Consumer complaint received 2015-07-10
Company: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.
State: TX
Product: Consumer Loan
Sub-product: Vehicle lease
Issue: Managing the loan or lease

Complaint:
Hello, We leased a little XXXX XXXX XXXX in XX/XX/XXXX. However, personal circumstances required us to move to XXXX ( I 'm XXXX ) thus I called the leasing company in XXXX XXXX in regards to early termination. The agent told me that I had to pay an early termination fee of about {$900.00} and all I need to do is to return the car. 

I decided to return the car in XXXX of XXXX and received a receipt for returning the car ( XXXX XXXX with XXXX miles on the odometer ). Then we continued to receive bills from Chrysler Capital and I called several times to tell them that we had returned the car. I asked repeatedly when I would get the final bill from the early termination fee and every time they said it should come soon. 

Finally, on XXXX XXXX I received a call from Chrysler capital that they had sorted it out and that the dealership made a mistake ( there is a technical term for that I forgot it but basically they temporarily 'lost ' the car ) and that I would receive the final bill after the car was sold. This was new information to me, on the call I had in XXXX it was clear that it was around {$900.00} - now the story is that they will need to sell the car first and I pay for the difference between their price and what they are able to get at an auction. This is apparently in the contract under early termination but it was n't explained to me nor is it clear from reading it ( the process is not described ). 
Today ( or rather yesterday ) I received a letter that outlined the same amounts that are under the early termination + adminsitrative charges. Basically, I 'm liable now for around XXXX and it says nothing about the process of when the car is being sold and when I will learn of what the actual difference is. 

Thus from my side:1. The process information was new and that I also pay for the difference of what they are able to sell the car for. Had I known that earlier I would have acted differently ( most likely I would have shipped the car and sold it myself in XXXX ; we would have had that option then ) 2. I have no control over that price whatsoever when they auction off the car and I have no insight in how that price came together and if that was in fact the price. 
3. In the meantime, we 've moved abroad - they have wasted 4 month of dealing with this which means the car is 4 month older now and I 'm not longer around to act. 

I still do n't know what the final bill is for the car but I 'm concerned that they have very little interest in getting the best price and/or can basically tell me anything and I can no longer influence that because I 'm no longer in the XXXX. 

I might be an exception to the rule because we moved abroad but I would assume that the way these early termination clauses are structured and the way it is explained is probably a general issue in this industry. I 'm happy to provide all required documentation and reference because I feel there is clearly something wrong here. Also, we 're now using a mailbox forwarding services in XXXX ( originally from XXXX ).

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation