A woman shared a story about getting an auto loan through Bank of America for a car purchased through Carvana. This means, at least on a key piece of paper, the woman is the sole owner of the car.
The tale comes courtesy of creator Sydney (@sydneykidneybean). It has more than 844,000 views as of Monday.
What happened?
In it, Sydney describes getting a car from Carvana. She includes her delight at the sound effects from the giant gimmicky car vending machine when lowered from the contraption. She also shares the titling process, with a new-to-them electronic system that “only took 60 seconds.”
As it turns out, according to her, “They just handed me a free car. Because when I looked over this paperwork, I realized that at no point did they put a lien holder on it. It is not on the bill of sale, and it is not on the title.”
She was alerted to the situation by Bank of America. The bank is the lender for this car.
“I have the actual title saying I am clear and free of all liens and loans,” she relays. “Obviously, this does not actually excuse me from my loan obligation. But it does mean that Carvana just created an unsecured loan for Bank of America.”
She continues, “And if I was a more rebellious person, I might run with this, but I think I’ll just take the boring route here and just notify everyone involved that they messed up and they gave me a free car. But they cannot convince me to spend any time fixing this or money. They can work this out amongst themselves.”
In a follow-up video, she notes, “As an American consumer, I recognize that when a corporation makes a mistake like this, especially one so small that really is only slightly inconveniencing me, it is my duty to capitalize. We may be stripped of our human rights in this country, but we are not yet stripped of our consumer rights.”
She does also point out, “I am not a fraudster,” and though she could conceivably sell the car, pocket the cash, and then default on the loan, she indicated she would not do that— despite the encouragement of commenters to try to use Carvana’s error to her benefit.
She’s not the first
A Reddit post from 2024 to the r/personalfinance forum laid out a similar situation. It highlighted the necessity of letting all the parties know what’s up.
“Three months ago, my son received an auto loan through his credit union and purchased a used vehicle at a small dealership in Virginia,” one said. “The bank informs him today that they still have not received the title for the vehicle and they want to cancel the loan. If they do, can he return the vehicle and walk away owning nothing? Is the credit union responsible to getting the title from the dealer?”
“The way I see it, it’s the dealership’s problem,” one weighed in. “If the bank cancels the loan then the lender has no responsibility on their end either so it’s not like they will go into collections for it. Now the dealer, after realizing they didn’t get paid for the vehicle, might try to come after the lender to get the vehicle back. At that point you can let them have it but it won’t financially affect the lender unless there was a down payment made.”
Another said, “If the dealer sold the car short, i.e. they don’t actually have the title, then this will get very messy. There are plenty of stories of shady dealers selling cars they didn’t own title to when they sold it. They thought they could get title or were total crooks but when they couldn’t it is a mess.”
“A couple of calls by the dealer to the state can likely figure things out,” someone else suggested. “If there is no immediate cure that makes the bank happy (have the name and telephone number of the person at the bank to deal with), then have the dealer issue a replacement title. Lost titles are common. The dealer can do the paperwork for a new title and you can take it to your State office and process it. Or you can let the bank do it if they would prefer. Take pictures, get copies, get receipts.”
Viewers advise her to take advantage
Commenters to the original post dispensed suggestions.
“Do not send them the title,” one advised.
“If she doesn’t send the title, they will call the loan, meaning she has to pay it all back immediately,” another weighed in.
“They don’t need your money, sis,” someone else said. “Get a lawyer and enjoy that mistake they made. Because if you made a mistake, they would hold you accountable.”
“I believe in Karma so I want to do the right thing BUT if you accidentally sent your payment to the wrong account they would 100% repo and not feel bad about it,” another opined. “Sometimes you are the Karma!”
@sydneykidneybean #newcar #autoloan #carloan #bankofamerica #carvana #buyingacar #cardealership #title ♬ original sound – Sydney
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok direct message and to Bank of America and Carvana via email.
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