Stellantis Financial Services on Your Credit Report: First Investors Errors

The account is older than the name on it. Stellantis closed its acquisition of First Investors Financial Services Group in November 2021, and the business became Stellantis Financial Services, the captive finance arm for Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, Ram and Fiat in the United States. A car loan written in 2015 with First Investors is furnished today under a badge that did not exist when the borrower signed. That matters more than a branding change usually would, because in 2014 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau fined the predecessor company $2.75 million for sending inaccurate information about borrowers to the credit reporting agencies, and the four errors the Bureau named are still the four errors worth checking on any auto tradeline. This page walks through each one, explains where a Stellantis Financial dispute goes, and sets out what the Fair Credit Reporting Act lets you recover when a properly routed dispute is ignored. We act for consumers only, nationwide.

Four names, one account, one credit file

Before anything else, work out what you are looking at. The Better Business Bureau file for this company carries more than one trading name, and any of them can turn up on a credit report.

The business is Stellantis Financial Services, Inc., with a corporate mailing address of 5757 Woodway Dr, Suite 400, Houston, TX 77057-1520 and a telephone number of (800) 249-6305. The file records the business as started February 21, 1989, with the file opened March 7, 2008. The rating shown is A+ and the profile states the business has been BBB Accredited since April 3, 2019. Management is listed as Jonathan Poss, Chief Compliance Officer.

The alternate business names carried on that same file are First Investors Financial Services, First Investors Servicing Corporation and EZAutoLoan.com. A tradeline reported under any of those four names may be the same account.

This produces a specific and avoidable problem. A consumer reads a report, sees First Investors, does not recognise it, and disputes it as an account that is not theirs. The furnisher verifies the account as belonging to the consumer, which is true, and the dispute fails. Nothing was learned and a month was lost.

So identify the account by account number and vehicle identification number, and dispute the specific field that is wrong. If you genuinely do not recognise the loan at all, say that plainly and separately, because that is a different dispute with a different answer.

What the 2014 order against First Investors found

This has to be stated carefully, because the company that was fined is the predecessor, not the company that bought it.

On August 20, 2014, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced an action against First Investors Financial Services Group Inc., a Texas-based auto finance company, for distorting borrower credit reports. Stellantis acquired that business in November 2021, seven years later. Nothing in the 2014 order is a finding against Stellantis Financial Services, and this page does not suggest otherwise.

What the Bureau found was that the company had supplied inaccurate information to the credit reporting agencies for at least three years. It had discovered the problem in April 2011. It notified the vendor whose system was producing the bad data. And then, on the Bureau's account, it took no corrective action and carried on using the flawed system while tens of thousands of consumers were affected.

The statutes were the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Dodd-Frank Act. The civil money penalty was $2.75 million. The company was also ordered to identify and correct every affected account, to tell the consumers involved and give them free access to their credit reports, and to build accuracy safeguards and an audit program.

The reason to set all of this out on a page addressed to consumers is not history. It is that the Bureau published the specific defects, and a published list of furnishing defects is a ready-made checklist for reading your own tradeline.

Error one: payments that were made but not counted

The first defect the Bureau described was arithmetic. When a consumer made more than one payment in a month, the system reported only one of them.

Follow what that does. The amount paid is understated, so the balance stays higher than it should. The past-due figure is overstated, because the second payment never reduced it. And if the shortfall crosses a reporting threshold, a month that was actually paid up shows a late mark instead.

Consumers who pay this way are usually the ones being careful. Someone paid weekly or fortnightly who splits the car payment across two paydays. Someone catching up after a hard month who sends a payment and then a second one a fortnight later. Someone paying a partial amount when the money is there rather than waiting. Every one of those patterns produces multiple postings in a calendar month.

To check it, put your bank records next to the payment grid and add up what you actually sent in each month. Then compare that total against the reported balance movement for the same month. If you paid twice in March and the balance dropped by one instalment, that is the error, and it is provable from documents you already hold.

Error two: a date of first delinquency that moved forward

The second defect was the one with the longest shadow. The company reported the date of first delinquency as more recent than it actually was, which let delinquencies stay on consumer reports longer than the law allows.

Here is why that single field carries so much weight. The date of first delinquency is the date you fell behind and never brought the account current again. It is the clock. Adverse information on most accounts may be reported for seven years, and that seven years runs from that date. Move the date forward by two years and you have extended the life of the derogatory entry by two years, without changing anything else on the report.

