Consumer complaint received 2018-12-06
Company: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.
State: SC
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Getting a loan or lease
Sub-issue: Fraudulent loan

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I bought a XXXX XXXX XXXX from XXXX XXXX  and the loan was through Santander Consumer USA. That same night, we ( my mother was driving behind me ) dropped off the rental and, while there, the XXXX completely shut down all electrical and would not come back on, so I sent a text to the salesperson, but I did not hear back from him because it was about XXXX ( it was a two and a half hour trip ), but then it came back on. The next day, he did text back, but I told him that it came back on, so he told me to let him know if it happens again. The next day, due to a XXXX XXXX I have just found out about, my mother went down to pick my XXXX year old daughter up in XXXX, GA, who's is about six hours from us. When she had made it there and picked up my daughter, the XXXX went dark and shut down again in the middle of a small highway. She had to be towed to a nearby XXXX dealership and then my very tired mother and daughter were at the dealership all day before finally getting a rental car from the dealership and going to a hotel because it was not resolved yet. I called Santander Consumer USA Funding Department and told them what had been and was still happening and the lady told me that she did not think it should be funded, but we agreed to wait a little before coming to that conclusion, due to the pain it would cost to try to figure out how to get them home. The next day, they waited all day, between my mother and I arguing with XXXX XXXX who were rude and did not want to help at first. I was really concerned my mother and daughter would be stranded in XXXX or I would have to pay a huge expense of a one-way plane ticket or rental car. My mother called me and XXXX XXXX was now not responding to her and that she found a great priced one-way rental car that she could rent for the week, so we have a vehicle when she gets back also, I called the Funding Department of Santander again and was told that they were not going to fund the loan and to have my mom and daughter leave the XXXX  and come home. I verified this a couple more times, to make sure I heard correctly, and she was adamant and said they would not fund a vehicle that already broke down because they do not want the trouble. I told her thank you and said that I was going to be buying another vehicle and would love to work with them, if the company went through them. I then sent my mother the money to rent the vehicle, including deposit, and she left it. Two days later, I went to another local dealership and bought a XXXX, after calling my bank and disputing the deposit I gave XXXX XXXX and getting my money back. On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Santander Funding Department again, because I received a bill and they put me on hold and then came back and told me it was a mistake and they were going to reverse the funding and they are truly sorry. I told him that I understood mistakes happen, just as long as it does not hurt my credit. I received a call and voicemail ( saved ) from him on Monday, telling me they were still working on it, so I called back and was told the same and that they would contact me as soon as they were finished. I asked for an email verification and was told they do not do that and that they would take care of it. I then mentioned that they were listed on my credit report and was told that it was as a verification for the loan and should not say I am paying a loan. I told her that it said my payment amount in there and that it was a real thing on my credit report. She said they would fix it and and not to worry. I did not hear back from them and in XX/XX/XXXX, I received a call from a creditor from Santander, coming after the payments I hadn't paid and I told him to leave me alone and then called the Funding Dept at Santander and was told it would not happen again and I told them that they needed to fix this ASAP. She said they would and that was time I spoke with them for a while. On XX/XX/XXXX, I spoke with Santander and a gentleman answered and seemed very surprised when he told me that it was their mistake and he was working with his managers to fix it and I recorded the call and then, when I called again because I never heard back, I was very rudely told by a rep and manager in the funding dept that it was my problem and there was nothing more they would do ; I recorded this conversation also. I was given a phone number to call in their disputes office and I told them what happened and was told they would follow up with the Funding Dept and get back to me ; I did receive an email stating they were working on it and then a day later I received another email telling me it is my problem and their case was closed. I then called the dispute Dept back and a lady answered the phone and I told her I had voice recordings, so she asked me to send them and I did. I called again a week later and was told it was closed again and then they reopened it because I fought it. I never heard back from them after. On XX/XX/XXXX, my vehicle broke down and I went to buy a new vehicle and found out my credit score was horrible because Santander has it on there that I owe almost 20k, so I called Santander Funding Dept again to ask why its still on there and was told they did not know why and it would be fixed ASAP. I had to pay {$2000.00} for a transmission replacement because I could not get a vehicle on credit due to Santander. In XXXX, I called XXXX XXXX  finance office, to discuss the vehicle situation and was told that there was nothing they would do and I needed to handle it without Santander ; the reason I called, was because Santander repeatedly told me to call them to get XXXX XXXX   to send the money back to Santander because Santander accidentally paid them. Did not work at all and now my credit should be wonderful and it is very low and all due to Santanders unwillingness to correct their mistake when they accidentally funded a vehicle after they said it would not be funded.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation