Consumer complaint received 2018-03-10
Company: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.
State: CA
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem related to refinancing

Complaint:
In XXXX of XXXX I financed a car loan through XXXX XXXX  - a division of Santander Consumer USA , Inc. The monthly payment was {$500.00} with the first payment due on XX/XX/XXXX, the term of the loan was 72 months in length and I would make my final payment on XX/XX/XXXX. Over the term of my financing I ran into multiple difficulties in making my monthly installment. I was offered a deferment of the payment ( s ) that I was behind. Over the term of my loan, I deferred a total of XXXX payments. Each time I spoke with a representative of Santander they would advise me that my maturity date would be extended and I would be charged a fee of {$25.00} to defer my payment ( s ) and it would bring my account back to good standing. I would be recorded accepting the payment deferment, it would be reviewed and within a week my account would reflect current. I would not sign any paperwork for the maturity date extension. After my final deferment, my new maturity date was now XX/XX/XXXX. As I approached by maturity date I noticed that I still had an unpaid balance of {$6000.00} and knew it would not payoff by XXXX. I called and spoke with several representative at which point they referred me to their Office of the President for resolution. I tried to understand that if my maturity date for each deferred payment was extended how could I still owe so much? I was told that after any payment deferment my loan would turn into a " Daily Simple Interest '' loan if I fell delinquent again. I was never told that or did I sign any paperwork with that understanding. Because I needed my car to go to work, their OOP offered me a loan modification for the remaining balance. The balance I owed was then a new term and maturity to payoff my loan. I continued to try and understand how it was possible for Santander to extend my maturity date and turn my loan into a XXXX loan without my knowledge. I am currently still paying a monthly payment to Santander to payoff this balance. On two occasions I have asked a representative to please provide me a copy of my original loan note so that I can review to see if there is verbiage stating that if I accepted a payment deferment, my loan would be subject to XXXX terms. On both occasions, I received only page 1 of my 3 page note. I would like someone to provide me with how and where I was told about the XXXX factor in their payment deferral process. I felt so much appreciation when Santander offered me help through some very difficult financial times during my loan, but never expected that the additional 8 months of loan payments I made through their deferment program would still have me owing {$6000.00}. I am looking for confirmation that Santander 's practice is ethical and within Fed Reg guidelines. I want to ensure that others in my same situation do not accept consumer assistance programs from Santander when the consumer is unaware of the consequences of these programs.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation