Consumer complaint received 2016-11-27
Company: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.
State: IL
Product: Consumer Loan
Sub-product: Vehicle loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease

Complaint:
Almost XXXX years ago I made my first purchase of a car. I needed a car at the time for XXXX reasons, XXXX I no longer wanted to depend on anyone taking my grandmother places. At the time I was getting her rides from a city funded company called XXXX. This company was very unprofessional and not really dependable. At the time my grandmother was XXXX so I was always concerned with how they picked her up and dropped her off.. I vowed never to allow her to go through that again. The other reason I needed a car is because after being out of work for a while I was finally able to find a job but the job required me to have a vehicle so I went to XXXX and attempted to see if I could get a loan. I was greeted by a young guy named XXXX and i explained to him my circumstances. I made him aware that I was on a limited income working from home and I was trying to get a better job. He gather ed all my information and said he wold get me in a car with no problem. I should have known it was to good to be true. First he had me sign all these docs with thout clearly going through the information listed in them. I blame myself how ever I was naive and really just wanted a car. I was never given a chance to pick a car to my liking which means he selected a car for me that was standard but I was charged for options I did not receive. To finalize the loan he said I would need a cosigner just to get a lower interest rate. So I begged my mother to help me cosign for this car. Now because I didnt have to put any money down I didnt think this was a bad idea but I quickly found this was not true. So my mom, who had her reserves, signed for me and i walked off the lot in a new car. Not the car I wanted but he told me I had to take this car since he was doing me a favor and getting me a loan with no money down. The day I walked off the lot proved to that i just messed up. I road around for a little while breaking the car in and got to a friends house where I parked. Because it was the dead of winter and dark unknowingly when I parked, I parked on a brick which split my back tire. Contacted the dealer to see what I needed to do to get it fixed. i was told I was not under warrenty and it would be better to get it fixed at a local shop. So I did and I have had tire trouble ever since. Now at the time the job I was going to get allowed me to manage being able to handle the note btu once I realized how much I had to pay for insurance I came to the conclusion this was a bad idea. My note was {$580.00} a month and my insurance was {$200.00} a month because the car was new. My interest rate on this vehicle is far more than whats allocated in the state of XXXX. Ultimately when i do the math on how long I will need to pay on this loan I will have paid over {$50000.00} for a car that was only worth {$15000.00}. I have struggled to keep up with the payments and sadly I have gone many days with out a decent meal in order to make sure this bill is paid. I have in 3 years only been late twice and that 's because I was in the hospital due to complications with my XXXX. I have paid over {$20000.00} and still have way over {$20000.00} more to pay and its becoming more and more difficult because of wear and tear on the car and keeping it maintained. Attempted to trade the car in but could not get approved from any XXXX as this loan has done nothing to improve my credit score which I was told it would be. I attempted to go back to the same dealer to maybe do a trade to help me get a lower note they told me to do a voluntary repossession and they would get my payment lowered by {$100.00}. Needless to say I did not want to do that. I would like my loan to be forgiven because not only have I paid more than its worth but I am now having bad times and I dont want to be forced in to defaulting on the loan. I am also charged {$10.00} every time I make a payment which I was unaware of.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation