Santander Consumer USA

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT TO RECOGNIZE ESPECIALLY WITH THE VERY FIRST PAYMENT. If you elect to have your first payment not be due for 45 days (like I did) and only make the required monthly payment when due ( like I did ) you will be behind on the interest (like I was), but not late on the payment because... THE FINANCE CHARGES BEGIN THE DAY YOU SIGN THE FOR THE LOAN!!! Meaning that you will be charged 45 days worth of finance charges: Finance charge = Daily simple interest total since last payment = $13.7 * 45 days = $616.5. And if you only made the first payment (like I did) which is based on 30 days not 45, you can see how after making a monthly payment of $587.03 but owing a finance charge of $616.5 would leave you with a finance charge balance of $29.47. That's how they get you!!!! (Because now you have a balance you didn't even know you had.)

Because everything is applied to the interest first and whatever is remaining towards the principal, while the finance charge compounds daily between payments. I quickly realized this after my first payment, so I immediately made another payment and another one multiple days in a row to test it out. Sure enough my second payment included only the interest accrued from the few days of finance charges since my first payment and because I made my 3rd payment the very next day after my second, the finance charge was slightly less than $13.7 and the rest of my payment went towards principal.

If you never even pay late, only make the required monthly payments, but extended that very FIRST payment out past 30 days of when you signed the contract, guess what? YOU WILL NEVER PAY DOWN YOUR LOAN. YOU WILL BE BEHIND FROM DAY ONE. (That's what they are counting on.) PLEASE CALCULATE YOUR DAILY SIMPLY INTEREST!!! Figure out how much of your payment is going towards that and you will be fine. If you have to pay late just know that the interest doesn't stop so you need to know that when they say everything is applied to interest first, they mean it. (fees and interest get paid prior to principal balances). Think of it like this: Do I have a finance balance since my last payment? Do I have a late fee balance since my last payment? If one of these is yes know that your required monthly payment may not cover all outstanding balances, especially if you are early in the loan.

People trust me it works. I know it sucks but if you have the knowledge you will never be behind the eight ball. Now that I am aware of the way the finance charges work I have paid down sooo much of my principal in comparison to my interest. The more I pay down the lower my Daily simple interest becomes and the more my payments get applied towards principal ( and round and round it goes). Hope this review helps at least one person not feel like they are getting screwed because face it, they are in it to make money so they aren't going to tell you how to save it.

Santander gave me no problems. The only thing that annoyed me and the reason for only four stars is that I would repeatedly get emails saying the number on file was invalid. Not only did they have no reason to call, but the phone number on file was very much valid, as I've had the same number for over 15 years. The first time it happened, I called to make sure that no one was trying to reach me. They said that they hadn't called so they weren't sure why I got the email. After that, I just got the email and ignored it, but it was quite annoying to get it so regularly. Overall, my experience was the same as any other lender. I paid on time, they gave me no crap. I didn't have to wait lightyears for the title that was rightfully mine. I can't say that I would use them again, but I had a pretty reasonable experience overall. Minus the email thing, no complaints from me.

I paid the loan off about 2 months ago, and have called the dealership several times to cancel my GAP insurance and get that refund. I finally spoke to someone who told me that Chrysler Capital had already done this, and that the check was on its way. If you've ever tried to get a refund on Gap insurance, you know this is rare! For every other car I've ever paid off, you have to contact the dealership and jump through hoops to get your money back. Even the woman at the dealership was surprised by this. I appreciate anything that results in me having 1 less thing on my plate to worry about! Personally, I would recommend them for funding a loan, and I will certainly use them again if the need arises.

