Santander accused of gouging US customers

[ashlia]

http://redtape.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/08/9307345-huge-eurobank-rated-britains-worst-now-accused-of-gouging-us-consumers

 

"From the Article:

The accusations are as outrageous as they are plentiful: Hundreds of “robocalls” -- in one case, 800 to a single person -- to collect auto loan debts; illegal repossession of cars from active duty military deployed overseas; late fees assessed three years after the fact and then compounded into $2,000 or $3,000 bills; harassing calls to friends, neighbors, co-workers -- even children -- on cell phones. And now, a flurry of lawsuits filed around the country, and lawyers fighting over potential clients.

[Analysis]

And for California residents, each violation could potentially cost Santander $5,000. If the consumer files the complaint in a specific way, it could be as much as $7,500 per violation.

 

Could be expensive for Santander....

[CreditDebitJustGetIt]

Many lenders make that many calls..I read the article and maybe Santander can be sloppy, but some of those people were probably late all the time. I had a loan with Santander right after my BK. High rate yes...but so was everyone else. They did call many times if you were one day late...but guess what so does Macy's. One part of the article states that one customer "continued getting calls after the car was repossesed and sold" well yes, I am sure he did as there was still a balance. I used to work for a large lender and why is it always the people who send in money orders that claim their payment was lost? I had my loan with Santander for 2 years until my car was totaled due to a hail storm. I only talked to them once..they haulted everything when I turned it in as a total loss. They backdated all my payments , insurance payoff, and my GAP insurance check which took months to get, waived any late fees etc. I never had to call them about any of it. After all was said and done I think I still owed around 900 dollars on the loan ,they lowered my payments form 642 a month to 125 a month for the remainder of the contract to payoff the 900, and believe it or not that was without a phone call or request from me. I think when any lender has a high percentage of credit challenged people who lack an understanding of how the system works you see more complaints. Santander sloppy YES, but probably no worse than Bank of America when you consider Santander's customer base.

[ashlia]

Many lenders make that many calls..I read the article and maybe Santander can be sloppy, but some of those people were probably late all the time. I had a loan with Santander right after my BK. High rate yes...but so was everyone else. They did call many times if you were one day late...but guess what so does Macy's. One part of the article states that one customer "continued getting calls after the car was repossesed and sold" well yes, I am sure he did as there was still a balance. I used to work for a large lender and why is it always the people who send in money orders that claim their payment was lost? I had my loan with Santander for 2 years until my car was totaled due to a hail storm. I only talked to them once..they haulted everything when I turned it in as a total loss. They backdated all my payments , insurance payoff, and my GAP insurance check which took months to get, waived any late fees etc. I never had to call them about any of it. After all was said and done I think I still owed around 900 dollars on the loan ,they lowered my payments form 642 a month to 125 a month for the remainder of the contract to payoff the 900, and believe it or not that was without a phone call or request from me. I think when any lender has a high percentage of credit challenged people who lack an understanding of how the system works you see more complaints. Santander sloppy YES, but probably no worse than Bank of America when you consider Santander's customer base.

 

That isn't saying much at all.

 

I'm glad you had a favorable experience with them. I've never done business with them.

 

I found the article interesting though, because I see a lot of Santander threads on this board.

 

Most are less than favorable.

Edited December 9, 2011 by ashlia

[Analysis]

They did call many times if you were one day late...but guess what so does Macy's. One part of the article states that one customer "continued getting calls after the car was repossesed and sold" well yes, I am sure he did as there was still a balance

 

Absolutely you are right. Macy's has the same autodialer making robo calls 7 days a week, many of them to consumers who are only one day late. However, some of the other offenses are extreme, in my opinion.

 

The cell phone calls? If the customer originally said " this is my primary contact number " and provided their cell....then what's a mother to do?

[americaletsrock]

great company...very strong brand!

[brainchasm]

great company...very strong brand!

You're going to have to go back under your bridge and learn to troll better.

 

Santander is the shining paragon of chocolate that all other financial institutions should never fall to.

[americaletsrock]

great company...very strong brand!

You're going to have to go back under your bridge and learn to troll better.

 

Santander is the shining paragon of chocolate that all other financial institutions should never fall to.

 

 

Well, they seem to be expanding in every market they enter...so they must be doing something right. I am sure delinquent customers could have been treated better....but overall i heard little bad about this company.

 

 

I might like Bank of America Merrill Lynch products but fact is that Merrill Lynch, CountryWide, Washington Mutual, Citi and many others did not mark down assets and did not tell investors about all the overvalued junk they held on their balance sheets in order to suck life out of these financial institutions in term of outrageous bonuses made on unsustainable performance.....Banco Santander did not participate in any of this fraud that was committed in this country ...these former american ceos now are getting jobs in other financial firms....talk about bad banks!

 

 

 

To me Banco Santander stands out to be an excellent managed bank with good ethics....if wrongdoing have been made Banco Santander should of course pay and change. Banco Santander has however not been in this country for a long time and i believe we should give it a chance to show what it is made of.

[cranston3]

they seem to be expanding in every market they enter...so they must be doing something right.

 

They avoided getting involved in the sub-prime market and have been able to buy up assets on the cheap during the last 5 years. Their IT systems are usually very outdated and their management has done a very poor job of integrating the various businesses they have brought.

 

I'm from the UK and they are a major bank there now and they always have more complaints then any of the other banks..

Edited December 9, 2011 by cranston3

[SomeGuyInCA]

Well, they seem to be expanding in every market they enter...so they must be doing something right. I am sure delinquent customers could have been treated better....but overall i heard little bad about this company.

 

I might like Bank of America Merrill Lynch products but fact is that Merrill Lynch, CountryWide, Washington Mutual, Citi and many others did not mark down assets and did not tell investors about all the overvalued junk they held on their balance sheets in order to suck life out of these financial institutions in term of outrageous bonuses made on unsustainable performance.....Banco Santander did not participate in any of this fraud that was committed in this country ...these former american ceos now are getting jobs in other financial firms....talk about bad banks!

 

To me Banco Santander stands out to be an excellent managed bank with good ethics....if wrongdoing have been made Banco Santander should of course pay and change. Banco Santander has however not been in this country for a long time and i believe we should give it a chance to show what it is made of.

 

You clearly didn't read the MSNBC article very carefully:

 

"Norris said Santander routinely uses another tactic after acquiring a loan from another lender: It searches records for past slip-ups -- such as a payment that was late by a few days -- then assesses fees retroactively, sometimes years after the fact. By calculating the loan forward from that point, and "cascading" the fees, the firm sometimes claims clients owe thousands of dollars in late fees, and demands immediate payment or threatens repossession."

They attempted to argue this exact thing with me. The first statement I ever got from them after they started servicing my CitiFinancial note showed me on time with no fees and no past due amount, and it showed the receipt of the standard monthly payment, and a payment due the next month for the standard amount. The second statement showed receipt of the previous month's payment, yet somehow I was now mysteriously past due by a full payment. It turns out that it was an error on their part and they eventually corrected it, after almost two months. But in the mean time they called me incessantly about it, they threatened to repo the vehicle, and they blew me off when I tried to speak to their representatives until it became evident that I had proof.

 

At first, whenever I called them, their agents would immediately spout to the same basic line - "you are past due from some time in 2007". Listen, my Citi loan was paid as agreed ALWAYS - never late, and I have the statements to back that up. More, I have Santander's first statement showing I was on time, and their second showing I made the payment, but was now mysteriously late. If you think that sort of thing reflects quality business practices, then I think you aren't being very objective. At best, it's a major accounting error. At worst its a deceptive and fraudulent practice - I'll let the courts decide which. Do you really think it is legal to acquire a loan from a vendor in a pay as agreed status, and then attempt to go back in time and assert that the note was not paid as agreed? That is what this article alleges they do... among other things.

 

The trouble I went through with Santander was ridiculous - it should never happen to anybody. In my opinion, at the time they treated every customer like they were a deadbeat bum who was going to defraud them; when you called them the first thing you got was a recording making sure you knew "this communication is from a debt collector, and is an attempt to collect a debt." That's moronic as a business practice when your business is actually consumer credit, not debt collection - it is insulting to your consumers. As a business, if you are going to behave that way, then don't become servicer for well performing assets, because those customers - the ones who actually pay their bills and don't like being treated like deadbeats - are going to tell you to shove off and will take their business elsewhere (which is what I did - I traded in the vehicle the very first month Santander serviced it and they still managed to do a job on me.)

 

In my case, I paid my car note on time every time with Citi, and I was not about to tolerate the kind of behavior Santander dished out. Even so, the process of getting out from under them was egregious and they messed with me in a major way. It took a year from start to finish to truly sort out.

 

FYI, Santander does seem to be doing better on the customer service front this year, so maybe they are trying to address these issues. I hope so for their sake - I told them straight out last year that they were going to be on the receiving end of these kinds of massive suits. We'll likely see AG's joining the fun, as well.

Edited December 10, 2011 by tt92618

[JunkBuyersWorstNightmare]

great company...very strong brand!

You're going to have to go back under your bridge and learn to troll better.

 

Santander is the shining paragon of chocolate that all other financial institutions should never fall to.

 

 

:rofl: