Santander Consumer USA
Reviews and Complaints

Don't got to your local bank for a money order if it is Sovereign Bank... The post office charged me 1.50 but my own bank wanted 7.00. That's not even competitive...

Santander apparently bought out the now bankrupt Drive Financial. I will say from the start this has been the worst experience for myself and family. The customer service at this company is absolutely horrible. They will keep you on hold for a long period of time and then hang up on you. They are very nasty with you on the phone and will talk over you and cut you off mid sentence. (Obviously they don't have any customer service training classed for their employees) Management is not any better. I was calling in to resolve issues with my account and was given incorrect information by the csr. The manager then got on the line and advised that I would actually have to pay an additional amount on my account. I advised that the first rep did not tell me that information. They mention that their calls or recorded... perhaps their quality assurance (I don't think that they have any on staff) should listen to the calls a bit better.

I am also a bit concerned after seeing how account information has been stolen from other individuals or additional charges made. I will be looking at my account info even more carefully now. I can't wait to pay off this loan and if you're shopping around... don't do business with them. Save yourself!

this is was drive financeial the worse company you can have a outo loan through and I can show prove with my statement I got in july 2009 payment was due by aug.2nd 2009 paid by money gram 418.17
for august payment ok this is the first statement which showed balance of 10, 650.39. then after I make the payment they send me a 2nd statement for the same statement but now it shows balance 10, 743.66. now last I recall when you make your payments on time and by the due date the balance is surpose to go down not go up this company shouldnt be able to get away with this also they like lieing and hanging up on people poor way to do business but I let know some check out on the internet drive filed bank ruptcy and this is listed for dallas texas but they denie this so if you go to dean stallins ford in oakridge and the guy name is brett wilson and he tells you you got a loan through eather name of this company tell him to eather forget or find some other company cause yo be sorry if you dont

I have received a notice from Sovereign Bank who increased my escrow payments by paying out my property tax twice. Their timing was amazing since they did it just before my new (low) interest rate was going to kick in. They have no explanation why it was done. If I had not reviewed my statement I would have started paying increased payments for a home loan that adjusted down by more than a point! Has anyone had a similar experience?

My auto loan was purchased from Sovereign Bank by Santander. Everything was fine until I received a letter to send my payments to TX. I found out it was being serviced by Drive Financial Services. After one phone call to them I decided they were "trouble" and thought it would be in my best interest to pay the loan off and not haveto deal with them. They cashed my check on 6/22/09 and they have yet to release the lien on the car. When I first called to check when it would be done I was told 7/1/09/ I called on 7/9/09 when I found out it was not released and had to leave a message for them to call me. They never called. I left a message again today but do not really expect to hear from them. I also sent an email today so that I would have documentation of my complaint but will be really suprised if they response.

I was in Boston 2 yrs ago and had account in http://www.sovereignbank.com/. then I moved to flroida... and here they dnt have branches or ATMs... so I was not able to use the bank by any means.. I lost job in January and for need I withdraw my last $160 from soverieng bank account... because it was a dead money and of no use to me.. untill I withdraw it... then bank charge me $33 for overdrawn... I dnt know why when I was having $160.75 in my bank account... and then each day they started charging...$5 service change... and now.. this service charge total grown to $82... and now they called me.. to pay the money.. 1) It was not overdrawn. 2) if it was overdraw.. why they did nt called me at that time. 3) they gave call when it was $82. and they are thretening to increase it if I dnt pay.. their customer service sucks.. they are so rude.. she put my phone down when I wanted to know.. why they charged me so much money.. I got job after 2 months. So every penny means for me.. But I thought I should finish it.. and got ready to pay $82. then they said I have to pay extra $15 if I want to pay this Fine. Its so crazy... its hard earned money.. why the bank should take it away like anything... Its pain to loose money like this.. when u dnt have job. Does anybody faced such situation.. wht u did to resolve it?

I saw a sovereign bank advertisement that said if I open a checking account, deposited $200, use the debit card to spend $200, I can get $150 promotion. I opened one with $300 deposited. The odd thing is they mailed a contract to me. Unfortuanatly, I didn't review it carefully, just signed it and mailed it back.

