Consumer complaint received 2026-04-14 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Loan
Issue: Managing the loan or lease — Problem with fees charged
Company: SANTANDER HOLDINGS USA, INC.
State: CA

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/XXXX, I logged into my XXXX XXXX online account to make a payment. The account dashboard clearly displayed " Amount Due : {$96.00} Due on XX/XX/XXXX. '' My regular monthly installment of {$170.00} was listed separately and was not due until XX/XX/XXXX. Based on the information XXXX XXXX presented, I paid {$96.00} on XX/XX/XXXX before the stated due date. My transaction history confirms this payment was posted on XX/XX/XXXX. Approximately one week later, I logged back in and discovered that the dashboard again showed " Amount Due : {$96.00} Due on XX/XX/XXXX '' the identical amount I had already paid and which had already posted to my account. The next regular monthly payment was still not due. There was no indication anywhere on the dashboard that additional amounts remained outstanding, that my XX/XX/XXXX payment was insufficient, or that the displayed " Amount Due '' represented only a portion of what XXXX XXXX expected me to pay. I contacted XXXX XXXX through their chat support to dispute this. I explained that I had paid the full amount shown as due and that the next payment was not due until XX/XX/XXXX. The representative 's response was : " The payment was not made correctly. '' " Per your account, the amount due is late fees. '' " For the fees to be satisfied, the full payment including the fees must be paid on or before the due date. '' " A full payment of {$170.00} is needed on or before XX/XX/XXXX for the fees to be satisfied. '' The same representative then stated : " We have updated our website to better assist our customers. Going forward, the account will only reflect the past due balance and any unpaid fees under the current amount due tab. '' They also noted that the site previously only showed the late fee amount in the Amount Due field, with no clear separation or disclosure that it was distinct from and must be paid in addition to the regular installment. This is the precise problem : XXXX XXXX XXXX own system displayed {$96.00} as the full " Amount Due. '' I paid that amount in full before the due date. After payment posted, the system showed the same {$96.00} as still due before my next regular payment was even owed. When I raised this, XXXX XXXX did not acknowledge their display was misleading ; they told me my payment was " not made correctly, '' retroactively recharacterizing the amount as late fees after I had already paid what they presented as the current obligation. The representative 's admission that the website has since been updated confirms that the prior display failed to accurately convey what was owed. Despite this, XXXX XXXX refused to remove the fees. Because I was unable to resolve this through their support channel, the fees were never corrected. They have since compounded over several months, with additional late fees layered on top of the original amount. Every time I pay any of it, it results in yet aq nother fee so I have been afraid to make even parial payments to catch up. All of which originate from XXXX XXXX XXXX own inaccurate and misleading account dashboard.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation