So this might be a little rant with lots of grammatical errors.

I wanted to get out of my lease early by 4 months so I went ahead and paid them off so I can be approved for my new car loan as it was a stipulation to be approved. I went ahead and paid off the Lexus to be given back to the dealer on April 30th and still hasn't posted "Paid in Full!" Dealership said they won't take it back until LFS shows it is a balance of $0 completely across the board. I had VA property taxes of $3100 that was in my MISC. Charges that was paid as part of the lease payoff. So now LFS is playing games saying I have 3 months left since the remaining payments I made only went towards 1 month and MISC. charges. I showed documentation to LFS showing the state of VA already refunded them for property taxes in March and both checks were cashed! They are basically holding my money and want to get paid double. LFS has made this experience owning/leasing a Lexus the worst possible ever. On top of that, LFS recorded 8 late payments of 60+ days cause of this property issue stating my payments were going towards MISC charges vs principle.

I finally was going to post on the BBB website but someone had the SAME exact issue!

 

Wow, sorry to read about your troubles. A couple things... Lexus Financial Services isn't a bank or lender (they're a captive finance company owned by an automobile manufacturer) so they're not federally regulated. In other words, there's no easy law to point to where they're breaking the law. And, because they're not federally regulated, they're regulated by state laws from which the state(s) they're registered within. I didn't look, but suspect LFS is registered in one state. This means that some of their shenanigans may be considered unethical, abusive, or downright bad business, but if they're not breaking a specific state law, then it's harder for you to chase after.

But all is not lost. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has taken more action to provide oversight on these types of companies so before you hire an attorney and incur more money out of pocket, file a complaint there first - they'll do the legwork for you and because they're an actual agency overseeing captive finance companies (among others), there's a good chance they know the rules, laws, and have seen this complaint from others. Here's a link where you file the complaint: https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/

Good luck and wish you the best in this chase.

 

I've been leasing cars from LFS on and off for many, many years. I have never had one negative experience.

Never moved though, and I don't pay personal property taxes on vehicles in Maryland.

 

Whooppsss. edited.. wrong thread.