Santander Consumer USA review: Excessive interest & misapplied early payments towards interest ( 1 comment)

I am reaching out as I am getting nowhere and have had to resort to legal counsel as this has been ongoing for well over a year. I purchased a vehicle from a Massachusetts dealership in September 2021. I have since relocated. I honestly had no idea at that time how terrible the loan service would be or lack thereof, the false consumer mission statement of Santander Consumer, consistent lack of concern or follow up or basic understanding of the issue through the call center, and most importantly, the blatant disregard for my money and misappropriated funds. I needed a vehicle to relocate and took the 17% interest.
My car is not in default, is paid every month EARLY and I have no issues with payments. I have bought a home here in FL and pay my bills early to ensure stability and in paying early, I am trying to save money.

I am writing to you because I have called Santander constantly about this issue as I keep up with my account details online and where my payments go. After a year and a half of this, I called Santander Bank in PA and spoke to a Paula but Santander bank is dissociated from the auto lender, i.e. Santander Consumer NA, Santander Consumer LLC…
I need help because to submit a complaint on Santander Consumer website it just hangs and doesn’t go through, and if it does, it is ignored and nothing is done. The Chat feature is even worse, no results or follow through. Thus I call Every Single Month. And every single month, nothing is done.

Again, I pay my bill early (see attached) This is the issue: Santander Consumer never corrects and adjusts the misapplied interest on my account. If their system (Santander Consumer rep computers and/or PayNearMe payment portal) glitches to an incorrect due date even though I pay towards the next month, I call promptly, and they tell me they have to escalate it. Then there is wasted time/compounding interest I am trying to avoid and eventually they change the due dates on the system and statements. But no one takes the time to adjust the misapplied interest!

Attached are many examples.

I am getting nowhere and it is never escalated, if it is, it is only to set the due date right because these “glitches” keep setting it back. Even though I pay online EARLY by a month or more and am always clear about what and what date I am paying for.

I have filed complaints with Santander, Santander Consumer, Santander N.A., CFPB, BBB, every board and Consumer Protection Agency you can think of at this time.

Attached statement for October 2024 as well as June 2025, they changed the dates to reflect my early payment but not the interest! Again and again.
May & June 2025 statements reflect the same due date after me calling and pursuing this (not the first time) but no interest has been adjusted, ever.
I made my payment July 8th, was ready to and called on July 1st but was told to wait until their system due date error corrected or it would have been misapplied. Called in again on 3rd. Finally on 7/8/25 I could made the payment, with the due date of 7/31/25. I lost 8 days waiting on Santander Consumer, and nothing was done about any interest… AGAIN! I was still early.
Not only that but the interest was applied as if I was late!? So why am I paying all this interest but I am early on my payment AGAIN?

Attached are only some of the wronged interest I have been charged and nowhere in my paperwork or any loan agreement does it state that early payments and overpayments should be applied at full interest, especially when every call center rep repeatedly assures me this is not right and they will correct it, but not one underwriter, accounting rep, financial rep, etc.. has taken any action to correct in over a year.

I need someone higher than the call center reps to contact me. I have consulted legal counsel because it appears I am not alone.
It is really hard for me to understand how paying early costed me more interest? Make that make sense. That seems illegal and goes against any language on interest in paying early.

Jennifer Grondin

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