Consumer complaint received 2021-09-18
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Getting a loan or lease — Credit denial
Company: Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. (TX)

On XX/XX/2021, I went to the XXXX XXXX dealership on XXXX XXXX in XXXX, Texas. I initiated a consumer credit transaction for a 2021 XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I stated that I do not do business with any of the third part reporting agencies, seeing as it is not required by law, and was advised that if I did not allow the financing company, CHRYSLER CAPITAL, access to these reports they would not accept my application at all. Being forced to comply, which is a violation within itself of my consumer rights, I unfroze these fraudulent account in order to move forward. Once CHRYSLER CAPITAL received this information they then proceeded to provide me with an offer of {$35000.00} leaving a remaining balance of {$58000.00} and they wanted the lease to be in place for 75 months at a rate of $ XXXX month. This was an outrageous offer so I, as the consumer, refused this offer and went on to request my original amount. At this point in the dealership I had spoke to two sales representatives and a finance manager. When I advised them of my rights as consumer who is of age, mentally and physically capable to contract, and requested to speak to the CHRYSLER CAPITAL on my own behalf, due to the fact that each of the three agents of XXXX XXXX already admitted to not having knowledge of title 15 chapter 41 of the United States Code and if I allowed them to relay my demands it would be detrimental to me as the consumer. CHRYSLER CAPITAL 's representative advised they could not speak to me and only could converse through the dealership from which I applied. I then requested to speak to them again and this time the finance director for this XXXX XXXX location came to speak to me. He stated that there wasn't anything they could do because CHRYSLER CAPITAL, once they have used my credit card to gather credit information, they rank consumers in tiers with tier 1 being top consumers approved instantly and the credit worthiness decreasing and the tiers increase in number. This is a blatant example of discrimination, by ranking me as a consumer who has a right to credit and violates 15 USC 1691. The finance director advised that the only way I may be able to speak to someone with CHRYSLER CAPITAL is if I did the application on my own. At this point I had been at the dealership for four hours and was hungry and exhausted so I decided to go home and do the application myself and return to the dealership with my approval letter. I started a new application on my own through CHRYSLER CAPITAL and called to speak to a representative to voice my denial of their offer and to invoke my rights as a consumer to credit. The first representative I spoke to transferred me to a representative in the customer care department who was very rude and actually told me I could not speak to a manager because I wasn't the dealership. Once I advised him of my rights he finally decided to transfer me, however, while on hold waiting to speak to a manager this representative hung up on me. I called back and got another representative and when I explained my situation she stated that I can't negotiate the offer. I asked if that was a law and she said yes and when I asked if she could direct me to that law for my records she said I would have to do my own research. I then went on to say that it was not a law and asked if this was CHRYSLER CAPITAL 's policy to which she said yes and then I asked her to show me in their terms and agreements where this policy is disclosed to consumers and she said it wasn't in there, another lie she was comfortable conveying. I requested to speak to a manager and she finally complied and transferred me to a manager. This manager began with the same unfair tactics of saying I can not speak on my own behalf and could only communicate through the dealership, even though the company to which they are licensed to, SANTANDER CONSUMER USA INC, clearly states they serve dealers and consumers. Frustrated with the back and forward I asked the manager if I had the finance manager call in with me in the room if we could communicate in that way and he said I could. I then proceeded to head back to the dealership, at this point this has become a six hour process. Once I made it back to the dealership I advised the sales rep I originally began this transaction with that I would like to have a finance manage to make a call so we can discuss these terms. When the representative came back from speaking to his finance director he apologized and advised that the finance director said that this was too much and he did not want to do business or sell me a vehicle, which violates 15 USC 1691 or the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Surprised with this information, I requested that said finance director provide me with written documentation stating they would not do business with me and the reason to which he declined, again through the sales rep and not directly to me the consumer.