The field gets reset by ordinary servicing events that should not touch it at all. An account is charged off and the charge-off date is written into the field. A loan is transferred to a different servicer and the transfer date appears. A balance is sold to a collection agency and the collector reports its own placement date. A payment arrangement is entered and the arrangement date is used. In each case the original delinquency has been erased and the clock restarted.

Check it by finding the last month in your own records when the account was fully current, and then the first month after that when it went behind and stayed behind. That is your date. If the report shows something later, that is not a rounding difference. That is time added to the entry.

Errors three and four: a delinquency count and a surrender

The third defect was blunter than the others. The company reported that a consumer had been delinquent eleven times when the consumer had only been delinquent twice.

An error of that scale is not a judgement call and it does not need expert analysis to expose. It needs a payment grid and a set of bank statements. Count the months the report marks as 30, 60, 90 or 120 days late. Count the months you actually missed. If the two numbers are not the same, the difference is the dispute, and you should state it as a number rather than as a complaint.

The fourth defect concerned status. The company reported voluntary surrenders as repossessions.

Those are different events and lenders treat them differently. A voluntary surrender means the borrower contacted the lender, arranged to return the vehicle, and handed it over. A repossession means the lender took the car back, usually without notice. Both are seriously derogatory. But an underwriter reading a file sees a borrower who communicated in the first case and a borrower who did not in the second, and the reported status is the only thing telling them which happened.

If you returned the car by arrangement, the proof is usually in writing: the letter or email arranging it, a surrender receipt, a condition report, the location and date. Keep it. It is the whole dispute.

Where a Stellantis Financial dispute goes

The contact details on the public record are these.

• Corporate mailing address: 5757 Woodway Dr, Suite 400, Houston, TX 77057-1520.
• Telephone: (800) 249-6305. Fax: (866) 390-2947.
• Alternate names on the same file: First Investors Financial Services; First Investors Servicing Corporation; EZAutoLoan.com.
• Named contact: Jonathan Poss, Chief Compliance Officer.
• Profile facts: business started February 21, 1989; file opened March 7, 2008; A+; BBB Accredited since April 3, 2019.

A letter to Houston is worth sending, and asking for the complete account history, the retail instalment contract, the payment ledger with posting dates and, where the vehicle went back, the surrender or repossession file with the resale accounting will usually produce documents that make the rest of the work straightforward. Send it certified with return receipt.

But understand what that letter is and is not. The direct dispute duty at 15 U.S.C. 1681s-2(a)(8) operates when a dispute arrives at an address the furnisher has designated for credit disputes. A general corporate address is not automatically that address. The letter is a document request that happens to create a paper trail. It is not the step that builds a claim.

Why the bureau notice is the step that matters

The route that carries an enforceable duty runs through the credit reporting agencies, and the difference is written into the statute.

You dispute with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion under 15 U.S.C. 1681i. Each agency must conduct a reasonable reinvestigation free of charge, ordinarily within thirty days, and must forward the relevant information you provided to the furnisher. That forwarded notice is what triggers 15 U.S.C. 1681s-2(b), which requires the furnisher to investigate, to review all relevant information the agency sent, to report the results back, and to correct, delete or permanently block anything found inaccurate, incomplete or unverifiable, with every agency it reported the account to.

The furnisher's general duty to report accurately in the first place sits at 15 U.S.C. 1681s-2(a), and it is not privately enforceable by consumers. Only the 1681s-2(b) duty, the one the bureau notice switches on, gives you a claim you can bring yourself.

Given the four defects above, write the dispute so it cannot be answered with a keystroke. The payment grid records eleven late payments; my bank records show two, in June and July 2023 forces a look at the account. The date of first delinquency is reported as March 2024; the account first went past due in March 2022 and was never brought current forces a look at the account. This is wrong does not. Our credit dispute letter guide sets out the structure.

If the identity of the furnisher is itself unclear, name every version you have seen. Dispute the account under Stellantis Financial Services and under First Investors, give the account number and the VIN, and take the ambiguity off the table.

Damages, deadlines, and no fee unless we win

Under 15 U.S.C. 1681o, a negligent violation supports actual damages together with attorney's fees and costs. Under 15 U.S.C. 1681n, a willful violation supports statutory damages of $100 to $1,000 per violation, punitive damages, and fees and costs. Willfulness covers reckless disregard, not only deliberate wrongdoing, and a furnisher that receives a documented dispute and reverifies without looking is squarely in that territory.

Actual harm is most visible when you were in the market for credit. A declined application. A rate materially worse than the rest of your file supported. A demand for a larger deposit or a co-signer. A rental turned down. Higher insurance pricing in the states that allow credit-based scoring. Courts also recognise the emotional harm of disputing the same entry repeatedly and watching it come back unchanged.

On timing, 15 U.S.C. 1681p generally requires suit within two years of discovering the violation and never more than five years after it occurred. A discovery rule rewards people who act promptly and punishes delay, so the sensible response to a failed dispute is the next step rather than another year of letters.

Because the statute shifts fees to the defendant when a consumer prevails, this work does not require money up front.

How The Kim Law Firm handles Stellantis Financial Services problems

We represent consumers across the country and act only for consumers, never for lenders, dealers, collectors or credit bureaus. The Stellantis Financial and First Investors matters that become cases here look like this: payments made but not credited; a delinquency count that does not match the payment history; a date of first delinquency that moved forward and kept an entry alive past seven years; a voluntary surrender reported as a repossession; the same loan reported twice under the old name and the new one; a paid or settled account still showing a balance; a deficiency that ignores the resale proceeds; a debt reported as live by both the lender and a collection agency; or an account that is not yours at all.

We do not help remove accurate negative information. If you fell behind and the tradeline records it correctly, no lawyer can lawfully delete it, and we would rather say that on the first call than after a retainer. A dispute about the interest rate, the dealership, the vehicle or the way the loan was sold is also not a Fair Credit Reporting Act matter, whatever else it may be. The statute governs the accuracy of what is reported about you. Only inaccuracy is a case here.

Where a properly routed dispute left an error standing, you may be entitled to actual damages, statutory and punitive damages for willful conduct, and attorney's fees and costs. We work on contingency: no fee unless we win.

Our FCRA lawyer guide explains how a case unfolds, and the credit reporting errors overview covers the patterns we see most often. Other vehicle lenders appear on our auto lenders page, and card and consumer lenders on our creditors and lenders page. When you are ready, contact us for a free review.

Frequently asked questions

Why does my credit report show First Investors instead of Stellantis Financial?

Because the account probably predates the name. Stellantis closed its acquisition of First Investors Financial Services Group in November 2021, and the business became Stellantis Financial Services. The Better Business Bureau file for the company still carries First Investors Financial Services, First Investors Servicing Corporation and EZAutoLoan.com as alternate business names. A tradeline under any of those names may be the same loan, so identify the account by account number and vehicle identification number rather than by the brand shown.

Was Stellantis Financial Services fined for credit reporting errors?

No. The 2014 order belongs to the predecessor company. On August 20, 2014 the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau took action against First Investors Financial Services Group Inc. for supplying inaccurate information to the credit reporting agencies for at least three years, imposing a $2.75 million civil money penalty. Stellantis acquired that business seven years later, in November 2021. The order is worth knowing because the Bureau published the specific furnishing defects, which makes a useful checklist, not because it is a finding against the current company.

What errors did the CFPB find in the 2014 case?

Four. When a consumer made multiple payments in a month, only one was reported, understating amounts paid and overstating past-due balances. The date of first delinquency was reported as more recent than it actually was, keeping delinquencies on reports longer than the law allows. One consumer was reported delinquent eleven times when the consumer had been delinquent twice. And voluntary surrenders were reported as repossessions. The Bureau said the company discovered the problem in April 2011 and took no corrective action.

Why does the date of first delinquency matter so much?

It is the clock that controls how long the negative entry stays on your file. Most adverse information may be reported for seven years measured from the date you fell behind and never brought the account current again. If that date is reported later than the truth, the entry survives past the point at which it should have dropped off. The field is often reset by a charge-off, a transfer to a new servicer, a sale to a collection agency or a payment arrangement, none of which should change it.

Should I write to Stellantis Financial in Houston or dispute with the bureaus?

Do both, but expect different things from each. A letter to 5757 Woodway Dr, Suite 400, Houston, TX 77057-1520, sent certified with return receipt, is a good way to obtain the account history, the contract, the payment ledger and any surrender or resale accounting. The dispute that creates an enforceable duty is the one filed with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, because the notice the bureau forwards is what legally requires the furnisher to investigate and to correct anything it cannot verify.

Location does not limit us. The Kim Law Firm represents consumers nationwide in Fair Credit Reporting Act matters, working from our offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. If a Stellantis Financial Services or First Investors entry shows payments you made but were not credited, more late marks than you missed, a surrender recorded as a repossession, or a delinquency date that moved, we would like to hear from you.