Consumer complaint received 2020-09-04
Company: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.
State: ND
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:
This a follow up response to Complaint ID # : XXXX This was literally a copy and paste response which means Santander Consumer USA Inc, refuses to accept accountability. Santander is CURRENTLY involved in a multi-state lawsuit and is owed millions of dollars in settlement to consumers. Why do you fail to see this was the entire basis of the lawsuit? Why are you still expecting to receive {$30000.00} for a {$14000.00} car? The interest rate was 26 %!! That is financial XXXX! You preyed on consumers who were in vulnerable positions and financially screwed them over for life! This is the basis of the lawsuit! 

Excerpt from your response to my complaint ID # : XXXX " Santander Consumer USA Inc. establishes the contract rate based on factors including the down payment, vehicle value, the applicant 's credit worthiness and credit rating. We provide contract terms for the applicant which they can either accept or reject at the time of the application approval. We have confirmed that the APR on the Contract is within the allowable state limits. '' From the Office of the Attorney General press release. 
" Based on the multistate investigation, the coalition alleges that Santander, through its use of sophisticated credit scoring models to forecast default risk, knew that certain segments of its population were predicted to have a high likelihood of default. Santander exposed these borrowers to unnecessarily high levels of risk through high loan-to-value ratios, significant backend fees, and high payment-to-income ratios. Santander also improperly underestimated risk by turning a blind eye to abusive practices by the dealers originating many of these loans and failing to meaningfully monitor dealer behavior to minimize the risk of receiving falsified information, including the amounts specified for consumers incomes and expenses. Finally, the coalition alleges that Santander engaged in deceptive servicing practices and actively misled consumers about their rights, and risks of partial payments and loan extensions. '' The settlement also includes significant consumer relief by way of loan forgiveness. In all, Santander has agreed to waive the deficiency balances for certain defaulted consumers, with approximately {$430.00} XXXX in immediate forgiveness of loans still owned by Santander, and additional deficiency waivers of loans that Santander no longer owns but is required to attempt to buy back. Santander will waive a certain number of XXXX consumer loans for a collective value of approximately {$35.00} XXXX. In the event that Santander is able to buy back certain loans, additional XXXX loans totaling approximately {$27.00} XXXX could be waived. 

Going forward, Santander can not extend financing if a consumer has a negative residual income after taking into consideration a list of actual monthly debt obligations. Additionally, Santander is required to test all loans that default in the future to see if the consumer, at the time of origination, had a negative income. The test must include an amount for basic living expenses. If the loan is found to be unaffordable and the consumer defaulted within a certain amount of time, Santander is required to forgive that loan. 

Santander is barred from requiring dealers to sell ancillary products, such as vehicle service contracts. Santander will also implement steps to monitor dealers who engage in unlawful practices such as income inflation, expense inflation, power booking, and Santander will enact additional documentation requirements for those dealers. Further, whereas Santander previously allowed these problematic dealers to waive documentation requirements on income and expenses, Santander no longer will allow such exceptions. If Santander has to use a default mortgage or rent payment value, the amount input must reasonably reflect the payment value for the geographic location. Finally, Santander will maintain policies and procedures for deferments, forbearances, modifications and other collection matters that all employees must follow. '' You argued THAT statement in court and still lost so what are you trying to convince me of? You are a disgrace to the financial sector and would like to be done with your company as soon as possible. I would like to know when you will be providing relief to customers from this lawsuit. That was the reason I reached out to the CFPB because you refused to acknowledge any of my letters sent to your company. You keep referring people to this website that does not have any up to date information or timeline. Based on the lawsuit, you should be providing relief to customers. If you are going to be offering relief in the future, why not do it now? I am not putting my life on hold for you after you financially XXXX me. Remove this alleged debt from my report! Expeditiously!

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation