Independent profile — not affiliated with Santander Consumer USA

Santander Consumer USA

Santander Consumer USA Inc., headquartered in Dallas, Texas, originates and services vehicle loans and leases under its own name and the brands Chrysler Capital, RoadLoans and Maserati Capital; it was formerly known as Drive Financial Services LP, and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Santander Holdings USA, Inc., itself owned by Banco Santander, S.A. The company has settled a series of federal and state actions covering subprime auto-loan underwriting, GAP-product and loan-extension disclosures, credit-reporting accuracy, and unlawful repossessions of servicemembers' vehicles, including a roughly $550 million, 34-state settlement announced in May 2020 and two Servicemembers Civil Relief Act settlements with the U.S. Department of Justice (2015 and 2021). Complaint and review snapshots reported separately below include over 12,000 CFPB complaints filed against "Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc." through September 2022 (more recent complaints appear to be logged instead against the parent "Santander Holdings USA, Inc."), a non-accredited BBB profile with an A+ rating alongside 2,004 complaints in three years and a 1.08-out-of-5 review average, a 2.3 Trustpilot score from 480 reviews, and more than 1,000 of its own posts on USAComplaints, most from the mid-2000s through the early 2010s under the Drive Financial and RoadLoans/Triad Financial names.

COMPLAINTS1005
VERIFIED PHONE888-222-4227
LAST CHECKED2026-09-28
Write a Review Jump to complaints ↓
CONSUMER ALLEGATION

Complaints & Reviews on USAComplaints

1005 complaints on USAComplaints, including 1 published in the last three years.

EXTERNAL SOURCE

Independent Sources

Shown for context — not merged with USAComplaints' own numbers.

BBB: 343 reviews, 2004 complaints
CFPB: 12455 complaints
CFPB: 17749 complaints
Trustpilot: 480 reviews,
VERIFIED

Contacts, Payment & Login

VERIFIED

Locations

TypeAddress
Headquarters1601 Elm Street, Suite 800 Dallas TX 75201
Mailing addressP.O. Box 961245 Fort Worth TX 76161-1245
EDITORIAL

Dealing with Santander Consumer USA or Chrysler Capital? What to check first

Santander Consumer USA Inc. is an auto lender headquartered in Dallas, Texas, that finances and services vehicle loans and leases under its own name and under the brands Chrysler Capital, RoadLoans and Maserati Capital. As of September 19, 2026, per a notice posted on the company's own website, servicing of Chrysler Capital accounts moved to Santander Bank, N.A. under the Santander Consumer USA brand name. The company says the servicing change does not affect account terms, payment status, account performance, delinquency status, or collection activity.

  • Making a payment: the company's site lists Auto Pay, Pay Online, Pay by Phone, Pay by Mail and Pay by Cash as options, through the MyAccount portal at myaccount.santanderconsumerusa.com or by calling 888-222-4227 (Mon–Fri 7 a.m.–9 p.m. CT, Sat 7 a.m.–5 p.m. CT).
  • Title questions: call the Titles line at 800-526-0157 (Mon–Fri 7 a.m.–6 p.m. CT) for title questions only. The company's titles page discusses title-holding and non-title-holding states and advises customers to contact Santander to verify the mailing address used for title documents.
  • Past-due account or payment options: For questions about a past-due account or payment options, contact Santander Consumer USA through its verified customer-service channel.
  • Active-duty military: the company's Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) program states it offers a 6% interest-rate cap, forgiveness of interest above 6%, and repossession protection during qualifying military service, plus an early lease-termination program; requests go to [email protected], fax (214) 615-3999, or by mail to Attn: SCRA Department, 1601 Elm Street, Suite 800, Dallas, TX 75201.
  • If you can't resolve an issue directly, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau at consumerfinance.gov/complaint, with your state Attorney General, or (for BBB-listed businesses) through the Better Business Bureau.
  • Keep records of your loan agreement, payment history, and any correspondence, especially around a payoff, title release, or disputed fee.
EDITORIAL

Federal and state regulator actions

Santander Consumer USA and its predecessor/parent entities have been the subject of several federal and state regulatory settlements over the past decade, summarized here in chronological order with each source's own figures kept separate.

February 25, 2015 — U.S. Department of Justice (SCRA). The Department announced Santander Consumer USA Inc. "agreed to pay at least $9.35 million to resolve a lawsuit by the Department of Justice alleging that the motor vehicle lender violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act," covering "the improper repossessions of 1,112 motor vehicles between January 2008 and February 2013" — called "the largest settlement for illegal automobile repossessions ever obtained by the United States under the SCRA." Santander agreed to pay $10,000 plus lost equity to each of 760 servicemembers whose vehicles it repossessed without a court order, and $5,000 each to 352 more servicemembers whose vehicles other lenders had repossessed unlawfully before Santander acquired those loans and sought to collect related fees.

November 2015 — Massachusetts Attorney General. Per AG Healey's 2017 release (below), "In Nov. 2015, the AG's Office brought an action relating to Santander's funding of loans that allegedly included expensive insurance coverages, which caused the cost of the loans to exceed the state usury limit. In that case, Santander provided approximately $5.5 million in loan relief and payments to Massachusetts."

March 29, 2017 — Massachusetts and Delaware Attorneys General. Massachusetts AG Healey announced a $22 million settlement: "$16 million in relief to more than 2,000 affected consumers and a $6 million payment to Massachusetts," filed in Suffolk Superior Court. The investigation found Santander "funded auto loans without having a reasonable basis to believe that the borrowers could afford them," that it "predicted that many of the loans would default," and that it knew dealer-reported incomes "were incorrect and often inflated" — continuing to fund loans through a group of dealers it internally labeled "fraud dealers." Delaware's Department of Justice announced its own settlement the same day: $2.875 million placed in trust for Delaware consumers plus $1 million to the Delaware Consumer Protection Fund, following a joint investigation with Massachusetts into the same underwriting practices; Santander agreed to new loan-screening and documentation procedures for Delaware dealers.

November 20, 2018 — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A CFPB consent order (Docket 2018-BCFP-0008) found Santander "violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act of 2010 by not properly describing the benefits and limitations of its S-GUARD GAP product," an auto-loan add-on, and "failed to properly disclose the impact on consumers of obtaining a loan extension," including that extra interest from an extension would be paid before any principal once payments resumed. Santander was ordered to provide about $9.29 million in restitution to affected GAP-product purchasers, improve its disclosures, and pay a $2.5 million civil penalty.

May 19–20, 2020 — multistate coalition of 34 Attorneys General and the District of Columbia. The coalition announced a settlement of "over $550 million," alleging Santander used "sophisticated credit scoring models" that identified subprime borrowers likely to default and funded their loans anyway, coupled with deceptive servicing practices. Relief included approximately $433 million in immediate loan forgiveness/balance waivers for certain defaulted borrowers, up to $45 million in additional waivers letting other borrowers keep their vehicles while canceling remaining balances, $65 million distributed to the 34 states for restitution to consumers who defaulted between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2019, $5 million more to the states, and up to $2 million for claims administration. Going forward, the settlement requires Santander to "factor a consumer's ability to pay the loan into its underwriting."

December 22, 2020 — Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. A second CFPB consent order (Docket 2020-BCFP-0027) found that between January 2016 and August 2019 Santander violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Regulation V by "furnishing consumer loan information to [credit reporting agencies] that it knew or reasonably should have known was inaccurate," failing to promptly correct information it later found incomplete, omitting the date of first delinquency on some delinquent or charged-off accounts, and lacking adequate written accuracy policies. The order imposed a $4,750,000 civil penalty and required corrective steps; it did not specify a consumer redress amount.

September 30, 2021 — U.S. Department of Justice (SCRA, lease terminations). The Department announced that "Santander Consumer USA Inc, dba Chrysler Capital," agreed to pay "more than $134,000" — $94,282.62 to ten servicemembers plus a $40,000 civil penalty — to resolve allegations it unlawfully denied early motor-vehicle lease terminations to servicemembers who qualified under the SCRA. The case was prompted by a complaint from Army Captain Eric McDowell, who had to wait roughly six months, into his deployment to Afghanistan, before Santander approved his lease termination and refunded advance lease payments; the investigation identified nine more affected servicemembers. Santander also updated its SCRA procedures and training as part of the settlement.

A separate 2016 CFPB action, a $10 million penalty over "illegal overdraft service practices," was against Santander Bank, N.A., the retail-banking sister company under the same Santander Holdings USA parent — not against Santander Consumer USA, and it is not counted among the actions above.

EDITORIAL

Company background: from Drive Financial to Santander Consumer USA

Sources disagree on when this company dates from: the Better Business Bureau's record for "Santander Consumer USA, Inc." (Dallas, TX) lists a business start/incorporation date of September 1, 1985, with a recorded "Date of New Ownership" of December 1, 2006 — consistent with Banco Santander's well-known investment in the company later renamed Santander Consumer USA — while the company's 2013 SEC registration statement (Form S-1) describes it as founded "in 1995," and a 2021 Santander press release says the company "began originating retail installment contracts in 1997." The BBB lists eight alternate names/DBAs on file for the company: Roadloans.com, Roadloans, Santander Auto Finance, Chrysler Capital, Drive Financial, Drive Financial Services Lp, HelpingLoans, and Maserati Capital. The U.S. Department of Justice separately confirmed in a 2021 press release that the company operates as "Santander Consumer USA Inc, dba Chrysler Capital." Santander's 2013 SEC filing also says it acquired "certain operations" from Triad Financial, among other loan portfolios it bought or converted.

The company is registered with the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System under NMLS ID 4239, per its own website footer. It was publicly traded on the NYSE under the ticker "SC" as Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. On August 24, 2021, Santander Holdings USA, Inc. (SHUSA) — which already owned about 80% of the company's shares — announced a definitive agreement to acquire the remaining public shares for $41.50 each via tender offer and merger; SEC filings show the tender offer and related filings continuing into early 2022, after which the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of SHUSA and stopped being separately publicly traded. SHUSA is, in its own words, "a wholly-owned subsidiary of Madrid-based Banco Santander, S.A.," and is also the parent of the separate retail bank Santander Bank, N.A.

Most recently, a notice on the company's own website states that as of September 19, 2026, servicing of Chrysler Capital accounts moved to Santander Bank, N.A. "under the Santander Consumer USA brand name," without changing account terms.

EDITORIAL

Complaint record: USAComplaints, CFPB, BBB and Trustpilot, reported separately

Several sources track complaints and reviews about this company, and none of the figures below are summed or averaged together:

  • USAComplaints: more than 1,000 of this site's own posts name Santander Consumer USA or one of its confirmed prior/associated names (Drive Financial, Drive Financial Services, RoadLoans, Triad Financial, Chrysler Capital), spanning 2002 to 2025; the large majority date from roughly 2005 to 2012, the period when the company operated most visibly as Drive Financial and RoadLoans/Triad Financial.
  • BBB: the company ("Santander Consumer USA, Inc.," Dallas, TX) is not BBB accredited, carries a BBB Rating of A+, and shows 2,004 complaints in the last three years (606 closed in the last 12 months) alongside a customer-review average of 1.08 out of 5 from 343 reviews.
  • CFPB Consumer Complaint Database: under the exact company name "Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.," the database shows 12,455 complaints filed February 27, 2012 through September 30, 2022 — with zero complaints in the trailing 12 months as of this check, meaning this exact company name has not received a new CFPB complaint since September 2022. The largest product categories were vehicle loan or lease (4,246), credit reporting (3,586), consumer loan (2,537) and debt collection (1,725); the top states were Florida, Texas, California, Georgia and New York. Separately, under the parent company name "Santander Holdings USA, Inc." — which also covers the retail bank Santander Bank, N.A. — the database shows 17,749 complaints from August 2018 to September 2026 (6,589 in the last 12 months), of which 5,561 are tagged "Vehicle loan or lease"; the rest are credit reporting, debt collection, checking/savings and other retail-banking categories. This split appears to reflect a shift in how complaints about this auto-finance business are being logged in CFPB's system over time, consistent with the company's own September 2026 notice that Chrysler Capital servicing has moved to Santander Bank, N.A.
  • Trustpilot: a claimed profile (since July 2023) with a TrustScore of 2.3 from 480 reviews, and Trustpilot's own note that the company has "no recent history of asking for reviews." Recent reviews describe disputes over payment tracing, insurance/GAP-check handling, title-transfer delays, and how ACH versus debit-card payments are processed.
EDITORIAL

Court record beyond the regulator settlements

Both of the Department of Justice's Servicemembers Civil Relief Act settlements described above were filed as federal lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, and Massachusetts's 2017 settlement was filed in Suffolk Superior Court; those cases are covered in the regulator-actions section above rather than repeated here. This profile does not characterize other litigation.

EDITORIAL

Is Santander Consumer USA Legitimate?

Santander Consumer USA Inc. is a real, operating auto-finance company registered with the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System under NMLS ID 4239, headquartered at 1601 Elm Street, Suite 800, Dallas, Texas, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Santander Holdings USA, Inc. (itself owned by Banco Santander, S.A.). It has entered into federal and state settlements since 2015 concerning alleged subprime-underwriting, disclosure, credit-reporting, repossession, and lease-termination violations; the CFPB orders made the specific findings described above. This page assigns the company no rating, score, or "scam" label of its own; readers can weigh the regulatory history and the separately reported BBB, CFPB and Trustpilot figures above for themselves.

PUBLIC RECORD

Court & Public Records

CaseAuthorityDatesTypeOutcomeSource
United States v. Santander Consumer USA Inc. (SCRA repossessions)U.S. District Court, N.D. Tex.
SettledSettled

DOJ alleged Santander violated the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act by repossessing 1,112 motor vehicles owned by servicemembers between January 2008 and February 2013, in most cases without the court orders the SCRA requires. Santander agreed to pay at least $9.35 million: $10,000 plus lost equity to each of 760 servicemembers whose vehicles it repossessed without a court order, and $5,000 each to 352 more servicemembers whose vehicles other lenders had repossessed unlawfully before Santander acquired the loans and then tried to collect related fees. DOJ called it the largest SCRA repossession settlement it had obtained.

Source
Massachusetts v. Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. (insurance/usury)Massachusetts Attorney General (Insurance and Financial Services Division)—SettledSettled

The Massachusetts AG's Office alleged Santander funded loans that included expensive insurance coverages, pushing the effective cost of the loans above the state usury limit. Santander provided approximately $5.5 million in loan relief and payments to Massachusetts.

Source
Massachusetts v. Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc. (subprime underwriting)Suffolk Superior Court (Massachusetts)
SettledSettled

AG Healey's office alleged Santander funded auto loans without a reasonable basis to believe borrowers could afford them, predicted many would default, and knew dealer-reported incomes were often inflated, continuing to fund loans through dealers it internally called "fraud dealers." Santander agreed to pay $22 million: $16 million in relief to more than 2,000 Massachusetts consumers and $6 million to the Commonwealth, plus new oversight policies.

Source
Delaware Department of Justice v. Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc.Delaware Department of Justice, Fraud Division (with Massachusetts AG)
SettledSettled

A joint Delaware/Massachusetts investigation found Santander funded loans without a reasonable basis that borrowers could repay them and continued purchasing loans from dealers known to submit inaccurate (often inflated) income data. Santander agreed to place $2.875 million in trust for Delaware consumers and pay $1 million to the Delaware Consumer Protection Fund, and to implement new loan-screening and documentation requirements for Delaware dealers.

Source
In re Santander Consumer USA Inc. (CFPB consent order, GAP/loan extensions)
Docket 2018-BCFP-0008		CFPB Office of Administrative Adjudication (Docket 2018-BCFP-0008)
SettledSettled

CFPB found Santander failed to properly describe the benefits/limitations of its S-GUARD GAP add-on product and failed to clearly disclose that interest accrued during a loan extension would be paid before principal once payments resumed. Ordered: approximately $9.29 million in restitution to affected consumers, improved disclosures, and a $2.5 million civil penalty.

Source
Multistate coalition of 34 Attorneys General and D.C. v. Santander Consumer USAMultistate Attorneys General coalition (out-of-court settlement)
SettledSettled

A coalition of 34 state Attorneys General and the District of Columbia alleged Santander used sophisticated credit-scoring models to identify subprime borrowers likely to default and funded their loans regardless, combined with deceptive servicing. Settlement: approximately $433 million in immediate loan forgiveness/balance waivers for certain defaulted borrowers, up to $45 million in additional waivers, $65 million distributed to the states for restitution to borrowers who defaulted 2010-01-01 through 2019-12-31, $5 million more to the states, and up to $2 million in claims-administration costs; Santander must now factor ability to pay into its underwriting.

Source
In re Santander Consumer USA Inc. (CFPB consent order, credit reporting)
Docket 2020-BCFP-0027		CFPB Office of Administrative Adjudication (Docket 2020-BCFP-0027)
SettledSettled

CFPB found that between January 2016 and August 2019 Santander furnished consumer loan information to credit reporting agencies that it knew or should have known was inaccurate, failed to promptly correct information later found incomplete, omitted the date of first delinquency on some accounts, and lacked adequate written accuracy policies, violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Regulation V. Ordered: a $4,750,000 civil penalty and corrective measures; no specific consumer redress amount was stated.

Source
United States v. Santander Consumer USA Inc. (SCRA lease terminations)U.S. District Court, N.D. Tex.
SettledSettled

DOJ alleged Santander Consumer USA Inc., doing business as Chrysler Capital, unlawfully denied early motor-vehicle lease terminations to ten servicemembers who qualified under the SCRA, including Army Captain Eric McDowell, whose termination request over a deployment to Afghanistan was delayed roughly six months. Santander agreed to pay $94,282.62 in compensation to the ten servicemembers and a $40,000 civil penalty, and updated its SCRA procedures and training.

Source
VERIFIED

Company Relationships

  • Owned by: Santander Holdings USA, Inc.
  • Owned by: Banco Santander, S.A.
  • Affiliated with: Santander Bank, N.A.
EDITORIAL

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Santander Consumer USA legit?

Yes — it is a real, NMLS-registered auto-finance company (NMLS ID 4239), headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Santander Holdings USA, Inc. It has settled several federal and state regulatory actions since 2015 over underwriting, disclosure, credit-reporting and servicemember-protection issues, described in detail above. This page does not assign the company a rating or "scam" label of its own.

Is Santander Consumer USA the same company as Santander Bank?

No. Santander Consumer USA Inc. is the auto-finance company (loans, leases, Chrysler Capital, RoadLoans). Santander Bank, N.A. is a separate retail bank (checking, savings, overdrafts) that was the subject of its own, unrelated 2016 CFPB enforcement action over overdraft practices. Both are subsidiaries of the same parent, Santander Holdings USA, Inc. — and as of a September 2026 notice on Santander Consumer USA's own website, Chrysler Capital account servicing has moved to Santander Bank, N.A. "under the Santander Consumer USA brand name," which can make the two entities easy to confuse.

What are Chrysler Capital, RoadLoans and Maserati Capital?

BBB lists RoadLoans, Chrysler Capital, and Maserati Capital as alternate names for Santander Consumer USA, and DOJ specifically identifies Chrysler Capital as a Santander Consumer USA DBA.

Was Santander Consumer USA formerly called Drive Financial Services?

Yes. "Drive Financial Services Lp" and "Drive Financial" are listed as alternate/former names on the company's Better Business Bureau profile. BBB records a change of ownership on December 1, 2006, consistent with the well-known Banco Santander investment that led to the Drive Financial name being replaced by Santander Consumer USA. Many older USAComplaints posts about this company use the "Drive Financial," "RoadLoans" and "Triad Financial" names.

How do I make a payment or get a payoff quote?

Santander Consumer USA's own site lists Auto Pay, online payment, phone payment, mail and cash as options, through MyAccount (myaccount.santanderconsumerusa.com) or by calling 888-222-4227; for a payoff quote, contact Santander Consumer USA through that same customer-service channel. The Titles line, 800-526-0157, is for title questions only — the company's titles page advises customers to contact Santander to verify the mailing address used for title documents.

What was the $550 million multistate settlement about, and am I eligible?

In May 2020, a coalition of 34 state Attorneys General and the District of Columbia announced a settlement of over $550 million with Santander Consumer USA over subprime auto-loan underwriting practices, including roughly $433 million in immediate loan forgiveness for certain defaulted borrowers and up to $45 million in additional balance waivers, plus $65 million distributed to the states for consumers who defaulted between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2019. Eligibility cannot be determined from this profile; contact the relevant state Attorney General's consumer-protection office for information about the settlement.

Did Santander Consumer USA illegally repossess servicemembers' cars?

The U.S. Department of Justice announced in February 2015 that Santander Consumer USA agreed to pay at least $9.35 million to resolve Servicemembers Civil Relief Act allegations covering 1,112 vehicles: 760 repossessed by Santander itself without required court orders between January 2008 and February 2013, and 352 repossessed by other lenders before Santander acquired the loans, with Santander then trying to collect fees related to those repossessions — called the largest SCRA repossession settlement ever obtained by the U.S. government at the time. Separately, in September 2021, the company (dba Chrysler Capital) paid over $134,000 to resolve allegations that it wrongly denied early lease terminations to ten servicemembers under the same law.

Why does the CFPB database show few recent complaints under "Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc."?

The CFPB Consumer Complaint Database shows complaints filed against the exact company name "Santander Consumer USA Holdings Inc." stopping after September 2022. More recent complaints about the same auto-finance business appear to be logged instead under the parent company name, "Santander Holdings USA, Inc.," which also includes complaints about the separate retail bank, Santander Bank, N.A. This page reports both CFPB figures separately rather than combining them.

How do I contact Santander Consumer USA?

Customer Service: 888-222-4227 (Mon–Fri 7 a.m.–9 p.m. CT, Sat 7 a.m.–5 p.m. CT). Titles: 800-526-0157 (Mon–Fri 7 a.m.–6 p.m. CT). Mailing address: P.O. Box 961245, Fort Worth, TX 76161-1245; payment address: P.O. Box 660633, Dallas, TX 75266-0633. Headquarters: 1601 Elm Street, Suite 800, Dallas, TX 75201. Website: santanderconsumerusa.com; account access at myaccount.santanderconsumerusa.com.