I have had a auto loan through HSBC since 2005. My loan is maturing June. My husband and I have been alternately laid off several times since 2006. My husband had been laid off for a year, beginning in March of and just went back to work last week. HSBC was always willing to work with us to get caught up on our loan payments when we fell behind, and never tried to repossess our vehicle.in March, we received a letter saying that Santander USA (Drive Financial) had bought all of HSBC's auto loans, and after April 1st, to make our payments to Santander.
While with HSBC, we had what they called a "balance short amount", of late fees and interest from the times we were past-due on the loan, which would be due when the loan matured. My husband and I had pretty much been keeping up on our payments for the past year, but we unable to pay down the "balance short" amount. HSBC had our loan shown as it as 30 days past due as of March 31st. I made a Money Gram payment on my loan last Saturday, April 3rd, which should have brought our loan current, except for the balance short amount. I received not one phone call or letter from Santander indicating anything was wrong with my loan, or that they had a pending repossession.
My husband was just about to leave for work yesterday morning, and saw a tow truck pull into our driveway, and the driver got out, hooked up our van, and took it. I called Santander, and got put on hold, including with one representative who put the phone down, and apparently forgot I was on the line, as I could hear her having a personal conversation with a coworker. When I said something, she realized I was still on the phone, and asked what I was holding for! When I told her, I ended up getting transferred to two more departments, before finally being told that I am 90 days past due on my loan. Santander took the "balance short" amount from HSBC and set up my loan to appear 90 days past due), and was informed that I'd have to make all my past due payments, plus pay a $400 repo fee to get my vehicle back. When I asked why I didn't receive a phone call or a letter to indicate that my vehicle was about to be repossessed, I was told to read my contract.
I was fortunately able to borrow the money from a relative, and made a Western Union payment, but it took several more calls to Santander and several calls to the impound lot, to get the information to reclaim my vehicle. On top of that, the impound lot charged my husband $140 to get our vehicle. Well, what about the $400 I paid to Santander??? Doesn't Santander pay these tow companies/impound lots for each vehicle they pick up??? I have 4 more payments on my auto loan, and I can't wait until it is paid off so I can be done with this unethical, ripoff of a company. I would NEVER willingly do business with them again!
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