Woman fights back over car payment dispute

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

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abc11 troubleshooter, troubleshooter, diane wilson

Diane Wilson
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DURHAM (WTVD) -- A Triangle woman made all her car payments but the finance company still wanted more money. Fed up, she turned to the ABC11 Troubleshooter.

It all came down to good record keeping paying off. Crystal Harris made her car payment every month, but, for some reason despite making all of the required payments, one payment was standing in the way of actually owning her car.

Harris enjoys her car. She would enjoy it even more if she could get her title.

"It's been an on-going issue for two years," said Harris.

For the past two years, Harris has been fighting to get the loan company, Drive Time, to credit her account for a payment she made back in July 2010.

Crystal had a bank statement that shows the two payments made to Drive Time in the month of July. However, Drive Time's records showed only one payment was made.

"Each time I would fax in my information, it would come up lost, or they never had it, or I would have to resend it," said Harris.

She thought the second payment was eventually credited, until learning in May of this year that despite making her final car payment, Drive Time's records still show that one July 2010 payment still missing

"I had almost $400 in late fees when I thought I made my last car payment," said Harris.

"Some of the people I spoke to said they would eventually have to repossess my car if I was not going to make the payment," she said.

Plus this was affecting her credit. Fed up crystal turned to me, and I reached out to Drive Time Credit. It didn't take long for Drive Time to realize the mistake, and they credited Harris' account to show paid in full. Plus, she could finally get her title.

"Thanks Diane for helping me so much," said Harris. "I get my car paid off and for helping me get my credit back on track."

A rep with Drive Time apologized and said they always look to make things right with the customer at the earliest stage of a dispute. They also said the issues Crystal had with their customer service is rare.