Consumer complaint received 2016-04-20
Company: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.
State: NM
Product: Consumer Loan
Sub-product: Vehicle loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease

Complaint:
XXXX XXXX, XXXX I financed a XXXX XXXX XXXX thru Santander Consumer USA ( thru XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX, XXXX ) Due to my poor credit rating and desire to have that car, I agreed to the 24.99 % interest rate, the 72 months to spread the payment of ( {$13000.00} interest and {$14000.00} principle ) {$27000.00} over. XXXX XXXX the company I was working for went out of business. During the next 3 years my finances were touch and go, I was late on many occasions and 4 separate times I had to place two missed payments " on the back side of the loan, '' extending my loans maturity date, as far as I knew and understood, 8 month later than expressed on my contract. Maturity would have been XXXX XXXX, but due to the 8 payments on the back of the loan, my agreement should have been finished XXXX XXXX. I have not had any late payments since the last of XXXX I believe, getting my financial world back on track. The XX/XX/XXXX, I realized that my loan, which should have been just about finished, was showing over half my principle amount still due with additional interest. I have called many times since last summer to try and understand their mistake, because surely this MUST be their mistake. I continued payment thru last month, meaning I paid now 5 extra payments beyond my XXXX agreed to. The several representatives I have talked to over the years explained to me that the interest and penalties I incurred due to late fees and the penalties for putting those XXXX missed payments on the back side of the loan reflected in the " Amount Due '' section of my monthly statement, which, as of my XXXX XXXX statement reflects {$810.00}. I had asked the first representative I talked to the first time they gave me the ability to put two missed payments on the back, if I would incur additional interest, because if I do, take the car back. Her words to me were " it is illegal for us to charge interest on interest and that I would be charged the late fee and penalty. '' Lets now fast forward to XXXX XXXX, I have made XXXX payments of a minimum of {$380.00}, many times over the last year or two I paid {$400.00} trying to tick down that " amount due. '' Just going with my regular car payment XXXX times I have paid this company {$29000.00}. However they are insisting I still have a balance on my principle of {$6800.00} that is almost half of the original amount I borrowed, XXXX years, XXXX months and XXXX payments later. Now according to Santander, I will be paying this off for another 6-7 years when you factor in the interest. The representatives at Santander state they are within their right per my contract to do this and I can not for the life of me understand how they can. I was told straight out, I would be paying for an additional 8 months beyond my maturity date and assessed late fee and penalties, not never ending interest. Please, please help me get my well deserved, over paid for car title and end this nightmare with me, please. I do n't even care anymore about the extra money I paid them, I just want this to end, not go on for 6-7 more years. It ; s XXXX, plain and simple when someone is in the hardest times of the lives. Thank you.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation