Class Action Says PNC Bank Failed to Timely Provide Lien Release, Vehicle Title to Plaintiff

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An Illinois consumer has filed a proposed class action lawsuit that alleges PNC Bank failed to deliver his release of lien and certificate of title by the contractual deadline after he paid off his vehicle loan.

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The 12-page lawsuit says that though PNC is contractually required to mail or deliver a release of security interest and certificate of title at no cost within 21 days after a borrower pays off a vehicle loan, the bank directed him to a third-party website that charged him a fee for providing proof of a lien release.

According to the suit, when the plaintiff purchased a new Volkswagen Golf from an Illinois dealership in 2015, he entered into a contract managed by PNC wherein he agreed to pay the dealership $500.85 per month for 84 months.

In 2022, after paying off his vehicle loan months earlier, the plaintiff inquired about his release of lien and certificate of title at a PNC location in Illinois, the case relays. A PNC employee informed him that the documents had been “lost in the mail” and directed him to third-party website VehicleTitleMyWay.com, where he could obtain a lien release letter for a $26 fee, the complaint explains.

Despite PNC’s obligation to provide the documents at no cost, the filing says that the plaintiff paid the $26 fee to acquire the lien release letter through the website and later had to pay $50 to the Illinois Department of Motor Vehicles to obtain a replacement title for his vehicle.

The lawsuit looks to represent any owners of vehicles titled in Arkansas, Alaska, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Vermont, West Virginia or Wyoming from whom PNC received payment to satisfy its security interest in their vehicle within the past four years and to whom the bank failed to mail or deliver a release of security interest or certificate of title by the statutory deadline.

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