Consumer complaint received 2025-08-07 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Lease
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Problem with fees charged
Company: SANTANDER HOLDINGS USA, INC.
State: SC

Complaint narrative:
I am writing to formally file a complaint regarding a vehicle lease agreement I entered into with XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX. 

Despite having a XXXX XXXX of XXXX, I recently discovered that I am being charged a rent charge of {$16000.00} on the lease an amount far exceeding what is typical or appropriate for someone with my credit profile. 

Key Details : Lease start date : XX/XX/XXXX Gross capitalized cost : {$62000.00} Cap cost reduction : {$9100.00} Lease term : XXXX  months Rent charge disclosed : Not disclosed at time of signing XXXX XXXX at time of lease : XXXX At the time of signing, no rent charge or money factor was disclosed to me, either verbally or in writing. I only became aware of the excessive rent charge after reviewing the lease documentation after the fact. 

This is a violation of the Consumer Leasing Act ( CLA ) and Regulation M, which require clear disclosure of all financing costs, including rent charges, before lease execution. I believe this was an intentional omission to obscure an inflated money factor one I would have challenged had I known. 
I have also filed a complaint with South Carolina consumer affairs the case is open and active. Upon the discovery of the XXXX rent charge I contacted XXXX XXXX and was put in touch with the XXXX office. The woman I spoke with reviewed my contract she explained that she is embarrassed that she has no explanation and has never seen anything like that before. They have also opened an investigation on their end. 
I have all documents pertaining to this complaint and copies of lease agreements, and contact with dealership. 
Here is the complaint id associated with XXXX  Complaint ID : XXXX. 
Below I also attached a copy of my previous lease that was with in fiscal year XXXX as well, the vehicle ended up having a serious and life threatening incident which is what consumer affairs is handling. The dealership replaced the rear shock coil due to recall XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX The replacement piece failed shot out of the vehicle while parked in my driveway. I was very close to being injured as I was about to load luggage into my trunk for a XXXX hour car ride. When I notified the dealership of what happened they said oh its no big deal you wouldnt have wrecked nothing wouldve happened. The car shouldve been declared a lemon since it had been brought into serve 3 times over recall XXXX. I encourage whomever reads this complaint to please look up VIN number associated with the XXXX XXXX XXXX and under recall repairs which is also required by law to be published. When you click the link associated with that repair it says page not found. They tried to hide that anything ever even happened. The vehicle has since been sold to someone else. I was told they paid off that entire loan it wouldnt roll over into the new lease due to their negligence claiming to make things right. If you take a close examination of that contract you will see clearly the rent charge for that lease was only {$2400.00}. It is my assumption the dealership hid the financial loss they incurred due to what happened with the XXXX XXXX in the rent charge of my XXXX agreement. Credit score did not change within the time frame of changing vehicles. The XXXX contract also states that I was given a {$2400.00} trade in allowance from the old XXXX. Clearly that wasnt the case. They manipulated the number to make it look as though it was in my favor through deceptive practices.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation