Consumer complaint received 2026-05-16 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease — Problem with paying off the loan
Company: SANTANDER HOLDINGS USA, INC.
State: NC

Complaint narrative:
COMPLAINT REGARDING UNLAWFUL REPOSSESSION, DECEPTIVE PAYOFF PRACTICES, AND IMPROPER PERSONAL PROPERTY HANDLING Complainant : XXXX XXXX, XXXX of the Estate of XXXX XXXX ( Decedent XXXX XXXX XXXXXX/XX/XXXX ) Lender : Santander Consumer USA XXXX ( XXXX XXXX XXXX ) Repossession Vendor : XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX : XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX. Unlawful Default and Lack of Notice Following the death of my husband, XXXX XXXX, the lender accepted automatic payments on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX from our joint bank account. Upon learning of his death, the lender unilaterally terminated the autopay mechanism and placed the account into default without providing notice of termination, notice of default, or an opportunity to cure. Following the death, the XXXX had to secure an appointment with the XXXX XXXX XXXX, but encountered a court backlog window of approximately XXXX months. An estate attorney was retained in XX/XX/XXXX, and the formal Letters of XXXX were issued on XX/XX/XXXX. The very next day, XX/XX/XXXX, the lender authorized repossession of the vehicle. Because no notice of default or repossession was provided, the vehicle was initially reported stolen to the XXXX XXXX XXXX Department. On XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX XXXX Department advised it had no record of a repossession. XXXX. Stonewalling and Deceptive Payoff Practices On XX/XX/XXXX, the estate emailed the Letters of Administration to XXXX, declared the intent to pay off the vehicle, and requested payoff information. On XX/XX/XXXX, a second email request was transmitted. The lender did not respond to either communication. On XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX requested information via telephone, but representatives refused to provide the payoff amount, claiming the XXXX was an unauthorized third party despite the previous transmission of legal estate credentials. On XX/XX/XXXX, formal written Notices of Redemption and Legal Holds were sent to the lender via email and certified mail, and to the repossession vendor via email, fax, and certified mail, demanding the asset be held. Disregarding these directives, the vendor transported the vehicle to XXXXXXXX XXXX XXXX on XX/XX/XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX received a repossession notice letter from the lender. The letter was dated XX/XX/XXXX, was addressed to the deceased individual, and identified an auction date of XX/XX/XXXX, leaving only XXXX days to act. On XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX reviewed the lender 's online instructions stating that full payment must be made via XXXX XXXX or XXXX. On XX/XX/XXXX, the XXXX called again and a representative finally stated that a cashier 's check would be accepted and provided a verbal payoff quote of {$8600.00} on a recorded line. The representative stated that repossession fees would be handled separately by the reinstatement department post-payoff. Relying on this, a cashier 's check for {$8600.00} was mailed via rush delivery and signed for by the lender on XX/XX/XXXX. The XXXX directly checked the account status on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX, and confirmed the payoff had not been applied to the loan. On XX/XX/XXXX, online transaction records indicated that the lender received and applied funds on XX/XX/XXXX, but misapplied them by unilaterally diverting {$900.00} ( {$550.00} and {$350.00} ) away from the principal to unitemized " Miscellaneous Fees. '' This engineered an artificial default balance of {$900.00} on the principal, leaving less than XXXX business days before the scheduled XX/XX/XXXX auction. To prevent liquidation and accommodate the extremely narrow property pick-up windows mandated by XXXX separate vendors, the XXXX was forced under duress to wire an additional {$900.00} via XXXX XXXX XXXX XX/XX/XXXX. The lender has failed to provide an itemized breakdown or third-party invoices for these extracted fees. Because full satisfaction of the loan was achieved via the original funds on XX/XX/XXXX, the lender has bypassed the strict XXXX execution window to release the electronic lien under XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX. XXXX. XXXX XXXX XXXX and Omission of Belongings On XX/XX/XXXX, the repossession vendor required the XXXX to sign a generic personal property release listing only trash tag dog seat covers in order to retrieve any of the personal property. This property included the vehicles physical license plate, which the XXXX legally required for an appointment the following day to recover the vehicle from the XXXX auction house. XXXX personal property, including a dash cam and backseat extender, was missing from the vehicle and completely omitted from the vendor 's inventory. The XXXX signed the release under protest, explicitly writing a notation on the form to indicate the missing items and the coercive nature of the signature under the circumstances. The lender has refused to provide a complete itemized inventory or accounting of the vehicle 's contents.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation