Consumer complaint received 2020-06-10
Company: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.
State: IL
Product: Credit reporting, credit repair services, or other personal consumer reports
Sub-product: Credit reporting
Issue: Problem with a credit reporting company's investigation into an existing problem
Sub-issue: Problem with personal statement of dispute

Complaint:
First, here is a list of payments made this year : XX/XX/XXXX : {$240.00} XX/XX/XXXX : {$240.00} XX/XX/XXXX : {$240.00} ( It was later discovered the payment was inadvertently " backed out '' by an agent. On XX/XX/XXXX, a representative from Santander contacted me and, after having researched the issue internally, informed me that there was an " agent error '' and that anything negative reported would be removed. She provided the following information : AUD # XXXX. A {$250.00} credit was applied to our account. ) XX/XX/XXXX : {$240.00} XX/XX/XXXX, XXXX XXXX  EDT : {$1200.00} Knowing I was close to maturity in XX/XX/2020, when I made my XXXX payment, I contacted an agent to inquire how to proceed with my payments, making sure it was okay to continue to pay the usual monthly payments of {$240.00} without anything negative reported to the credit bureaus, and as was indicated each month on the Consumer Santander USA website ( https : //myaccount.santanderconsumerusa.com/Account/AccountSummary ). The account summary information on the website always indicated {$240.00} was due with the next payment date. The agent said they'd find the answer and contact me back. However, there was no follow-up and nothing on the website indicated the entire balance was due whatsoever. 

Prior to paying the XX/XX/2020 payment, the website indicated {$240.00} was due and therefore made that payment. I inquired on the same day with an agent to make sure I was meeting Santanders payment expectations. After taking a hard hit with COVID 19 and losing significant income, I was hoping to be permitted to continue to pay monthly without any negative effect on our credit especially since my apartment lease is up at the end of XXXX and I'm in the midst of purchasing a home with the little money I have saved. I had already been pre approved for a loan with my XXXX XXXX  score ( via hard pull lender credit report ) and qualified for a great rate that would make my mortgage less than what I was paying for rent. Despite the crisis many of us are experiencing with the pandemic and no income, if Santander insisted I pay the entire balance, I would have certainly done that to avoid anything negative on my credit report. 

That agent was supposed to contact me back, but did not. I have phone records I can provide. Not only was there a lack of follow through, this agent also backed out the XXXX payment without authorization, which made it appear as though the payment was late. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received a call from Ms. XXXX with good news. She called to inform me that the incident that happened with the XXXX payment was due to agent error and that they would remove the negative credit reporting. On that call there was no mention of anything else needed. All we knew was that the website indicated our next payment of {$240.00} was due in XXXX. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I received updates from the credit agencies, another bad mark was added to my XXXX  credit report from Santander. From what I can see on XXXX XXXX ( I know it's FICO, and not 100 % accurate ) my credit dropped roughly 120 points. I haven't pulled an official report, because I am in the middle of purchasing a home and any type of hard pull can hurt my credit score even more. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, I called Santander and was shocked to hear the entire balance was due. I was on the phone with them for HOURS that afternoon trying to get a letter of deletion to share with my lender ( for a rapid re-score ) before I paid the amount in full, but they said they couldn't provide a letter " due to company policy '' and wouldn't let me talk to anyone in the credit department because " they only corresponded via mail and can take 30 days once received ''. They gave me no option or any direction to fix the solution, even though they openly acknowledged that they made errors on my account. I paid the loan in full before the deadline of XXXX ET on XX/XX/XXXX to prohibit any more negative updates on my Experian credit score. 

This week, my XXXX  credit score took another hit. Santander is now saying the balance wasnt paid in full in XXXX when I have phone records proving the payment time and banking statements that can prove the day the payment was made. If they listen to their recorded calls, theyll hear my conversation with one of their agents on XX/XX/XXXX confirming if I paid the bill on that day ( XX/XX/XXXX ) by XXXX ET ( the time the agent told me to pay by ), my payment would go through that day and would not affect my credit score negatively. 

Santander did not conduct a thorough investigation regarding my dispute, and failed to give me a response regarding the negative impact their errors caused my credit score. My credit has dropped over 100+ points in the middle of the home buying process after I had already been pre-approved for a loan with my XXXX  score of XXXX. If my score doesn't go back up because of their error, I will have no place to live. 

Thank you for your assistance with this matter, I really hope writing to you guys can help.

Company response to consumer: Closed with non-monetary relief