Americredit Financial Services, Inc. – doing business as GM Financial – is facing a class action lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court, accusing the company of improperly repossessing cars after borrowers or lessors missed payments when the lender allegedly prematurely ended automatic payment withdrawals, but didn't tell the customer.
Attorney Bryan P. Thompson, of the Chicago Consumer Law Center, P.C. filed the suit on March 18 on behalf of plaintiff Crystal VanderVeen.
The complaint alleges that Vanderveen first entered into a vehicle lease agreement in June 2017 with Rizza Buick GMC Cadillac, Inc. in Tinley Park, with an arrangement to pay $399 a month through her GM Financial account over a 36-month term, with the first payment due on July 28, 2017.
Initially, VanderVeen alleges that she was having payments taken directly from her bank account through ACH withdrawal, but that following her payment for June 2019, GM Financial ceased making the automatic withdrawals and additionally bailed to inform VanderVeen that the automatic payments had been stopped.
Additionally, the complaint alleges that GM Financial made no effort to notify VanderVeen that manual payments were due, nor did the company contact her when she began to miss payments, yet GM Financial repossessed her vehicle in October 2019.
It is also alleged in the suit that, due to fees associated with VanderVeen falling behind on payments and the repossession, GM Financial benefited financially from first ending her automatic payments without notification and then failing to notify her she was missing payments.
The lawsuit seeks to expand the action to include GM Financial customers throughout Illinois who also have had their vehicles repossessed.