCRA ( Fair Credit Reporting Act ) improper submission and use of my credit application without transparency or acknowledgment UDAP / UDAAP provisions ( Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices ) due to repeated misleading statements, contradictory down-payment demands, false justification ( HIPAA ) , and refusal to document lender actions XXXX XXXX XXXX Guidelines requiring transparent disclosure of lender decisions, terms, conditions, and adverse action notices I am asking the Bureau to determine whether the dealerships conduct including claiming I was approved, refusing to provide lender documentation, quoting inconsistent down-payment amounts with no written basis, and submitting an application to at least one lender without notifying me constitutes violations requiring corrective action, oversight, and regulatory enforcement.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation