Santander Consumer USA Reviews 278

Everyone that helped us to get the loan, were great! They were friendly and also professional! I would definitely recommend to others!

My car was totalled and finally paid off when my gap insurer sent a payment three months later. Prior to that, I learned very late that my balance had not been paid off and made a payment arrangement for the $1K balance until insurance finished its job. Regardless of the commitment to pay and multiple conversations to sort my situation out, Santander reported me to the credit bureaus. Eventually, the car was paid off but ten days after receiving the payoff, Santander said my gap insurer stopped its payment. Untrue, as the gap insurer denies this and has no record of a stopped payment. Last week, they added the $1K balance and charged me another monthly payment. Customer service has no idea what is going on and I'm struggling to find a solution. It's been an absolute nightmare and I'm waiting to hear about a class action lawsuit so that I can join in.

Update from 12/22/2025.
After posting this review, Santander's executive team contacted me with a final payment amount to settle my account and contact the credit reporting agencies to remove delinquencies. The account was finally settled. After being told in October that my GAP insurance payment would result in a $1800 refund, I received a refund card in the mail for $1.33; that same card has a monthly fee of $4.95.

Duplicate. Emails and text that are confusing
Answer one then in a few days similar

They generate my bill on the 15th when it's actually due on the 5th, secondly they charge me an additional $3.95 to call in and make a payment using my debit card which is federally illegal. After they reviewed my rating they asked on here instead of reaching out to me directly proving the point of other ratings. I'd also like to add I've called in about the concerns I've had about them generating my bill early before and I was wrong according to them despite I believe I was correct as far as the $3.95 extra charge to pay by phone, they are definitely doing that through a third party and it's illegal. My car is almost paid off so when it is I will receive my title and will never accept another offer from them when purchasing a car. My interest was high and a daily interest of almost $5 a day so they definitely ripped me off. I feel they took advantage of me not having a car and bad credit. I put a large down payment down at the dealership with family friends discount from Nissan itself for rebate. My 2020 versa is $410 a month for 6 years so that definitely tells you my car should already be paid off because I purchased in 2020 during Covid time. I needed a car badly that I didn't want to break down etc.. having a family a reliable car. This agency is a predator and I understand I did this to myself but definitely warn others not to go this route even in desparation because they will not do what is right by the customer.

Website hard to find information you are looking for. Payment didn’t come out on day set. Still trying to figure it out. Not user friendly

THE WORST FINANCIAL INSTITUTION EVER!!!!THE LAST 5 SANTANDER CUSTOMER SERVICE REPS INCLUDING 2 SUPERVISORS HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO ACCESS MY ACCOUNT OR PROVIDE ME ACCESS AND THEY HAVE ALL HUNG UP TO AVOID A BAD REVIEW. HERE ARE THE REP. IDS. 639656. 756323, 622553, 818796, 818687. I WILL REPORT THIS TO THE USA FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION SINCE IT IS ILLEGAL FOR A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION TO BLOCK AN ACCOUNT HOLDER ACCESS TO THEIR ACCOUNT. SANTANDER HAS CLEARLY TRAINED THEIR REPS TO HANG UP ON CUSTOMERS. SANTANDER ONLINE REVIEWS FROM CUSTOMERS HAVING THE SAME ISUEES ARE HORRIFIC AND WILL BE PASSED ON TO THE FTC. SANTANDER HAS WASTED DAYS AND DAYS OF MY TIME TRYING TO ACCESS MY 2024 AND 2025 ACCOUNT DAMAGING MY INCOME!!! I WILL SEEK DAMAGES THROUGH THE FTC FOR THIS ON GOING ABUSE.

The costumer service was great, knowledgeable people working with, kind and considerate, employees!! Would definitely recommend and look forward to coming back and doing business again

My very first interaction with Santander was me receiving a strange letter in the mail from a company I never heard of. I signed up for financing through Tesla for a new vehicle and apparently Santander holds the loan? Still not even 100% sure of that. The strange letter informed me that I am "not currently on a period of active duty military service" (I am, and have been for 14 years and 11 months as of yesterday). The letter further informed me that I am not covered by SCRA. Okay....? I never applied for anything of that nature and barely know what that is. The letter ends by instructing payment be sent to a Santander P.O.Box. Payment for what? What is this letter?? What is Santander??

Later I received pamphlet in the mail about how to access my Santander account online. This is when I decided Santander must be the loan holder. Maybe?? I followed the instructions to create an account...and that's been going poorly. Every page loads slowly and errors out on most attempts. After several failed attempts I finally managed to create a username and password, and received an email confirmation, only for the website (and app) to refuse to let me login with the username and password that I created. "There was an error with your request." "We did not recognize the User ID and/or password..."

What kind of company is Santander (I honestly still don't know) and why does it suck so bad? So far it seems wildly incompetent.

My vehicle was repossessed and transported to an auction/storage facility. While in Santander’s (or its agents’) custody, the odometer increased by ~25 miles—miles that were not on the car when it was taken. That means my car was used after repossession, documented by GPS/APP connected to the vehicle.

I have called Santander a few times now, first when I was ready to pay off what is owed, I was told they’re “Not responsible” for what happens after repossession and that there’s “nothing they can do” unless I pay off the loan and take the car back. Meanwhile, the auction is set for Friday, and this still hits my credit. No investigation, no intake records provided, no accountability—just pass the blame to the repo/auction company and push me to redeem the car after it was driven by someone else.

This is unacceptable. At a minimum, I expected:

A halt of the sale while they investigate the mileage discrepancy,

Chain-of-custody and intake mileage documentation,

A good-faith resolution that doesn’t punish me with a damaged asset and a credit hit.

Instead, I got stonewalled. I won’t “buy back” a vehicle that was used under their watch. I’m filing formal complaints and disputing any negative credit reporting tied to this mishandled repossession, and getting myself a lawyer.

Bottom line: If something goes wrong after they take your car, expect finger-pointing and zero help. This experience shows a complete lack of care, transparency, and responsibility. Avoid if you can.

How smoothly

How many times can I be locked out of my account, password is correct and then it asks for a one time code, try email get the code and enter it and boom says it's wrong. Triple check it and do it again, wrong. Text me a code, I get it and put it in and it says it's wrong.

Try doing the one time passcode login, enter my social, says it's wrong....I've never had such an issue with any other bank/financial institution.

Customer service person was great helped me with questions and setting up my account . He gets a 10 for excellence.

***Update 9/ 15/2025***My issue was resolved with Santander. I spoke with Krista from the Executive Office. She was very helpful and understanding. She actually treated me like a person and not like a " number or just another customer " which was very much appreciated. She even discussed with me options to handle something that I'm facing medically in the next couple of months. This is all that we want. In this world it's not that we don't want to pay our bills sometimes things happen I thank this lady again for her time and prompt attention and patience she has been very helpful and exceeded my expectations.

I entered a payment agreement with this company paid the first 2 installments. Today I get an email saying that I was behind on my payments. That's impossible if I am abiding by the arrangement they set. To make a longer story short, they wanted me to pay them 693.75 today. I spoke to 4 different agents saying different things. 2 agents told me to pay 473.15 which would be Septembers bill. Taking off that extra fee that I had no idea existed. ( I kept getting disconnected that's why the 4 agents it was them not me) The last one was very very uncut. From India or something telling me that after I paid that I needed to pay more money. I just paid 591.00 on 8/27 then again today 9/4 I paid the 473.15 they asked. What happened to the payment arrangement? They kicked me off of it and made me pay everything upfront with added fees. Then wanted to act as if I didn't know what I was talking about. Telling me that I didn't pay when clearly I have receipts it was paid through their system and it was recorded. The way that customers are treated is ridiculous. I would rather walk before I choose Santander as a finance company again.

Oh yeah they still want me to pay more money on 9/30/25!

1) Collected 3,385.00 of my money plus went every where to see where I got my money. Then came and removed the car and said maybe the bank got it.

No one can explain why a refund takes 35 to 60 days to get and how you will get it. The original vehicle deal was unwound. All the paperwork was done to unwind the deal which occurred shortly before the end of July. One customer service person says it goes back ACH to the checking account used. Another says it’s by check. Which is it? The account shows a zero balance. Then on 08/25/2025 (Monday), I get a threatening collection letter dated 08/21/2025 (Friday) that says I need to pay the last 3 payments— which, by the way is the amount of the refund. Your computers should never have sent that letter because the account had a zero balance days before. It’s obvious they don’t talk to each other. This is why I think your customer service is terrible.

Following up on my previous review. They are the worst of the worst steer clear. I made a horrible mistake of taking out an auto loan with them because I had no choice. Just to give you an idea my rate was 20.02%. They are absolutely a predatory lender. I sold my car to Carvana in June 2024.They sent a payoff to Santander. Santander accepted the payoff closed the loan, released the title and sent me a paid in full receipt. The loan was closed on my credit report. Two months later I start getting late notices from Santander. Carvana shorted the payoff so I called them and asked them about it. They indicated they sent the full amount and even sent me a receipt. Meanwhile Santander REOPENS the loan on my credit and reports two late payments for Sep and Oct even though I sold my car and they told me it was paid off in June. Finally filed complaints on Carvana and they came back and said it was their mistake and they would send the money. I have all of this correspondence so I sent it to Santander obviously it was Carvana's mistake. I sent it to the executive resolution team and they refused to do anything. I have sent multiple follow ups to the executive resolution team and they don't even respond to my email. Steer clear of this company unless you want to pay thousands of dollars in excessive interest and your credit ruined. DO NOT BORROW FROM SANTANDER!!!

Bad experience, they are different groups, which not communicating internally

I created an account online and it wouldn't let me log in. It immediately locked me out. When attempting to get my account unlocked, I was advised that I couldn't be helped until the next day because my account was just created. All I want to do is pay my bill online. NOT talk to a customer service rep.

Our salesman Shawn Streeter worked very hard to make this deal happen for my daughter and I and we appreciate his patience and commitment.