Consumer complaint received 2025-07-03 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Lease
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Problem with fees charged
Company: HYUNDAI CAPITAL AMERICA
State: NY

Complaint narrative:
I leased a new XXXX XXXX XXXX at the end of XX/XX/XXXX and successfully set up my account and autopay through the Hyundai Motor Finance website ( www.hmfusa.com ) in XX/XX/XXXX, selecting Total Amount Due for each monthly payment. The account correctly charged me the monthly payment of {$630.00} from XX/XX/XXXX, through XX/XX/XXXX. 

However, I recently received the routine billing email for XX/XX/XXXX, and the payment amount unexpectedly increased to {$740.00}. I immediately took action by visiting the website and calling Customer Service today, XX/XX/XXXX, at XXXX XXXX. 

After speaking with the first customer service representative for XXXX minutes, they discovered that a XXXX  MONTHS, a total of {$100.00} late fee had been added to my account. However, this was the first time I noticed any change in the billing amount, and I had no idea that late fees were accumulating until recently. There were no issues when I initially set up autopay, but suddenly, late fees were charged for XXXX months without any notification. 

Therefore, I made XXXX points very clear : 1. I am happy to change the payment date to the 1st of each month to avoid any further late fees moving forward. 
XXXX. I am willing to pay my XXXX bill ( {$630.00} ) over the phone right now to resolve the issue completely. 

The customer service representative was unable to make any decisions and, after XXXX minutes, transferred my call to the lease-end team, explaining that the customer service team had no additional resources to assist me. The lease-end team member was very kind and understood my concerns, but informed me that the issue ultimately needed to be resolved by the customer service team. As a result, she transferred my call back to them. 

Another customer service representative took over the case and asked me to explain the situation again. I explained everything and reiterated what I was willing to do. The solution she offered was for me to pay the full amount ( {$740.00} ), after which Hyundai Finance might refund the late fees. However, I refused, insisting that the late fees were not my responsibility and should not be paid by me. I asked them to correct the billing amount first so I could pay the accurate total. The representative said she needed to escalate the issue to her supervisor, so I waited another XXXX minutes until the supervisor joined the call. 

Once again, I explained my case. The supervisor began by questioning why I had set up the autopayment date for the XXXX of the month. However, there was no guidance indicating that choosing certain dates could result in late fees. That payment date was set from the very first bill, and I had not encountered any issues with late fees until recently. 

The supervisor repeatedly questioned whether I had read or understood the contract and frequently interrupted me during the conversation. She immediately placed the blame on me without fully listening to my explanation. Despite my efforts to resolve the issue, she continued to focus on why I chose the XXXX as the payment date rather than offering any real assistance. As a supervisor, her unwillingness to help and her approach to customer service were extremely disappointing. 

She referred to the e-version of the billing statements sent to me and blamed me for not reading them carefully. She also confirmed that the late fees only began in XX/XX/XXXX. However, I had not made any changes to my autopayment settings. So, my question is : if nothing was changed, why were there no late fees from XX/XX/XXXX through XX/XX/XXXX, yet a late fee suddenly appeared on my XXXX billeven though I continued to be charged the correct amount of {$630.00} through XXXX? 

In the end, we were unable to reach any mutual agreement. She said the only thing she could offer was to waive XXXX month of the late fee as a courtesy. I told her that I would stop the autopay immediately and file a complaint. She responded, Thats your choice, and no one will stop you from doing that, and went on to threaten me by saying that all the necessary documents had already been provided. I then asked for her name and ID number. 
- Her name is XXXX XXXX - Her Supervisor ID # XXXX Before we ended the call, she also told me that should go through a legal assistant would help me to learn how to read a contract before submitting a complaint. No customer service representative should treat a customer this way. Finally, she said, Thank you so much for doing business with us. I was frustrated and responded, This is my last time doing business with you. She then replied, and I quote, That would be great!

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