Consumer complaint received 2018-09-21
Company: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.
State: FL
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan
Sub-issue: Lender trying to repossess or disable the vehicle

Complaint:
I financed a XXXX XXXX XXXX through a bank or lender call Santander Consumer Usa in XXXX. The Payment was XXXX monthly. I was making the payments on time until few months ago, I experienced some economic Hardship where work is concern. I stayed in touch with the company as often as I could to get payment arrangements. I did this to avoid my car getting repossessed, after the company usually sent out a notice to repossessed if not paid by a certain amount of days. The last payment I made was in XXXX for XXXX and the last notice I received was in early XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, I parked the car somewhere around XXXX XXXX that evening. Only to wake up the next morning to go to work and found the car missing. I did not get any final notice to pay from this company, so I was shocked to learned that a tow truck came the night of the XXXX and repossessed it. I call the company and was directed to a recovery dept. I spoke to a rep and explained the reason for falling behind. The rep was willing to assist, but during the call, I lost connection because of my phone battery that died. I called back the number and got a different rep instead. I think she said her name was XXXX or XXXX. She quoted the total amount to pay, of XXXX and I explained that unable to pay such amount. The rep work something out at a lesser amount. I asked to give me time to pay by the next pay period of XX/XX/XXXX. She agreed to it and also provide me with info to the tow company to recover my things in the car. 

The next day I call the 1800 number that the young lady gave me. No one answer and the voice mail was not accessible to leave a message.I called back Santander in the afternoon around XXXX XXXX   and ask if they can at least provide me with a contact number or address for the tow company, so I can set an appoint to get belongings.The response I received was ridiculous. The rep refused to give me the info and lead me to believe that even if I get the address I will not be able to go to the location w/o appointment. I explained that I could use the address to find the phone number and call. They still refused and instead tell me about my last payment I made and that they sent a final notice on XX/XX/XXXX which is the day after the car was repossessed. I question the Rep and ask how can they possibly sent a final notice after they took the car and how unfair this practice is. I told the rep that I will further look into it. 

That night around XXXX XXXX I called to speak with a manager, the rep name XXXX who took my call wanted to direct me to the recovery dept again. I demanded to speak to a manager, I got a manager name XXXX, I took my time and explained my concern. The manager did listened but he then spent the time justifying everything that was done and failed to addressed the fact that the car got repossessed w/o notification and that the company can not provide any information concerning the where about of the car. This manager state that the company is not obligated to send notices for repossessed. Even after I stated that the company usually does and that there is no document sent stating the company does not have to send notice. The manager stated that they tried calling a phone number on file which was active and did not get a response. When asked what number was used to call, the manager provided an old phone number that was updated many times that even the ivr system they have recognized it. I dispute this claim and even went further to mentioned that other forms of communication the company usually use is my email and my home address. The next argument I had with the manager was when he defended that the company can not tell me where the car was because even if they did I will need to make an appointment. I explained over and over to this manager that I know about the appointment, all I want is at least the phone number or address to look up the number to make the appointment. I expressed that with my personal information being circulated to all type of vendors as he stated, this room for scam and identity theft to take place. I spent more than 1/2 hour on the phone with this manager, and still nothing was resolved. The manager spent the time defending their actions and even lying to me saying that the company did not send the notice on XX/XX/XXXX like the previous representative stated they did. They failed to take responsibility on the improper practice they provided to me. Now I am left with shear humiliation, emotional stress and a life full of hassle trying to get my belongings and my car back. 

I understand that I too should do my diligence to make my payments on time. As I mentioned before, due to Hardship, I got stuck along the way. 

Please try to address this issue with this company if possible. I am seeking some form of satisfaction for this. This is the first time I have ever encountered such humiliation where my car is concern. This is the second time that the company is giving me information verbally that I never was told before in writing.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation