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My wife and I buy new cars every 3-4 years. It was time to replace her 2019 Explorer Sport, so we found a 2023 ST for 62k that we liked. They offered us $32k for ours and we jumped on it. All of our last 4 vehicles have been through Ford Credit at 0% interest, but this time they said Ford wouldn't accept us. Our scores are between 640 and 670. They set us up with a Santander loan at 8% interest. We pay off our loans in 3 years, so the interest rate didn't bother me too much.
After searching online I saw horror stories about this company and I was freaking out a little bit. My first thought was that these were all people that paid late or waited until the last minute to pay, but some sound like the company is downright crooked. How worried should I be?
Most of the issues ive seen with them are customer service related, people always seem to complain about trying to get a rep on the phone, having to pay high fees when they are late on payments, and the typical crazy high interest rates to being with complaints, you got a pretty good rate from them, I often see double digits... my ex had them for years, had zero issues but never had to call / never was late, payments were on auto... maybe set up auto pay to reduce the likelyhood of needing to talk to them?
@KeithW wrote:My wife and I buy new cars every 3-4 years. It was time to replace her 2019 Explorer Sport, so we found a 2023 ST for 62k that we liked. They offered us $32k for ours and we jumped on it. All of our last 4 vehicles have been through Ford Credit at 0% interest, but this time they said Ford wouldn't accept us. Our scores are between 640 and 670. They set us up with a Santander loan at 8% interest. We pay off our loans in 3 years, so the interest rate didn't bother me too much.
After searching online I saw horror stories about this company and I was freaking out a little bit. My first thought was that these were all people that paid late or waited until the last minute to pay, but some sound like the company is downright crooked. How worried should I be?
Slightly off topic but why did Ford credit reject your application? 4 previous loans is pretty loyal and Ford Credit is fairly lenient even with new applcants.
That is a good question. I currently have my '21 F-150 financed through them with a perfect payment history and our '19 Explorer had a single 30 days late last Christmas. I did have a 30-day late 5 years ago on our old Explorer.
In my opinion Santander is not the best financial Company to deal with and they are very sub prime which makes them even more dirty. Pay on time each month and like stated (if you are comfortable with it) do auto pay. I personally would not. Try not to call in too much and watch out for indescretions. Make sure to read your contract with them as well as making sure that your purchase (car) is correct. Easy enough would be to read the law suits against them.
@KeithW wrote:That is a good question. I currently have my '21 F-150 financed through them with a perfect payment history and our '19 Explorer had a single 30 days late last Christmas. I did have a 30-day late 5 years ago on our old Explorer.
Interesting. Ford Credit must be tightening up.
Anyway, I wouldn't sweat Santander too much. They have Subprime and PRIME tiers. @KeithW You are within their PRIME auto guidlines and so is your approval at 8%.
Santander was one the major lenders for Fiat-Chrysler (CDJR ) for about 10 years. They underwrote and serviced many of their prime auto leases. At one time you could actually pay a car payment through thier portal with a credit card which was FANTASTIC!
Most people who complain about Santander are Subprime borrowers who usually have an issue far beyond who lent them money.
@tricie17 wrote:In my opinion Santander is not the best financial Company to deal with and they are very sub prime which makes them even more dirty. Pay on time each month and like stated (if you are comfortable with it) do auto pay. I personally would not. Try not to call in too much and watch out for indescretions. Make sure to read your contract with them as well as making sure that your purchase (car) is correct. Easy enough would be to read the law suits against them.
I just logged in to the payment portal and noticed they are saying my interest rate is 9% even though my signed contract says 8%. I have emailed the dealer as well as Santander about this and am waiting to hear back.
I don't trust them with auto-pay, so I went and got a pre-paid debit card last night and will be using that to make single payments. Our loan is for just over $30k, so I am going to make double monthly payments and stay a month early. Hopefully, if I pay 30 days early each month I won't have any issues and will get it paid off quickly.
@KeithW wrote:
@tricie17 wrote:In my opinion Santander is not the best financial Company to deal with and they are very sub prime which makes them even more dirty. Pay on time each month and like stated (if you are comfortable with it) do auto pay. I personally would not. Try not to call in too much and watch out for indescretions. Make sure to read your contract with them as well as making sure that your purchase (car) is correct. Easy enough would be to read the law suits against them.
I just logged in to the payment portal and noticed they are saying my interest rate is 9% even though my signed contract says 8%. I have emailed the dealer as well as Santander about this and am waiting to hear back.
I don't trust them with auto-pay, so I went and got a pre-paid debit card last night and will be using that to make single payments. Our loan is for just over $30k, so I am going to make double monthly payments and stay a month early. Hopefully, if I pay 30 days early each month I won't have any issues and will get it paid off quickly.
Whoa.. back up. Did you e-sign or do you have actual carbon copies of the signed installment sale agrement?
Also, did you at any point sign a backup or second contract?
Santander won't increase your rate. They are using what was provided by the dealer. I'd be looking at them first. If there is a rate adjustment by the bank without your consent, it could only be LOWERED with a letter of explaination. The dealer would have first hand knowledge prior to you being notified. Either way, I'd be looking at the dealer for explaination immediately.
One thing I do know about Santander for sure (from first hand experience), you need to make sure you instruct how additional money is to be applied. To the principal or next monthly payment. Make sure you have confirmation for this.
We signed electronically and were then given the paper documents of what we signed. I am going to the dealer first.
As for extra payments, the Santander sight is extremely basic and doesn't give any options when making payments other than the amount and date. The contract specifies that it is a simple interest loan, doesn't that mean that any extra payment goes to the principal? I have emailed Santander to confirm this.
@KeithW wrote:We signed electronically and were then given the paper documents of what we signed. I am going to the dealer first.
As for extra payments, the Santander sight is extremely basic and doesn't give any options when making payments other than the amount and date. The contract specifies that it is a simple interest loan, doesn't that mean that any extra payment goes to the principal? I have emailed Santander to confirm this.
Simple interest loans means there is no pre-payment penalty. If you pay the loan off early, all unearned interest is waived (you only pay interest on the payments already paid). You probably signed a LAW-553 Simple Interest Retail Sale Installment Agreement. Check the Regulation Z / Truth in Lending Disclosure (Fed Box - big square or rectangle box where the loan terms are) and see what the terms are for additional payments.
Also, does the contract itself state the dealer assigned the contract to Santander or is it blank or another lender? That would be at the bottom below your signature where it says "First Contract Assignment" or "Assignee" or something similar.