Consumer complaint received 2019-06-21
Company: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.
State: FL
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease
Sub-issue: Unable to receive car title or other problem after the loan is paid off

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I received a notice from Santander Consumer USA, stating that my auto loan account was recognized as paid in full on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX they repossessed my vehicle. They had a {$17000.00} lien placed on the vehicle and repossessed it. Even though they completely removed the auto loan from all the credit reporting agencies. I received no notifications of what they were doing until my wife was out and a man showed up to take the vehicle. No correspondence from Santander in a year. She tried to explain the situation and the comments that were made to her were very degrading. She was told " ya, everyone who gets repossessed has a letter '' and was told that if she didn't turn the vehicle over she would have the police called on her. Also told that a lien would be placed on her Drivers License. The man said " I sure would like to see this letter you claim to have. '' I have a paid in full letter, my vehicle was repossessed and my wife was treated like trash because of Santander Consumer USA. My XXXX year old Daughter got her Drivers License in that SUV. Went to Homecoming in that SUV. And the last trip she ever made, in this same SUV was to the hospital where she later died. She died in XXXX and the scuff marks from her boots were still on the roof. Santander took that away and the repossession agents didn't care when my wife tried to explain all of this. She was told " I don't want to hear it. You are just like every other repo. '' She tried to explain that she was not like every other repo, that she had the letter of proof but she was stereotyped. She was told that he was being very nice to her by not leaving her stranded beside the road. She was told that if she left anything in the car that she would have to pay a catalogue fee. My wife suffers from XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX and XXXX. It is not a good situation for her and for her to be treated like trash and to be humiliated. When he first arrived he blocked her car, walked up and started shining a flash light and when asked what he was doing, he said " I'm here to get this car. '' She was told that they have been driving by the house and taking photos. She was aware of suspicious activity like this and it caused some trauma, we just had no idea why this was happening. Now we know! This whole situation has caused a lot of undue stress and trauma. Also per " Florida Statute 537.012Repossession,  disposal of pledged property ; excess proceeds. ( 2 ) Prior to engaging a repossession agent, the lender shall afford the debtor an opportunity to make the titled personal property available to the lender at a place, date, and time reasonably convenient to the lender and the borrower. Prior to taking possession of titled personal property, the lender shall afford the borrower a reasonable opportunity to remove from the titled personal property any personal belongings without charge or additional cost to the borrower. After the lender takes possession of the titled personal property, the lender, at the lenders sole expense and risk, may authorize a third party to retain physical possession of the titled personal property. '' Why was this not followed if this were a legitimate repossession? Also, my wife 's Breach of Peace is a concern.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation