Call Kurtis: Company Messed Up My Refi -- Where's My Money?

ROSEVILLE (CBS13) -- A busy mother of three, Leah Prior rarely has a moment to herself, but she's been forced to take time to battle her car lender, after learning they never dropped her interest rate -- a $10,000 mistake.

When she says the company wouldn't fix the mistake ... it was time to Call Kurtis.

Santander Consumer USA agreed to lower the interest rate four years ago from 16 percent to 4 percent. Now that she wants to sell her Ford Edge, she just realized her balance is still a whopping $17,000 on the 7-year-old car.

"I was angry that I had made all these payments and hadn't seen them go to where they should have," she said.

Her agreement with the lender, Santander Consumer USA, proved the interest should have dropped.

"What they failed to do was change the interest rate," she said.

But she said after 15 calls, the company still didn't fix it.

"It was ludicrous to me that I would have to sit and wait for them to fix the problem," she said.

Enter Call Kurtis volunteer Joni.

"I thought going into it may be a little bit difficult," she said.

But after working the case, Joni got the company to admit and then fix the $10,000 mistake.

"It was just a matter of getting to the right person," she said.

Santander told Call Kurtis: "We regret the error with Ms. Prior's account, but are glad we were able to resolve the situation with her."

It's a relief for Leah, who now only owes a much-more-manageable $7,000.

"Oh, I'm overjoyed," she said.

Prior's monthly payments dropped $200 when she refinanced, but her statement didn't actually list her interest rate. She admits she just wasn't paying attention to the balance for some time.