After I received the debit card, I began to use it to do purchase. I thought I spent up the $300, the case get closed. Today, I received a letter from the bank unexpectedly. I was told that I already spent up $300, and I overdrew the money for 3 times. I was charged $35 each time. Also, because I overdrew money, the promotion is cancelled.

I called the representives. Surprisingly, the representatives' attitude was very bad and gave me same answers that were "no way to waive the $105 charge", "it is legitimat charge", "you needn't open the account, it is your mistake". I began to realize I stepped into the trap the sovereign bank already designed for us. They just use this way to defraud customers' money. They already get ready to deny any complaints and appeal. The final result is I open a account with $105 cost and I get big experience that some banks like sovereign bank designated to cheat customers. Can you believe it? The bank industry is full of cheaters.

Hello,
Like many people I am trying to stretch money as far as it can go. And I (and many others it seems) am being taken for a ride by my bank. Sovereign bank is charging their "customers" $33 each for overdrafts on multiple purchases with checks or check/debit cards by delaying the posting of deposits then debiting accounts with the latest purchases first then posting the deposit. The deposit is always posted last. It is happening time and time again to many massachusetts residents and it just happened again to me (I noticed it on my account in april and noticed the same robbery but put it off until later and then of course forgot about it). By the looks of my search of the internet, more than just a few here in massachusetts have had the same done to them. It is creative bank accounting at it's worst for the consumer. When I received a mailer today from sovereign it held for me $165 in overdrafts from may 26th. I made a deposit over the weekend that would clear on tuesday the 26th. When I looked at my current bank account statement on-line, it held the five "charges" on my account debited the 26th and the deposit credited the 26th. So we can be clear, they were posted on the same day, but sovereign posted my charges first — in descending order from largest to smallest not including the deposit — then the deposit which put me in the red. They are placing their most at risk customers deeper into holes they cannot get out of. It is frustrating and oh so maddening. I am visiting my local branch monday morning but hold no hope based upon what I have read. I am however, hoping that the team at channel five here in boston can look into this heinous practice and bring it into focus so sovereign bank will stop this corrupt corporate larceny.

I was charged $462.00 in over limit fees in 7 days
although the funds were in the account they were not available yet. I asked the bank rep if they would at least return some of the 14 $33.00 fees, my request was denied I have been with sovereign bank for a long time and in these hard times you think your company would help out. Im not asking for the entire amount of fees to be returned, but you guys made alot of money on this b s none of the checks that I deposited were returned there for your $33.00 fees were not valid nor did they protect your bank they just made you alot of money in short time.

"I will pay them the 75$ that I overspent. I do have that money. I'm not some sort of irresponsible idiot. But sovereign bank charged me $264 and tried to hide it from me."

Here's a great story. Sovereign bank blames all of this on a skynet-like automated computer system *gasp!* that is responsible for billing clients, as seen in the complaint about the 7-year-old girl. I recently spent some money that I did not have. Meaning that my account balance went 75 below 0. I was not notified, but sovereign bank almost immediately billed me $264.

Due to some sort of a computer error on their part, I was not able to view my sovereign bank account online. I am only an 18 year old high schooler, but these conglomerate white-collar thugs are threatening to ruin my credit before I go to college. I want to send this message to my congressman. To the ceo of sovereign bank. Anyone! I am desperate here.

I had no problem keeping my cash in a safe at home. But my parents gave me this account as a gift. I did not realize that as soon as I transferred/spent funds out of my sovereign account, they could disproportionately, incessantly bill me.

Sovereign bank is holding my money hostage. I recently got a letter in the mail saying something along the lines of 'the following fees will be applied as of now.' with a list of new fees, charges, and taxes that all sovereign bank customers would now have to pay.

Come on. That is insane.

I did my mortgage application over the phone and just received the papers to sign. I have 2 problems.

1) GFE lists way more fees than discussed:
I specifically asked about fees involved. Before I applied I asked the lender to list fees in writing. After I got it, I called him to discuss. I asked about specific fees I thought would be there but weren't (processing, credit report, rate lock.) He told me point blank that the fees on the list were the only ones to expect. (I also have that in writing.) That they didn't "charge a bunch of fees."