In that instance, I promptly called them and explained my situation and they made note of it and were more than happy to flex a bit, which I was very grateful for. No rudeness or anything like that, very professional and personable. Of course I was respectful and courteous to them as well which I'm guessing a lot of these people posting these negative reviews were not when they communicated with SCUSA. You've gotta give respect to get respect people! Anyway, just wanted to post a 5 thumbs up because they deserve it based on my experience with them for the past few years. Nothing but a great experience from just a guy who is financing. Almost owning in a few months!... My baby Lex. Thanks for the awesome service Santander! Don't let the irresponsible lowlifes get you down!

It had to be off a debit card or Western Union Wire - It was basically my overdue payments. They told me they would help me out and defer 2 payments - which I gladly accepted and it dropped the amount owed considerably. (I thought that was awesome.) I paid the amount over the phone and they sent the release to the towing company. The towing company couldn't release the vehicle until Wednesday because of their hours of operation, but I showed up early that morning and got it - no problem.

OK THIS IS IMPORTANT - I was told that all of the transactions for repo were computer generated through Santander. If you don't call them ASAP and try and straighten things out there's a GREAT chance your vehicle is going to auction - which is **. I received ZERO notice of sale that I thought was required by law - I was told that my truck was headed to an auction in Dallas on Wednesday. THEY DO NO MESS AROUND - Santander was actually really good working with me, but I had the money to cover my payments, not sure what would have happened if I didn't - so I don't guess I felt their full wrath. To be honest the people I spoke with at Santander were extremely nice and seemed to genuinely want me to get my vehicle back.

I'm currently waiting on Toyota Financial to recover the 4 months of payments that I sent them that obviously landed in a vacuum somewhere haha! Just wanted to share my experience - losing your vehicle sucks man, especially when it's a 46K truck - and to have the towing company come to my house and take it, it just made me more angry - especially after I asked if I could back it out of the garage and they said "No this truck is our property now." That stung. Lesson learned - always answer phone calls/mail and stuff - although it would have been nice to get a certified letter or something so I'd known for sure.

A few weeks go by and I check my account and don't see a withdraw so I call them back explaining I spoke to someone and had a confirmation number. They don't me they didn't collect the payment and the confirmation number wasn't accurate. "They also couldn't find the recording in which I provided the date and time of payment". I get a notice on my credit that they marked and reported me late even though they where holding an extra $2000 of my money and only app, used it to interest and not for additional payments. Trading my car in soon to get a new bank. Don't go with Santander. They damage your credit intentionally so you can't get out of your loan and are stuck paying high interest. Santander is a fraudulent bank.

When I went online, while out of the country, I was blocked from access so I could not remit payments until I returned to the the US. When I arrived I called them but it was too late ... They had signaled a late payment to the credit bureaus and dropped my score of almost 100 points. I sent them a letter explaining the situation and asking for them to pardon the late payment and remove it from my credit as I have paid on time for 5 years already but they refused to do anything. Last month I made what I thought was my last payment ... and again they sent a late payment notice to the credit bureaus, when I called to ask why, apparently there was $7 that I did not pay. $7 at the end of my loan and they send it to the credit bureau. This obviously a company of cretins.

Now that my car has been paid off over a month ago, via debit card as they wanted to be sure the last payment will be immediately debited, I still do not have my car's title. They knew I planned on selling the car, but still made me pay that famous $7 to finish off the car and now a dealer cannot buy it off, instead I must wait for the lien. I called a few times, and every time the release date changes. Last call, they claimed the lien has been released but now ... Again they keep my property hostage, as even with the lien being released, I must wait for a letter to arrive stating that the lien has been released. That letter will take 10 days. Today has been 10 days since that letter was supposedly sent" and still nothing. This is obviously a company that does not care. Get your loans from anyone else, even a loan shark would be more decent than Santander.

Now they are making her wait and it’s been over a week since they made the mistake that caused her to be in the negative. She made several calls and went to the bank several times which for some strange reason some calls were not noted and nothing has been fixed!!! The BRANCH MANAGER, THE EMPLOYEE and THE DISTRICT MANAGER ALL NEED TO BE FIRED!!!! This is being reported and an investigation into their banking practices at that BRANCH need to be conducted so this doesn’t happen to another Customer!!!!

After a long chat about my checking account, balances, is my card good? Am I authorized to make my payment amount? All was a yes! They told me that there is no reason why my card should be declined! Ok. So, I go back on the Chrysler Capital website and try it again. "DECLINED" once again! So I decided to change the amount to a lower amount. 200. Goes through. I go back and try that amount again, message pops up and says: duplicate amount. So I go back and I change it to 100. It goes through. I go back to change the amount again and resubmit thinking, "Wow, I guess I will just have to nickel and dime this thing. Tell all the payment balance is paid in full." Nope. DECLINED.... Now I am confused and call Chrysler Capital knowing that it is not my bank's fault.

The rep tells me that she does see the two payments and after I explained to her what her system was doing she tells me that they have been having problems with their system lately and apologized. She waived the fees for paying on the phone and attempted to make the payment balance. NOPE, system told her that I've exceeded my daily limit! ARE YOU KIDDING ME? She tells me that she has never seen this before. Now I am remembering all the reviews I read on this company in regards to payments and kicking myself for going with this company on my car loan! She transfers me to a supervisor who took down what had happened and offered to ACH free of charge set up for tomorrow. So, back online I go to get my account info and routing number to my bank account.

After another 30 minutes dealing with that, I get it and then get back on the phone with Chrysler Capital and give him the information. Again, NOPE. can't do it because of these two other transactions I made! SERIOUSLY? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? What loan company does this? It's like they don't want your money, they just want your car is what this ordeal made me feel like. He said to call them back tomorrow and they will take the debit over the phone free of charge. I asked him if it would go through at that time? Yes, definitely! I am not so sure about that but I will try it once again tomorrow!

This is not a convenient or fair system. I have never dealt with such a disorganized company like this where even ACH and or debit card payments was an issue. Most loan companies are simple and convenient even the ones that aren't are better than this. It seems like they have roadblocks all over the place preventing their customers from making payments.

I hope they fix this problem. I do not want to go through this for the next 48 months with them. I might have to refinance this car in 6 months if I have to deal with this every month. I hope my review will help you plan ahead when financing your vehicle with this company. If you do plan to use this company, make sure you have at least 3 hrs of spare time to sit down and fight to get your first payment in! Or better yet, Just mail your check to them. I don't know anyone who uses checks to make a payment anymore. To me that is not only inconvenient, but it's an outdated way of paying bills and I've heard of people doing that method and then this company mysteriously loses their check and it's back to square one again. But at that point, you could be late on your payment and you're just deeper in interest and trouble.

I'm here 4.5 years later still paying my monthly payments of $548.61 (I'll never forget this number for as long as I live haha), and I still owe $11,925/$24,407... My parents have always asked, "Aren't you almost done paying that thing OFF (the most they'd ever heard of was a 5 year auto loan)!?!?" I knew I wasn't, because I knew how much the Santander site said I still owed. But this was all I knew; I never looked into the real numbers on this thing. But I just recently decided to not be ignorant anymore...

A little too late unfortunately!!! I bought it at 44,000 miles, and it now has 152,000 miles (a lot of miles to put on in 4.5 years, I realize this), regardless, I have put in at least ~$15,000 over the years in repairs; I've practically rebuilt the thing except for the engine. The most recent mechanical issue is looking like there's no way around it. This thing is looking like it's DONE... and I'm $11 grand in the hole... Worst decision of my life. But, nothing Santander is doing is illegal; "Bob from San Diego" below gave the recipe to calculate the way Santander portions their principal vs interest percentages:

"... For simple interest calculations you have to remember that it is calculated daily based off your APR and remaining principal. So for example if you were approved for a $20,000 loan at 25% APR, 60 months term with monthly payments of $587.03 then your daily interest would initially be the following: Daily interest = (APR/ 365 calendar days) * Remaining Principal = (25%/ 365 ) * $$20,000 = (.0685% ) *$20,000 = .000685 * $20,000 = $13.7 each day (which is freaking high but bad credit got us here) which would mean out of that $587.03 monthly payment, a whopping $417.85 would go towards interest ($13.7 * 30.5 average days in a month)." I legitimately applied this to equation to about ~10/50 payments... all spot on. If only I could have had someone tell me... "pay it off quicker". Something. I do take full responsibility... but man. This is just the world we live in, I guess.

Here we are today. I had attempted twice to make my payment via their free service which uses your checking account. They wait up to 9 business days to pull from your account. Which is simply ridiculous. By the time they pull it is returned reason stating, insufficient funds. Which is fine, if that were the case. However there my money sits awaiting it's home in Santander Extortion USA's pockets. So I processed another payment, same story. To avoid being repo'd I processed an instant payment via my debit card with processing fee and tah-dah. It went through.

Now 3 weeks later, on my payday they pull the original payment amounts as a duplicate payment. I called day of and was told no payment was processed. Then checked my bank account assuming my check was still processing and upon inspection I see that both my check AND the retry payment went through. So I called back and was not apologized to for the misinformation, and was told to get bent in regards to reversing this payment. "Since you processed two payments we will not be reversing either" - Rep with strong European accent.

Now I am disputing with my bank and have to wait weeks for them to *maybe* refund my charge while my other bills turn late as an effect. As someone who works in billing, I don't understand how this even makes sense to them. Also the pamphlet they sent out with a website to make payment is no longer in their control and is a scam site seeking unsuspecting person's credit card info. A frightening oversight though unsurprising when you deal with them.

They did not want to pick it up. So the mechanic ended up keeping the car. I just got a letter from them yesterday saying that I still owe them $17,000, but they'll settle for 12. Even though they already collected 10. I don't understand what kind of settlement that is. I understand paying the rest of the loan out as far as the other five. But to pay to them another 15 on top of the ten they already collected is criminal. They are horrible.

Here is an example: My payment each month is 302.78, my interest is 6.29 every day for 30 days, so 6.29x30=188.70, that 188.70 comes out of your month payment of 302.78. That's why you're not seeing your balance drop. Ruby stated that where you bought your car they are suppose to explain how this works, but of course for me they said nothing making me think that all I have to pay is 11,000 back when in reality you're paying 11,000 + 10,000=21,000 to pay off your car. Why did the car dealership screw you like that? Because Santander already paid them off. That was the 11,000 for the car, but you the customer has to pay back Santander the 11,000 + 10,000 in interest because they are charging you every day for 30 days in a month.

So if you want to Know how much Santander USA is charging you every day call them and ask them how much and times that by 30. Now you know how much of your phone payment is going towards interest and how much is going towards principal which is to get your car paid off. I hope this helps some body to understand why you're not seeing your balance drop. So if you pay to the 30 days of interest which is 188.70 + your monthly car payments of 302.78 then you will begin to see your total balance come down, by then the total cost of your car will be 21,000 dollars.

In order for me to get my vehicle back they told me I need to pay the full amount I owe, which I could not afford and I lost my vehicle. Now they telling me I still owe them $1600. Worst bank to get an auto loan from. I will never take another loan from them, and I don't recommend anyone to either. They claim they take the interest out 1st but lies, every payment the interest seem to get more and more, they claim I build but $9000 in interest and fees.

My girlfriend explained to them that she talked to someone about it and explained the miscarriage and the hospitalization and the woman told her “that’s no excuse to be late on a payment” and proceeded to ask her every detail of every check she received since she got the loan. This is none of her business. She told us there is no way she could give us an extension or anything even though we were gonna catch the payment up and were told that was okay by another employee. This bank treated us horrible and showed no humanity whatsoever. My final words to this loan place and the lady my girlfriend talked to is ** you.