Consumer complaint received 2026-03-20 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Problem with fees charged
Company: FIRST CITIZENS BANCSHARES, INC.
State: ID

Complaint narrative:
I was bidding on a skid steer through XXXX and went through one of your preferred lenders because it seemed like it would make the process simpler. I contacted First Citizens Bank through your site and got pre-approved for the loan prior to the auction ending. I got pre-approved for {$50000.00}. I told First Citizens Bank that I had started a new company but wanted to use my existing company as a co-signer for the loan approval. This would be necessary because my new company has not been in business long enough to apply for credit. I provided all the necessary financial documentation and First Citizens Bank told me the co-signer would be no problem and provided the Pre-approval based on the documentation provided. I won the auction and informed First Citizens Bank. They began getting all of my funding put together and told me they would have the loan funded and pay the seller within the 3 days allotted from the auction. On the very last day of the pay period and only a few hours until the deadline, First Citizens Bank informed me that they would not be able to use my other company as a co-signer and the only way they could fund the loan was to do a 3 year loan at 30 % interest rate. I only had a few hours until the machine I had won at auction had to be paid for, so I reluctantly signed the paperwork with the intention of refinancing the loan with one of my local lending partners. Fast forward, I have been working with one of my local lenders and have all the re-financing paperwork in place but needed to get a 15 day payoff for the loan with First Citizens Bank to finish the re-finance. The original loan amount through First Citizens Bank was a little over {$41000.00} and I have already paid my first payment which should put my payoff around {$40000.00}. First Citizens Bank informed me that my payoff was over {$58000.00}. When I questioned them about this, they informed me that I am not allowed to payoff the loan within the first 2 years without also paying all of the first 2 years of interest at 30 %. I questioned them again on this because there is a Pre-payment addendum in my contract. The addendum states Customer may prepay this Schedule at any time, in whole but not in part, by paying First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company an amount equal to the Unpaid Balance. They said this is written in lawyer terms and is not written in easy-to-understand English and if I want to prepay my balance prior to the first 2 years I would be responsible for all of the interest, which is why the payoff is {$58000.00}, not {$40000.00}. They took advantage of me from the very beginning. They told me they could use my other company as a co-signer and then backed out at the very last minute when I had no other option but to use their service. Then they trapped me into a contract knowing my plan was to re-finance. The contract is purposely written in a way to deceive, and the contract language is not written for an ordinary borrower to understand.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation