Drive Financial review: This company needs to be driven out of business! 169

I bought a car from my local dealer in 2008 for blue book value. Due to my recent divorce I had a hard time getting financing. Drive offered to give me a loan at a higher interest rate which was okay considering I was building my credit by myself. I have never had any problems making payments online or by phone. When my son was in the hospital a few months back my payment for that month was late, I called drive to make payment arrangements they were really great about it and they understood my situation. That was 5 months ago and I am never more than 5-10 days late and I have never received any harrasing phone calls or messages left on my voice mail. In the first year I paid several thousand dollars in interest and my balance goes down each month. I have never been charged a late fee even when my payment was 20 days past due because on my sons hospitalization. I pay extra on my loan when I can and it always goes toward the balance. I'm sorry that so many of you are having problems with Drive. All I can say to you is good luck and read all the fine print on any loan documents you sign. I went over mine with a fine tooth comb becasue I hate suprizes.

I bought a vehicle from Texas Nissan in Grapevine, TX back in February. Not even a week after I bought the car and my company cut my pay by 15 percent and reduced working from 2080 per year to 1832 hours to cut operational cost, so I was not able to make the payment in way shape form or fashion. The vehicle was finally repossesed volunatary 3 weeks ago. Now Texas Nissan is calling wanting the routing and account number for the check we paid the down payment with because Drive wants that so they can verify that the downpayment funds did indeed clear the bank. I told TX Nissan there was no way they were getting that information that they should be able to prove the funds cleared without anything from me. Now drive is threatening them with having to by back the contract. These guys are nothing but crooks and any dealership who gets in bed with them is gonna get without KY and wrapped in broken glass.

I am a new customer to Drive service or whatever they call themselves. I didn't get a notice that they had changed their name to Santander. I finally got a statement in the mail with the new name, I was like who is this, this must be fraud. I am very cautious about who I give my personal information to due to ID theft. I don't know if I should pay these people. Are they for real? Or is this another scam.

Our story is almost identical to the original poster. Bought a car from Airport Suzuki in Irving and financed through Drive Financial only we financed 25000 for a car we didnt originally choose. We have been making payments since April of 2007 as well. Our total out of pocket since then is 15, 363 dollars and our principal is still above 20k! Our payoff date isnt until 2013! We got extremely hosed!Any info about a class action please email me at jimtexas68@msn.com. Thanks.

Okay, One Day A Represenative called my house. she asked for my mother "Hi May i speak to Ms. C****?" and i replied "No, she is not here right now." then the lady turned into a ###. she said"Ms.C**** This is not a god damn game you need to pay your ###ing bill." and im 15 and she said that to me. ughhhh i hate drive financial. they one called my house at 3:45AM

You can write Obama, and ask him to pay your mother's bills so you do not receive any more calls from bill collectors.

His address is:
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500

Be sure to mention that your mother voted for him, and mention also if you are black. They will expedite the handling of your request in those cases. Nobody should be contacted by bill collectors and asked to pay their obligations in this day and age.

Good luck and be sure vote for a democrat when you are old enough!

The above person is incorrect. Obama can take from your neighbor, who does pay their bills, and give to your mother. THAT'S the Obama way...

Actually, a bill collector can't call you that late, nor can they curse at you. You can file a complaint against them.

Now I totally agree with with that. There is no way they shouild be charging a western union fee if your making a regular payment. Its not like your making an overnight or express payment to get it there quickly. Its a big joke... They are robbing people blind for this service. I will just start sending it by mail late or not...

I was asleep in my bed. whe they called

To jimtext68, first off, what would be the bases for your class action suiit...That the interest was too high ? The payment was not what you could afford ? Not enough principle comes off, per each payment sent ? The car is not worth what you are currently paying monthly ? The car was financed for too long ? You did not ask for the vehicle you bought ?

All of the above questions, you were certainly able to review and ask the fin manager at the dealership. I know if I did not feel comfortable we the vehicle, terms, pmt, or interest rate, I would how asked about it at the time. Now from April 2007 - August 2009 2yrs 4 mos later, you have been wronged?

The issues you have are actually with the Dealership, (with respect to YOUR post), not the lender. The fact is the "lender" itself does not even know at the time of an individual signing their paperwork what is sold. They only know what was submitted, by the dealer for collateral and a deal structure. The leander never knows until the contract is sent if any particular customer actually bought anything..

Addressing a typical "class action" law against a lender, one would have to show where, for example the lender continues to increase finance charges or continues to charge excess unexplained fees (late fees), outside the original contract terms, or matbe something like continues mis-post payments, etc...

Remember this though, unlike home loans, at the dealership where you signed your paperwork, your never spoke to nor met nor where disclosed anything from the "lender", it was ALL from the dealership's finance manger...That is who you should be angry with..

Can people start posting home addresses and phone numbers of exec's, management and anyone who works there ... After that it will be linking photos with names ...

WOW! You folks are amazing! ..."We got pushed into a car we were not interested in"..?..PUSHED ?..."We paid them for 18 months and our balance only decresed $1600?"...Do any of you take responsibility for your own actions?...No one put a gun to your head to get these auto loans!...How do you get "pushed" into something you dont want?..Did you forget how to say "no thanks"? ...Your balance only decreased $1600 in 18 months? Have you ever had a mortgage or another auto loan ? These are how these loans work ...You pay a bulk of the interest in the beginning of the loan, regardless of who your lender is or how good your credit is...Obviously you people have access to the internet ..How about doing a little research before you make your next major purchase?...Dont blame other people because you didnt do your homework...I'm sure this company serves a very good purpose by lending to those borrowers who normally couldnt get approved elsewhere...If you're not happy with a loan agreement you entered in to, you have no one to blame but yourselves

I totally agree. i've had my car for two years and balance is still 12, 000 and the car was 14, 000. I've already paid 10, 000.My payments have been on time up until last month it was 1 day late and they called about six times in that day.Then they told me that they needed the payment right then and there. Then when you make a payment by checking account, credit or debit card they charge you ten dollars. I wish it was some way to get out of this loan.

I am currently dealing with Drive financial or now called Santander consumer. I haven’t been the best customer in the world. When I got the vehicle I was pushed into it as well for a car that wasn’t worth what I was paying and payments that exceeded what I told the finance manager I could afford. Any way due to some problems in my life I fell behind, things recently were starting to look up until the repo man came. Well several days before the repo man arrived I made an arrangement for Santander formerly known as drive financial to deduct a payment out of my account on that Friday. The representative on the phone explained to me that this would remove me from repo status and assured me everything would be fine. Friday came as I assumed the payment would be deducted, I recieved a knock on the door, there was the repo man. I explained to him that they took a payment today and can I call the company, he agreed. What a surprise when I found the company was closed. I had no choice he took the car. That same night I went to the Time Machine and withdrew all the money I could hence the payment wasn’t taken out yet. I figured why give them the payment if they are going to take the car. Saturday morning I called the company and they told me the representative was not supposed to make that arrangement with me, I told the rep it didn’t matter if she was or wasn’t she did and there is an arrangement for the payment that was supposed to be honored by myself as well as the company. The rep didn’t agree and argued her point which ended up as a heated discussion and I eventually hung up the phone. Went to the bank and canceled the transaction. I thought everything was fine and dandy as far as the payment went. Was I mistaken I go to the time machine today and come to find out the payment still went through on 09/08/09 and now I’m negative in my account. I call Santander regarding this; they don’t seem to have a payment on file. Another heated argument comes after trying so hard to be courteous with the rep. They still don’t seem to care, and now I feel like I got lied to, to get more money from me. I called an attorney, he said this would be too hard to prove, and there is nothing legally I could do about it. Please if someone can help me let me know!

I totally agree, my payments seem to go no where!. I had a payment deferred because I was having problems financially...My job is going to end Sept 30th I have called and talked to different representatives each time. No one has documented anything I have said over a three month time. Now I am forced to give DRIVE their vehicle back. No one wanted to work with me to help--so I feel there needs to be something done about this company. Can someone anyone give me more information as to whom I can contact? The economy has made it hard for some of us...people not only has trouble keeping their houses, we also have trouble with our vehicles. Where is the stimulus for that? Does anyone know if this company has received any money from the government in the bale out? If so we all need to know.

I financed a car thru them 3 years ago and have made every payment on time and have had zero problems with them. I am paying down my principal and the are taking out the interest at the rate we agreed upon. If I keep making the payments as is I will have it paid off in 48 months and that is what was agrred upon before I signed the contract so there haven't been any hidden fees if paid on time.

Just wondering if anyone knows - was DRIVE FINANCIAL really run out of business or did they just change their name after the law suit was filed & the CONSUMERS WON - because this company was unethical. I really am upset that the people here who keep saying - it's your own fault for having finacial difficulties...I seriuosly hope that they fall upon hard times and see how difficult life can get when things go wrong. I had money saved, a house, and children...then the unexpected happened - my husband got hurt on the job and I (a stay at home mom) was pregnant with our third child...needless to say, no one hires a pregnant women, we battle worker comp for 2 years, our savings dried up quickly, the house gone, cars gone, no one to rescue us & then to end up with CRAP credit just adds icing the cake. I hope the get what they deserve! See if you can really survive the real world and quit looking down upon others from your glass house!

OMG! I can't believe this - had I known about all of these other people that Drive has SCREWED over, I would have tried to get another bank to refinance my loan along time ago. I have HATED this company for DAY 1. I originally had Sovereign Bank but they got bought out by Santander a.k.a. DRIVE FINANCIAL or should I say DRIVE FROM HELL! They take your money, your balance NEVER goes down, and I keep getting 6 different stories everytime I call and ask for a justification on why this is. I tell you it's like throwing your money in the TOILET! Does anyone know of an ATTORNEY or some legislature we can contact regarding this ABSOLUTE NIGHTMARE!

I have a loan with Drive/Santander as well and I have to say that they are the biggest liers I have ever come across. We haven't been the greatest customer either but then the time finally came where we were able to make a payment arrangement, we did. The agreement required us to mail off a payment that day (beginning of September), we did...and for the agreed amount. We were told that our next payment would be due near the middle of October and everything would be caught up. Well, 5 days later I received and email from Santander stating that a payment was due in 5 days. When my wife called, she was told that there was no payment arrangement and the payment we made was for the month of September. My wife explained to the rep who we talked to and exactly what was said. The rep stated that they needed a week to investigate. When we called back a week later, they still had not completed their "investigation". Almost another week later we get some clown in "Loss Prevention/Reposession" by the name of Dino. He stated that the agreement we mentioned was not true and that the agent we spoke to was not authorized to make that kind of payment arrangement. He insisted that we were basically dead-beats and that we needed to mail in another payment. Where it gets interesting is that we recorded both conversations. When I told him that he proceeded to tell me the law and stated that I could not record the conversations without them knowing about it. Funny thing is, the rep told us the conversation was being recorded and so therefore, he knew it was being recorded. The conversation wound up ending with ole' Dino hanging up the phone. I work for a large radio station in Southern California and after extensive research and finding out that several people have gone through similar stories, we have gotten together with the producers and our legal department to get this on the air. We are hoping that by the end of the month we will have aired this segment and when we do we will host the entire show on Youtube with a links all over the place for people to check it out. Also, we will be looking for people to file a class-action suite against these idiots and stop this from happening to other people. Our federal government bailed out banks like this to help the economy, not screw us in the butt. I honestly can't wait for this to go down!

Please let me know if there is lawyer who is organizing this law suite. We are also a victime of Drive Fianancial.

Extremely rude, Called from my own number. Called my relatives extremely rude yelling and screaming at them for payments. Lied said they didn't recieve payments on time. Theives Do not trust them. They will say anything to get you to make payments even when out of work during the recession. Not willing to work with you.

Extremely rude, Called from my own number. Called my relatives extremely rude yelling and screaming at them for payments. Lied said they didn't recieve payments on time. Theives Do not trust them. They will say anything to get you to make payments even when out of work during the recession. Not willing to work with you.

I called on 12/03/09 and spoke with a repersenative and his attitude was terrible, he couldn't answer my question when asked to speak to his manager he got worst and ask me why. Then she came on the phone I told her how he was acting, she got quite then said ok, what you need so I understand why he act the way he did management aint no better. Will tell everyone I know not to do business with this company and I am going today to get my car refinance at my credit union, never again.

Drive financial is a piece of ### company that is ripping people off.. i got a lincoln ls the payments are $504.89 a month and they charge me a damn $30, 000 for a 2000 car all the payments I made mostly went toward the damn interest none toward the actual principal.. Tried to refinance the car through another company but couldn't..

When is everyone gonna start a class action lawsuit against these ###s... let me know my email is stictly_pros@yahoo.com. These mf's have cheated me out of money.. then the payments that you make goese mostly towards the damn interest and not the principal.. tried refinancing the care but couldn't..so please let me know about the lawsuit if anyone is planning anything..

HEY, ALL INTEREST PARTIES, SPEAKING OF ALLAH, IF U ARE GOING TO HURT AMERICANS, HERE IS THE ADRESSES U NEED 3180 IRVING BLVD. DALLS, TEXAS. AND 8585 STEMMONS FREEWAY, DALLAS TEXAS, THEY ARE UN-AMERICAN AND SAID THAT THE ONLY PLACE THEY CAN HIDE IS IN DALLAS, ATTENTION FIRE DEPARTMENT, IF THESES 2 ADDRESSES GET'S HIT, LET THEM BURN, LIKE THEY HAVE BURNED AMERICANS...lol from a concered consumer : D burn baby burn...just as U have americans ...>>>>>>>>>> $ 16, 000.00 for a car worth $5, 000.00 come on, get real, that's taking advantage, so you reap what you sew, LOL

Youre placing the blame for your own stupidity on someone else. You agreed to the financing terms. You willingly signed the contract. No one forced you to accept a loan from them...Did they? I don't know why it still shocks me when someone refuses to accept responsibility for their own acctions...But it still does. Maybe its this line of thinking that got you in to credit trouble in the first place. But the bottom line is...If you dont like the interest rate & payment you're being offered ...Say "No thank you" and politely move on.

I agree on all the above statements, The company has changed its name to Santander Consumer " different name same Stinky service half of the reps aren't even on the same page and they haven't a Clue or do they even truly care!

Screw Drive Financial ! Talk about dead-beats...why would anyone in their right mind be stupid enough to buy a delinquent loan from HSBC... Especially one that doesn't come with a title. That's right...I HAVE THE TITLE and I double-dog dare Drive or any of their thugs to repo my car ! SCREW YOU !

I too got ripped off by them in 2006, with a up sidedown loan, , I went to them and bought a 2005 Ford F150 not knowing it had been in a wreak, , I kept taking it back to be fixed.They said the truck could not be fixed so they put me into a 2004 Dodge Ram 1500, after all was said and done I was in an upside down loan, owing more than the truck was worth, Come to find out they tricked us into not taking the GAP and the Credit disability Insurance because of the payments being to high, the payments now are $ 486.00 a month, much more than we wanted to pay in the first place, I wanted a payment of not more than $ 350.00 a month and I told them this. Is anyone doing a class action lawsuit on them ?

well, im sorry to say but it just a matter

of time before you get screw...im just in the midle of a dispute with them and nobody is doing anything about my problem they are rude, and every time you speak to a rep. they have different things to say is like nobody is in the same page...don't make an arrangement with Cindy or Diane cause Uranda the supervisor will not honor it ...i gave santander permision to apply a $300 payment and they when ahead and posted my account first for a payment of $310.95 and then another one for $605.95 without my

permision i been on the phone with them since friday that this happend and its been one story after the other i was told the hold on the $605.95 was going to be release in 24 hrs and now is monday and they still giving me excuses...i wish somebody will look into this company and do something about this people and how they treat consumers just because i have poor credit and my only option was to finance my vehicle from this company that doesn't give them the rigth to abuse people like that...good luck

My car loan was sold to them by another company without my knowledge or approval and they have refused to abide by agreements that were made with the previous loan company. They call non stop even on Sunday at 8 in the morning. Since they took over my loan I owe more on my car than it is worth and it seems that none of my payments go towrds the principle. It feels like I started over with a bad loan that I will never get out from under! They completely Suck!

wtf wrong withs ppl talk to them find out my info they tell me to go to dealer ship and dealer[censored] is repping me off [censor]ing scam its time to get my [censor]ing lawyer in to this [censor] get reaady file some lawsuit thank god work with comapny gives me free lawyer any one join hit me with email badboyhassan1@aol.com if they wann play games play with law suit so ppl this scam so dnt fall these ppl that work for company dnt give a [censor] about you they need some [censor] kicking.

I was late on my payment of $410 and so I thought I'd make a better payment -- $1200 in order to keep this company quiet to give me some peace. I sent them a $1200 payment and within 3 hours they repo'd my vehicle. They admitted that it was their mistake, but I was still liable for the repo cost $400 and the lot fee, etc. Why do I have to pay for their mistake? And why in the world did I make a payment such as $1200 to THEM? I would have thought that it would had been looked upon as a positive thing with them -- to triple what I owed. But instead, they repo'd my vehicle EVEN THOUGH IT WAS NOT IN REPO STATUS.

Good faith payments to this company in order to pay the balance off sooner is illegal in the eyes of this company. You are damned if you don't pay, you are damned if you do pay, and you are damned if they don't get their interest money.

I am actively seeking an attorney on this.

Don't pay the [censor] another dime. Tell them to keep the damn vehicle, you're probably upside down on it anyway. Buy a chep vehicle for cash and get out of the credit system as fast as you can. Don't worry about your credit score. That house of cards is about to tumle anyway. SCREW DRIVE FINANCIAL !

We do not even have a loan through Drive and am getting harrassing calls multiple times a day. They say we have a 2006 Nisan Altima. Not only have we never owned a Nissan but we have NOT had car payments since 2005. They don't want to take us off of the list because I will not give the 4 digits of my social and they say that they got our phone numer because we called them. I had never heard of them until 3 days ago when the harrassing began.

I have already filed a complaint with the FCC about the calls.

We continually get calls from this company..We do not have loans with them..Ford and Citibank only..My car credit is perfect. Why do they continualy call?

Any suggestions?

None of our immediate family has outstanding car loans either, yet they oontinue, am sending my complaint to the Texas AG and contacting the Feds also.

CAlls come in from Dallas and caller ID says sander something.

Checked on line with the last phone call where they are calling my business line, thus disrupting my admin's day!

I am sure they have better things to do. What a poor company!

Tried to get answer from company about a special situation with a buy back from carmax but kept getting sent to the same department where they spoke little english and were very rude. they could not or were not willing to talk or help in any way. I would hope in the future that this company learn from these mistakes but I doubt it will. The customer service department only wants to accept payments and doesnt want to help out in any other way. There has to be around the beaurocracy but I dont know if they know what is going on or they just want to give you the runaround

Beware of Lend America They got fraudulent activity padded down, They give you a FHA mortgage without a finished appraisel.Some of those loan officers have Real Estate Agents working with them to screw homeowners over.Beleive me they done it to me..Found out a year later after buying house that the appraisel was never finished.i paid over $50, 000 more then what I should have for these house.After Loan Officer and Real Estate Agent receive their commision, the Bank(lend America)sold it to Wells Fargo before first payment was do.All around fraudulent activity through loan officers and Banks.

I obtained an auto loan through AAA and a local bank. It was eventually sold to Santandera which is operated by Drive Financial. Recently I have been about 35 days late on the loan due to my husband’s deployment (army/military) to Iraq and our loss of income. I have been working hard on the finances and catching up and the fact that payments are being made and the time frame between payments is closing in is evidence of that.

Each time someone calls to collect information regarding the late payment I need to re-explain my situation. It is tiring and futile. I have asked again and again that they record the ‘story’ so that I not need to re-tell it! I understand that they need to call, but this is just getting ridiculous. These people have no compassion. When I am asked what my reason is for not paying (do I ‘owe’ them a reason. I have begun to ask what the last person recorded as my previously stated reason, and it has never resembled what I said. Last time I spoke to the company (last week), I asked to speak to a manager.

The manager used a rude tone of voice and demanded that I call in 10 days and inform him of a plan of payment. I asked him if he wanted me to call him even if I didn’t have the money to pay because that would mean I did not have a plan of payment.

He said that he did not care what I had to do borrow the money or whatever that I needed to pay the bill. I’m talking a month behind here on a 6 year old minivan! Holy cow! I told him I had no intention of borrowing money and I was wondering if he wanted me to call him in 10 days even if I didn’t have the money he became livid and gruff and told me that I was being difficult, etc. Oh, he was very angry.

I told he the fact that he was demanding payment, and that the fact that his people were calling me and expecting me to re-explain my situation time and again was harassment. This didn’t seem to faze him. At any rate, I did set up payment. He agreed to waive the late fee as there had been an error on his company’s part due to their putting in the wrong bank acct but alas, I checked my bank acct today, and I was charged a late fee anyway. go figure. I will call the company tomorrow and see if I can get it waived, though I am sure I will only be met with more hostility. Not a fun company to work with.