Consumer complaint received 2022-09-13
Company: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.
State: GA
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Problem with paying off the loan

Complaint:
My XXXX ex-husband died unexpectedly on XX/XX/XXXX. He had used his savings & his current XXXX purchase his vehicle in XX/XX/XXXX. He had less than 1/3 of the total vehicle 's purchase amount on the auto in a loan w/ Chrysler Capital XXXX The principal balance on the loan was {$27000.00}. The only way we knew there was a remaining balance on the auto is when Chrysler called his phone in XX/XX/XXXX when he had missed his monthly payment and my daughter attempted to speak with them. They refused to speak w/ any of his family members regarding monthly payment amounts or what the payoff on the loan would be until they had received a copy of his death certificate... COVID had put a greater than 6-month delay on receipts of death certificates in our area. His daughter and I explained that & attempted to make arrangements for payments & /or for total loan payoff EVERY time ( XXXX through XXXX ) Chrysler Capital called to no avail. They continued to refuse to disclose any payment or payoff information to us until they received death certificate or estate appointment. We sent his death certificate immediately on receipt to the company via e-mail & fax on XX/XX/XXXX & then were told that we were responsible for late fees & past payments w/ interest up through current date but still would not disclose amounts. After they had obtained his death certificate and estate appointment, my daughter ( who is a college student ) called and she was rudely spoken to & bullied on the initial call on XX/XX/XXXX when she was attempting to make a payment and negotiate a payoff and was declined. On XX/XX/XXXX the second call the next week, when we did everything we could to just barely scrape up enough to cover the principal balance of {$27000.00} in good faith to pay the loan off, my daughter was rudely spoken to again so she requested a new representative to speak with. The representative refused her and proceeded to condescendingly explain loans to my daughter. After my daughter 's second request, my daughter was placed " on hold '' but the representative wasn't aware she came back on our call & was rudely talking about my daughter & was telling a co-worker that my daughter just wanted to pay " whatever she felt like paying '' ( with a tone insinuating that we had the money & just didn't want to pay on the loan ) & was saying she wouldn't transfer her. When the representative realized she had connected back to our call, she put her on hold, transferred the call & the new representative would only remove the accrued late fees from the date her father passed ( XX/XX/XXXX ). I have been on every single call made to Chrysler Capital with my daughter ( as I had attempted to speak with them and they refused me ) and heard EVERYTHING that was said to her. We were told we were still responsible for all interest/fees from the time he passed until the time they would actually speak to us ( 8 months in total ). We tried to find out how much he owed & would have made arrangements for payoff in XXXX when we found out about the loan but the company wouldn't even speak to us at that time through no fault of our own. It was Chrysler Capital 's policy which prevented us from obtaining payment and payoff information. They stated the outstanding balance to pay the loan off was {$28000.00}. This is {$850.00} that my XXXX daughter and I have to pay that could have been completely avoided had they let us pay the loan off in XXXX or they could have written off due to these unforeseen circumstances. The manner in which this company does business with regard to a XXXX XXXX 's death is repulsive, especially in sensitive circumstances such as this!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation