Consumer complaint received 2021-12-04
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Struggling to pay your loan — Denied request to lower payments
Company: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. (MT)

I am filing this complaint because the auto loan issued by Santander for my XXXX XXXX XXXX has directly impacted me in ways that impacted the customers included in a {$550.00} XXXX multi-state settlement ( 34 states included ). In speaking with an individual at the Attorney General of Montana 's office in XXXX, I was advised that Montana did not participate in the settlement because their understanding was that not many Montana residents finance loans through the company. 

In XXXX of XXXX, my previous auto loan through Santander was dismissed through my XXXX XXXX  bankruptcy ; therefore, we have continued to pay Santander the {$650.00} payment each month in good faith with the new loan. The only exception to making each monthly payment since securing the loan in XX/XX/XXXX was the COVID forbearance that was offered between XX/XX/XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. We have made around XXXX payments at {$650.00} each, totaling around {$15000.00}, yet the payoff amount is still around $ 29k. 

When I inquired with Santander about the similarities between this loan, the multi-state settlement and loan issue date of XX/XX/XXXX aligning with the settlement dates in XXXX, I was advised that Montana was not included, there was nothing further they could do, they do not refinance existing loans with a positive payment history, and they would be coming to repossess the car once we could no longer afford the payments. This led me to believe that they assumed the probability of default was high. 

Ironically, there was another settlement in XXXX for Santander violating the Service Member Relief Act. Santander repossessed vehicles of XXXX soldiers without a court order. Mississippi did not join the multi-state consumer protection violation settlement, so they filed one of their own and Santander paid out {$3.00} XXXX. This lender is predatory. 

The {$550.00} XXXX multi-state settlement resulted in the following actions that support my complaint : Santander is required to waive any loan balance for customers with the lowest quality loans who defaulted before XX/XX/XXXX and did not have their cars repossessed, up to a total value of {$45.00} XXXX in loan forgiveness Santander is required to test all loans that default in the future to see if the consumer had a negative income at the time that the loan was issued. The test must include an amount for basic living expenses. If the loan is found to be unaffordable and the consumer defaulted within a certain amount of time, Santander is required to forgive that loan Santander is barred from requiring dealers to sell ancillary products, such as vehicle service contracts The ways that the loan for the XXXX XXXX XXXX aligns with the settlement include : High fees/requirement of ancillary product The dealership advised us upon signing the loan documentation that that Santander required the purchase of a full warranty through XXXX XXXX as part of the loan, raising the loan and payment amount against the 21 % interest High loan-to-value ratio Due to the requirement of the warranty through XXXX XXXX and the 21 % interest, the loan-to-value ratio is too high to refinance the vehicle for a lower payment and interest rate to pay the balance down and sell. The purchase price was $ 27K, and the pay-off amount is now $ 29K, over XXXX  years later after {$650.00} payments each month. I was pre-approved to refinance the vehicle at a 12 % interest rate through XXXX XXXX XXXX ; however, due to the loan-to-value amount, the loan was denied. The vehicle books for $ 18K, $ 11K less than the balance. 
High payment-to-income ratio Due to the {$650.00} payment, and the fact that we can not refinance the vehicle because of the high-loan-to-value ratio, we can not afford the increase in the cost of living across the country. We were told by the dealership that we would be able to refinance the payment and interest rate after consistent positive payment history ; however, XXXX years later that is not the case. As part of Santanders settlement, they are required to identify and monitor dealers that engage in deceptive business practices. Now that we have a baby XXXX years later, in collaboration with the market, and inability to refinance or sell the vehicle, we are in a desperate state of financial crisis, even with both of us having full-time careers.

Due to the financial position that Santander has put our family in, I am hopeful that this complaint can help advocate for the few of us in Montana that fell victim to Santanders deceptive business practices and help us exercise our consumer protection rights. The situation has caused emotional strain in our family, contributed to our family being forced to sell our home and ultimately is ruining our lives.