New lease, dealer problem

Ask the Hackrs
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Looking for some guidance on how to handle this particular situation.

I leased a HummerEV on 12/19/2024. I submitted the credit app on 12/17/2024 and drove from Nevada to Utah on the 19th to trade in my vehicle and pickup the Hummer. Everything went smoothly, was not told there were any issues and the trade in and pickup went as it normally does.

About two weeks ago I noticed that my trade-in had still not been paid off and I confirmed there was no payoff submitted by the dealer, with my CU. I contacted the dealership and advised them that it had been 3 weeks and I asked on the status of the payoff, as my due date was coming up. They assured me that the payoff would be sent at the end of that week. I checked the following week and still nothing was done, again confirmed with the bank. I then started getting suspicious that something else was going on, as I hadn’t received any “welcome paperwork” from GMF. I called GMF and asked about my account login and they had no new vehicles to add to my account, and they didn’t have any paperwork of a lease for the hummer with my information. I contacted the dealer again on 01/23 about the payoff and now this and was told, “I don’t know what happened, I’ve never encountered this problem, I will have the finance manager call you tomorrow and we will have it fixed”.

Today, I’m sitting at work (41 days after I picked up the vehicle), and I’m hit with another credit check from the dealership. I’m under the impression that I signed the credit app on 12/17, credit was pulled, everything was good to go. Especially since it’s been over a month and the only communication between the dealership and myself, was initiated by me and regarding my payoff.

Sorry for the long winded post, I wanted to get the information detailed to ensure y’all were informed prior to advice being given. My question is, can the dealership just Willy nilly pull my credit 40+ days after I signed the app without first notifying me or getting approval to do so? I always thought that it could be done at the time of purchase, and that’s what I was agreeing to. There were multiple days between running my credit and me picking up the car, only inquiry was by GMF. Since I can’t get an answer from anyone at the dealership as to what is going on or what happened, I can only assume that they either failed to send the deal to GMF within 30 days, or the deal was not approved and nobody told me.

If the deal wasn’t funded, or not approved, what options do I have going forward? Car is registered already, and I am quite mad at the credit inquiry. If I’m wrong in my thinking about the credit pull then feel free to tell me lol!

Thanks as always, this community is great!

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If the deal is not funded they would take the Hummer and give you your old car back. Definitely amateur moves from the dealer.

You can lock your credit btw. I would pay your next monthly for your trade if I were you. You don’t want a ding on your credit due to dealer’s late payment.

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Amateurs without a doubt! Unfortunately they sold my trade in back in December, so I’d be starting from scratch and without a trade/valuable tax saving asset if I were to finance something. Sucks all around if that’s the case.

Paid the payment as usual, definitely not worth the risk of waiting for them!

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How did they sell your trade-in if there’s still lien on it? How can they release the title?

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Call you CU again today and asked if your car is paid off.

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agreed… doesn’t make sense.

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While this sucks all around and obv none of us know what fell in the cracks at the dealer, the credit pull should literally be so far down the list of things to worry about.

The process definitely isn’t moving forward without them pulling it again so you may want to look at it that way given the circumstance.

The dealer isn’t getting the title to your previous vehicle without paying the loan off. Ideally once that’s paid off and the new lease shows on your credit report soon, then in a couple of months the score will be back to normal.

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Can’t answer that! I have no idea how they could. And I’ll I’m getting is full voicemails when I try and call to find out what’s going on.

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Just verified, still active and only payment is from me.

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I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily worried about the pull itself. I’m more concerned with the fact that they pulled it 40 days later without notice. Just seems “wrong” or like it’s something they shouldn’t be able to do. I’m curious if they’re allowed to do it.

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Speculating: it sounds like you deal isn’t funded, and they may not have a cashable contract. When you sign you paperwork, you often sign a promissory note and/or an agreement that allows them to attempt alternative financing before telling you to bring the car back - reaffirming your credit after a period of time is usually covered there (not in your lease because technically until they cash your contract, you don’t have a lease). The callback they received from 12/17 is long expired, so it’s not unusual for them to pull it again as part of finalizing your lease to ensure nothing has changed. Look for that bit of paperwork in what you signed.

The timeframe is odd, it’s possible they didn’t package the deal last month or it got bounced-back and wasn’t handled.

Them pulling your credit again means something is happening, I’d give it another day. Let us know what happens.

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They have permissible purpose, which is much broader than most people believe.

Inquiries are essentially meaningless anyway.

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Thanks for the info on the whole credit part you guys. I’ve never ran into this so I appreciate the education. Still haven’t heard back from them, trade in still has not been paid off and confirmed that again just now. Hopefully have some answers soon. Again, thanks for everyone’s responses. Kinda hope this falls through so I can snag @IAC_Scott Turbo S Taycan he’s got posted :joy:

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I’d be more concerned about your trade-in not paid off, than anything else.

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What bank is getting paid off? I had an extremely long delay in getting my TFS (Toyota Finance) account paid off. Turns out they had the check it just took nearly two months for them to “process” it. Nobody from TFS could tell me what was going on and I started getting collections calls because I was bumping against the 10 day grace period. I ended up making a payment then a few weeks later I got a cryptic email saying “we received your payoff, it’s just processing” then a few days later the account was closed, and I got a refund in the mail. It was totally bizarre.

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