Santander Consumer USA Reviews

Santander Consumer USA has been one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with. Their customer service is absolutely terrible. You can barely get an American representative on the phone, and when you finally do, the call “mysteriously” disconnects almost every single time. Their fax line stays busy and won’t even answer. They drafted a payment directly from my bank account, and I have a confirmation number FROM SANTANDER proving the payment was processed. Yet somehow they are still claiming the payment was “reversed due to insufficient funds.” That is simply not true.

I had a really frustrating experience with Santander Consumer USA customer service. I called multiple times to confirm whether vehicle registration was included in my payoff amount, and I received completely inconsistent answers. At least five different representatives told me it *was included*, but then another rep later said it was *not paid at all*.

We have a vehicle loan through Santander Consumer (not our choice - the dealer used it). It's a great interest rate, so right now, we are stuck. However, their billing and customer service are beyond horrible. First, you can't ever speak to a human. You can chat, but if you need an escalation, you have to wait for a supervisor to email you back in 3-5 business days. Second, we made an early payment on our loan (paid mid November for a December due date). Several months later, we received a late notice for our March payment. They told us they applied that November payment to principal because December's billing was not open when we made it. We reached out to them (through the back and forth chat / email) and thought it had been resolved. It wasn't. Instead, we got a snarky email stating they've sent us an educational document on simple interest loans.

I've only had the car loan with them for about a month and already it's been an awful experience. Just getting them to send the title to my local DMV has been way more difficult than it should be, and at this moment I am still waiting for them to send the title. Every time I call to check on it they act lost or like they have no idea what they are doing. Even the DMV told me I should have steered clear of Santander because they have had terrible experiences with them. If you are getting a car loan and it is between this bank and another, choose the other and run from this one.

These loans are borderline a scam to me, I would not use Santander again even if it was my last resort. I bought a vehicle in 2021. The price of the vehicle was $11,999. My car notes was assessed right at $315 a month with 24% interest. I didn’t realize at the time when I bought the vehicle that I agreed to such a high interest rate, but anyhow moving forward, my payments have been set up on automatic payments from the very beginning. I’ve never been late five years later, I called to get a payoff on my car which is $5200 so you mean to tell me in five years less than $7000 has been applied to my principal that was insane to me. My payoff was supposed to be June 2027 now records show. My payoff is September 2027. After paying six months worth of payments recently Only $400 was applied to my principal.

I have been trying to make my first payment. When I go online, the website doesn’t work at all. Then I tried calling, according to the automatic voice system neither my account number nor my social security is found on their database. My first payment is due in a week. I can’t even speak to a live agent because I don’t have “an account” with them. Clearly this company wants people to fall behind on payments. They want to ruin people’s credit.

Been put on hold 4 times, and then mysteriously hung up on, then told 3 times that the computers are down, and then ask to speak to a manager, waited 15 minutes on, hold and then hung up on again. Or you can call several times, like we did, and nobody tends to pick up the phone. It just sends you on a circle, and that's all we're trying to do is pay off this vehicle early. Because it seems to be one scam. After another, they got us at a high interest rate and won't let us get out of it, even though we have the money to pay for it, but they just keep giving us runaround plus, very hard to understand most of the representatives they have working for them. Very frustrating!!!

Has 3 checks that were written out for the water gas and another. Utility bills came in and said they never received. Called the bank and told them to put a stop on all three checks. They placed a stop then few weeks went by and the checks went into the bank the gas was one of them and almost 2000 came out of the back because when they received it they let go through even though they we stopped and even though the checks were altered in the price that did not match what I wrote out and still to this date have not got the money back. They keep asking for papers, police reports that we did and spent money. Then recently they said they closed the case because they need an affidavit. So now I'm spending more money because I have to keep wasting my money and time. This is unacceptable that they are doing this to my elderly mom.

Extremely frustrating experience. Went in with a basic business banking question and was met with zero real solutions. I was told to file multiple name variations with the state and to manually alter checks just to deposit them. No effort was made to fix the underlying issue or even properly review my account setup. The overall tone was dismissive and unhelpful. After 20 years in business, I expected a lot more from a bank.

I have had two cars financed by Santander. Until the last 3 months, I had no problem. Reps were courteous and helpful. The last 3 months, they have been disrespectful to me and only concerned with payment. Not one person cared if I had problems, which I did with my son's medical issues; he is Autistic Savant anis from an orphanage in Russia and was badly abused. Lots of money and love have been the only answer. No one asked me if I was interested in help, or suggested you had any kind of programs to help with payments or scheduling my payments better.