2) Higher % rate than discussed:
Wednesday I was quoted a rate, confirmed it on the website. I applied Thursday. I did not lock in the rate (we're in a short sale.) Friday, when I got the papers, the website rates were current and still at Wed's %. Why on Earth would the rate on the papers be nearly a full % point higher?

I can't think of any legit reason why there would be such a discrepancy between our discussions/emails and the legally binding documents they sent me to sign. If they're doing this now, I can't imagine what kind of bait and switch things they'll try to pull at closing.

My husband and I added my name to his accounts to make a joint account after we were married. They were clueless and unforthcoming about why they wanted-required various pieces of information. Their customer service automated call in number is insane and contridicts itself. For example it requires you to use your social and a telpehone pin (this is different than you ATM pin), however if you listen to the full message it states that if you have never used the telephone systems then to put in 4 digits followed by the #, you do that three times and then you are locked out and put on hold. I asked the rep if that was the intent to make the caller talk to someone at Sovereign to avoid fraud. He said no it is so that the customer can do the transactions themselves, he clearly did not understand the flaw in their automated phone system. I have called that number on two different days in have been hung up on repeteadly. And the most recent failure one rep tells me that yes I do have online banking and bill pay this was at 4:55 and then after I call back because he hung up on me the next rep tells me no you don't have that set up.

And probably the most galling part of this situation is that we added my name on a Saturday, so of course I understood that in order for it to process it would take time and probably not start until the following Monday, a "business day". I asked specifically when we would receive our new checks, because quite frankly I don't want the checks laying about and well I don't want to have to ask my husband to write checks when I should be able to do it myself. I was told 7-10 business day that I would have them, not that they would ship in 7-10 business days but that they would be in my hands. On the 11th business day I called to find out where they were. I speak to the branch manager, she doesn't know but she sees that they were shipped (and yes they had already deducted the money from our account). So I ask where they were shipped from and on what date, hoping to extrapolate when they may be coming. She doesn't know but she can call the company and find out, great call me back today I say and let me know where they are. She calls back and asks if they would have been sent to an alternate address, and I say no we gave you the correct address when we made the addition and you have been using the correct address for the statements for the past 14 months. Oh she says well they are being sent to X address, which is my street and complex but there is no such apartment number in my complex. At this point I am furious and I say well stop the delivery or have them change the address, her response is no she cannot do that once they are shipped they have no control over the situation. She offeres to overnight us new checks at no charge however I point out that these checks with our account info are out in limbo and how does that help or protect us? She offers to set up a new account, which would nessetate us setting up more paperwork and new direct deposit and bill pay information. At that point I am done with the bank they have provided crap for service and make a serious error and don't seem concerned about it. I hand the phone to my husband to deal with them. The bank manager then asks my husband a few questions and she tells him that the checks were sent to Y address, yes a completely different address than what she told me two minutes ago. The address she gave him was the last place he lived and in a not so nice town so you really don't want to have any personal financial information floating around there. We are very lucky in that my husban's cousin is the landlord and he was able to get his tennat to look for the checks, and we hope to be getting them back, but at this point we do not trust Sovereign. We will be moving almost all of the money from that account out into mine, (which is no prize bank either but they haven't demonstrated crappy customer service or lack of regard for my personal financial data), and we will be closing both accounts and moving them to a credit union. We figure if we have to jump through all the hoops for opening a new account why stay with classless and careless Sovereign Bank when we could go with a smaller bank or credit union, they all have bill pay and online banking which is what we use 90% of the time anyway.

So way to go Sovereign you just lost the checking and savings accounts of both my husband and myself. Not to mention any potential business we were planning on doing with you like say umm, for a home mortgage, maybe a car loan.

This month I used Sovereign Banks online phone service to make a mortgage payment (which they charge $10 for) to make sure my payment would arrive on time. I called on 4 separate occasions to verify payment was received so I wouldn't be late on my mortgage payment. I received confirmation that the payment went through every time I spoke with a rep and was assured my mortgage would not be marked as late.

After 2 weeks the money still did not clear from my account. I called them again (5th time I believe) and was told not to worry they received payment. On 3/3 I received a notice in the mail stating my mortgage was late and I would be charged $54 in late fees. I immediately called them and they informed me my online payment did not go through. The response was simply "Your bank was unable to locate account and it is your fault not ours". I over-nighted them a check just to get the payment posted.

Instead of informing me there was a problem they decided to wait so they could assess fees. Had they notified me there were any problems I would have marched right down to a local branch and paid cash. To add further insult to injury on 3/6 I received a notice stating that my payment did not go through and I would be assessed an additional $30 "handling fee".

In summary, I made a payment. For some reason payment did not go through, despite being repeatably assured it did. Now I'm being charged over $80 and going to have a late mortgage on my credit report. I know for a fact it doesn't take 14 days for electronic transfers to go through. They should have notified me the second there was an issue and allowed me to resolve rather than nickel and dime me and lower my credit rating.

I have had an auto loan with Sovereign Bank since June 2007 and I can not wait to get out from under this loan. This has been the worst experience I have ever had with any banking center. You wait on hold forever to be told you need to call a different number. You can not make a payment over the phone or with a credit or debit card and if you mail in the payment it takes over 15-20 days for them to post it to your account. If they even receive the payment.

I currently am in dispute with this bank over two payments they say the did not receive. It is October 29, 2008 and I currently am trying refinance my auto loan (due to this situation) with my bank. I have been told that I am not approved because Sovereign bank says I am 3 months behind on my other car note. Remind you I have not received any collection notices, any phone calls, nothing from this bank, not even a bill or statement.

I contacted Sovereign bank and was told on 10/26 that they did not receive Sept. 08 payment. I told them I mailed the payment on 9/25 in two money orders. They said they did not receive it. I called back the next day after I was panicing and talked to a supervisor who then said that they did receive the payment and they posted it the account 10/18/2008. She then proceeds to tell me that I am three months behind. I told her I spoke to a lady the other day who said Septembers payment was not received and she just told me they did get it, what is going on? I also told her that on 10/25 I sent her October's payment.

After 45 minutes of going through the account and a constant argument of her raising her voice and calling me liar I asked her to please fax me a statement of my account and a payment history so I could compare her records with my receipts and bank account. She told me she could not due that and if they could I would have to pay for it. I told her that would be fine. If this is how we can get to the bottom of this issue I would pay for the fax. That was until she told me she was going to send someone to repossess my car and that she would do whatever she could to not allow me to refinance my loan.

It was at this point that I lost my temper and had a few choice words to say to her. After I calmed down I once again told her that I would fax her the bank statements that show where and when the money orders were purchased and that I would pay the fee's and track the money orders. I gave her the money order numbers of the payments that were sent in the mail for the month of October, that she should receive within 3-5 days, but may not post right away since it takes them 15-20 days to post anything that comes in thier office. (And they do charge you outrageous late fee's for holding your payment past the grace period.) She told me NO. She did not care what proof I had and she was not going to accept any proof of purchase or proof of money orders. She said no matter what she is coming to get my vehicle.

I reminded her about certain laws and letters that have to be received in order to repo my vehicle. I have also tried to get in contact with a Vice President of collections, but no luck yet. I have not received any letters or phone calls about past due payment. She stated that collections has left messages on my home phone in August 2008. I have not had a home phone in over 4 years. They have my cell phone number and my work number as well as my fathers (co-signer) information and numbers. Neither one of us have been contacted by Sovereign Bank. I have been called a liar and some other choice words and have gotten no where. I have been denied credit due to this account and Sovereign Bank is making no effort to contact me, to see my proof of payment, or to help resolve this very serious issue. These are very nasty people.

All I have asked this bank for is a print out of payment history and to accept my proof of payment until the money orders are tracked (takes 4-6 weeks) to get the account current and to be on the same page.

I have not asked for the hard time, rude and nasty customer service, or to be placed on hold forever and hung up on. I am still fighting this with Sovereign and am waiting to see what happens. Not only have I been denied credit based on this one account but so has my father since he co-signed. I have tried everything to get this matter resolved quickly without the name calling and childlike behavior, but at this point I am running out of options. By the way, after all the yelling and telling me they are coming to get my vehicle, I still have not received a collection call or letter, nothing.

Anybody who may have had this happen or knows what to do at this point please let me know..

I warn anybody opening an account with this bank to be very careful and to look elsewhere for financing. I would never recommend this bank. I advise you to stay away.

I have made a payment that was recieved by Drive Financial for $310.00 and was told that they never recieve my payment and I went to my bank today, 11/14/2008 and the check was processed by this company on 10/07/2008. Speaking to one of there representatives name Kim was like I was talking to someone that does not understand the language of English. I ask to speak to a supervisor; after a length discussion of why I need to speak to a supervisor and no one was available, I ask to hold for one and convinently got disconnected. I called back and with my luck I got the same person, I refused to go through the same back and forth and final she transferred me to someone that said he was a supervisor by the name of Darren (DGIB) these people did not ask for a copy of my information from the bank or concern about my payment is missing. They said I never mail the check because they don't have it. I asked him for the CEO name and it's as if these employee are on some kind of drug. I got not where with them. I would like to get assistance with this problem.

My youngest son opened his first checking account after getting his first real job. He went to sovereign bank because it was right up the street. He had his check direct deposited to the bank and received his gold card. Can you imagine our surprise when his second check to the bank was completely consumed by $33.00 insufficient funds fees. We were shocked. Anyone else in the family would have been declined at the atm. When I spoke to the manager at the bank I was also told that it was a 'courtesy'.

I have been to affairs where they offered 'courtesy valet parking'. After the affair they brought my car and I gave then a tip thanking them for the courtesy. I can imagine how it would feel if they brought me my car and then handed me a bill for $33.00 after telling me that it was a courtesy.

When speaking to the bank rep. On the phone she told me that, and I quote ' they didn't know if he was somewhere and needed gas or something'. I told her that it wasn't her job to figure those things out, just to be a bank and don't give him anything if he doesn't have the money.

This amounts to a one week $120. Loan with with $112. Interest. They used to have a name for a person who did that. He was called a 'loan shark'. And it was illegal.

I asked the bank rep. To furnish me with the address of where is could send a letter of complaint. She said there was no one there at that time who knew but she would take my number and have someone with the address contact me within a day. That was a week ago.

Is there anyone out there who knows who I can contact with a formal complaint against this bank?

My wife and I have banked with sovereign bank for a year and a half. This year alone we have incurred over 600 in over draft fees. When we check our account it says we have XX. XX amount of dollars available. We would make a purchase. The next day we would be hit with purchases from five days ago that were not posted to the account. These were not checks they were check card purchases. When I called the bank the said that is their bank policy. They only make withdrawals when the retailer asks for the payment, which could be 3-5 days later. The money is never pulled so your balance never changes. This is a true example. I would go to the store and go to the atm check the balance. I would have a positive balance I would use my bank card and buy a $1.50 pack of gum. 2 Days later would have a $33.00 charge. My $1.50 pack of gum now cost $34.50. That would then put me in to a negative balance. I would go and buy gas. At this point I could still use my check card to make purchases with a negative balance. For each purchase I was charged a $33.00 overdraft fee. When I called the branch manager she said that it is the banks policy is allow charges with negative balance. They then charge you with an overdraft fee for every charge instead of just declining the purchase. My wife and I are cancelling our account with sovereign.

My husband's checking acct. was hit with 3 overdraft fees that shouldn't have happened. He asked that I check to see if the rent check had cleared yet so, I called and it said he still had $176 in his acct. I double checked and went online, sure enough the $176 was still there, nothing pending. He asked for me to go to ATM and withdraw $40, figuring his direct deposit will hit at midnight and cover the check along with whatever was left in the bank. I went and got the $40 and some stuff totaling $5.22. Later on that evening I checked the acct. online and saw the $40 and $5.22 pending but no check yet, fine. This morning, I checked the acct. online and saw it was overdrawn by $209. We went down to the neighborhood bank branch and was told that the check cleared at midnight causing the other items to bounce. HELLO, my husband's direct deposit goes in at the sametime! I also asked why would the ATM give out money if it was overdrawn anyway, from what they said. I never had a bank that allowed that! After blowing smoke up our butts and trying to get up to swallow their excuse, i'm fuming. At Bank of America, they show checks pending, Sovereign is telling us that there is no system that does that! Not to mention that the ATM's are 48-72 hours behind along with the online banking system! I don't by that! I think it's their way to make money off of fees.
Paulette