Consumer complaint received 2020-02-15
Company: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.
State: TX
Product: Vehicle loan or lease
Sub-product: Loan
Issue: Incorrect information on your report
Sub-issue: Information is missing that should be on the report

Complaint:
In XXXX, XXXX, my son was XXXX years old, and I ( co-owner ) purchased a vehicle, a XXXX XXXX XXXX. My son didnt have any credit so he needed a co-signer. Santander Consumer USA was the company that financed the vehicle installment loan. The account was opened XX/XX/XXXX and reported to all three credit bureaus ( XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX ) on both of our credit history reports. The last credit reports, requested from either of our personal credit files, which document that Santander was reporting the vehicle to the credit agencies are dated XX/XX/XXXX ( XXXX  ), XX/XX/XXXX ( XXXX  ). This is the last date that we can tell the account was reported to credit bureaus. 
In XXXX, XXXX, My son joined the XXXX XXXX and shipped off to XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX XXXX. I had a general power of attorney over his accounts and I contacted Santander to request Servicemember Credit Relief Act ( SCRA ) protections and submitted the required documentation. SCRA protections provide for a servicemember who has civil contracts with creditors/lenders before he enters XXXX XXXX military to obtain reduced interest rates amongst other protections. In XXXX, XXXX, Santander acknowledged the SCRA request and implemented the reduced interest rate ( I believe to be 6 % ). My sons monthly car loan payments were reduced from XXXX per month to XXXX per month. All car loan payments prior to the SCRA protections and after were paid via recurring monthly payments, and on time. This created a positive credit reporting history for my son to establish new credit accounts in the future, specifically new auto purchases. I had obtained permission from Santander to ship the vehicle to my son in XXXX, XXXX ; which he received in XXXX, XXXX. 
In XXXX, XXXX, My son, now assigned to his XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX, Hawaii, was involved in a vehicle accident which resulted in a total loss of the vehicle. My son had obtained proper insurance coverage from XXXX XXXX. In XXXX, XXXX, after XXXX rendered the vehicle a total loss, they issued a payment to Santander for their portion of the coverage and after a long, frustrating process, the remainder of the balance was paid to Santander by GAP Insurance in XXXX, XXXX. On a letter dated XX/XX/XXXX, My son received a letter from XXXX Title Administrators advising that they were processing all title paperwork from XXXX and was requesting a document be signed notarizing power of attorney and after receipt of this document, My son will be released of all interest of the vehicle, and will not be liable for any storage fees accrued with XXXX XXXX XXXX or XXXX. Follow-up contact was made with the Title Administrators advising they received everything they needed to process this transfer so no further action was needed. At this point, we ( My son and myself ) understood that we had nothing else to do with this vehicle. The title was released to XXXX from Santander. ( Letter from XXXX attached ) We never heard anything else from XXXX or Santander regarding this vehicle. 

Back in XXXX, XXXX after the vehicle was rendered a total loss, My son needed another vehicle. In XXXX, XXXX, My son applied for credit for a new vehicle. He was told that after checking his credit reports that no credit bureau reflected credit history of a previous vehicle, specifically the XXXX XXXX XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX and XXXX, XXXX, my son and I checked our credit files from all three credit agencies and none of the agencies had our installment loan accounts listed for Santander Consumer USA showing the purchase of this vehicle. There was nothing on the reports identifying that either of us had ever had an installment loan with Santander. Everything was gone. I didnt understand why. I remember calling Santander and I dont recall the exact date, but I asked why they had stopped reporting all of our account history with Santander to the credit bureaus. I dont remember the exact conversation, but I was told that Santander is not required to report anything to the credit bureaus. I explained that they had already been reporting the payment history of the vehicle to the credit bureaus and didnt get a valid explanation about why they stopped. The only conclusion I could come to was they stopped reporting sometime after the SCRA protections were implemented. I suspect that sometime between XXXX, XXXX and XXXX, XXXX, they stopped reporting the account to the credit bureaus. I believe it is a violation of the SCRA and was retaliation because of the requirement to lower, an otherwise high and profitable, interest rate. Also, I thought it was unfair that my son had made all of these payments from XXXX on time and had no credit report to reflect his payment history. This is an unfair credit reporting practice. My son had to accept a higher rate interest loan, from a sub-prime lender, because he had no credit reports to prove his two years of on-time vehicle payment history. The credit reporting history had also been removed from all three credit bureaus reporting to my credit files as well. 
All of my sons car payments on his current vehicle purchase installment loan from XX/XX/XXXX until now have been made on time. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, my son started having problems with his current vehicle, a different lender, and decided he wanted to purchase a new vehicle. He contacted XXXX in regards to financing a new vehicle purchase. They checked his XXXX credit report and told him he does not have a long enough credit history because the installment contract payment history for his XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) was still not being reported to all three credit bureaus. My son called me and explained the issue. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Santander to attempt to get a payment history of the account emailed to my son, which they complied ( XXXX from Santander ). Nothing was mentioned about a debt being owed. My son contacted XXXX and was advised that he had the print-out of his vehicle payment history and was told it needed to be reflected in his XXXX  credit file. I contacted XXXX   Credit Reporting Agency myself, and explained the situation to XXXX. Because I was a co-owner, XXXX checked my XXXX   credit file and advised that there was nothing reflecting a Santander account history in my file. I explained the situation and he advised me to call FCRA. I decided to call Santander back, spoke with XXXX to find out if they could report the on-time payment history for my sons XXXX XXXX, which shouldve been reflected payments in the credit files from XXXX. XXXX stated she had we had to get a waiver ( I dont know what or why a waiver was needed ). She said she had to complete some information on the waiver and forward it to a different department. She didnt state what department. XXXX stated my son would receive an email and he needed to sign it and send it back to Santander, then they could start reporting again. I asked what she meant by reporting again. 
She said well your account has been aging because it says you are 700 + days late, or 25 payments late. I asked her to repeat what she meant because I was in total shock. I told her no I dont owe anything. Nobody ever told us we owe anything. Im not paying you anything. I told her my son had made all of his payments on time and this vehicle was rendered a total loss and paid off. She said no, there was a balance. I disagreed and told her I was no longer requesting to have anything submitted our credit reports if they were going to add all of this negative information that we knew nothing about and that shouldnt be there. I was upset and didnt know what to do. 
On XX/XX/XXXX, I called XXXX, Consumer Finance Protection Bureau ( CFPB ), and I told him the situation. XXXX explained how the process worked and how to submit my complaint online. I told XXXX that I thought Santander violated my sons SCRA protection rights when they retaliated by stopping the reporting of valid credit history payment to the credit bureaus when it was previously reported. I would understand if Santander had never reported any information about the account from the time the installment loan was issued, but they stopped seemingly after SCRA protections were implemented in XXXX, XXXX. I also believed that we did not owe any additional debt to Santander and never had been made aware of any debt owed.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation