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Legal Advice in Suing a Debt Collector Santander

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Swdezign

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

I received a Threatening phone call in reference to a car NOTE that I had traded in. I am out of the car and the individual insist i pay a FULL balance of $21, 231.44 to Santander. This is after a request for Payoff was requested by the dealership in early October 2013. I repeatedly let in caller know, the account has been handled by the dealership and all has been paid. She still insist I pay the full dollar amount immediately. I did not authorize a call nor did I have any reason to receive any debt collection calls. I did not receive any prior notices of any related issues either.

Under the FDCPA 1692 Subsection 806 (1) (2) (4) (5) (6) all of these were violations based on this call. In addition, at the time, I was in such mental stress that i was trying to figure out how am I going to pay this total amount even though I thought the dealership was to take car of this.

Later on that week 11/8/2013 to be exact (estimated time) I received a letter stating,

Dear Customer (Full Name)

Santander Consumer USA received a payment from you on 10/28/2013 in the amount of $21,209.44. We believe you attempted to pay off your account with this payment.

We apprecieate your payment. However, the payment did not satisfy the entire balance of your account leaving a remaining balance.

As of the date of this letter (11/04/2013) your remaining balance is $23.92 and is good until 11/18/2013. Please be aware that your balance may change if payment is not received by this date.

Then it goes on to give ways to play and a contact number.

I called the number after I noticed it was on my credit report as a negative item showing the remaining balance. I am not sure it the dealership received a letter similar since they are the ones who technically paid for it. But there was NO reference of the dealership at all in my letter. But when I called, the rep from Santander I requested they send me all documentation so i can go over this with my accountant so I can resolve the issue since I have had fraud alerts on my credit report earlier in the year. I just want to make sure everything is good to go and correct. They refused to send any info what so ever. So I requested them to remove this from my credit report and to show paid in full since this is a dealership situation not mine. I was still wondering why did i receive this letter and not them. Did I actually pay this through my Treasury Account? I will never know.... or did the dealership pay in on my behalf?

Now my question is, based on the threatening phone call; demand for FULL payment, the violations I received from the Santander Rep under the FDCPA above violations, TCP with No prior warning what would be the process to bring a suite against this company for all that and the anguish this has caused me?

Your legal advice will be most appreciated.

Vince
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Florida

I received a Threatening phone call in reference to a car NOTE that I had traded in. I am out of the car and the individual insist i pay a FULL balance of $21, 231.44 to Santander. This is after a request for Payoff was requested by the dealership in early October 2013. I repeatedly let in caller know, the account has been handled by the dealership and all has been paid. She still insist I pay the full dollar amount immediately. I did not authorize a call nor did I have any reason to receive any debt collection calls. I did not receive any prior notices of any related issues either.

Under the FDCPA 1692 Subsection 806 (1) (2) (4) (5) (6) all of these were violations based on this call. In addition, at the time, I was in such mental stress that i was trying to figure out how am I going to pay this total amount even though I thought the dealership was to take car of this.

Later on that week 11/8/2013 to be exact (estimated time) I received a letter stating,

Dear Customer (Full Name)

Santander Consumer USA received a payment from you on 10/28/2013 in the amount of $21,209.44. We believe you attempted to pay off your account with this payment.

We apprecieate your payment. However, the payment did not satisfy the entire balance of your account leaving a remaining balance.

As of the date of this letter (11/04/2013) your remaining balance is $23.92 and is good until 11/18/2013. Please be aware that your balance may change if payment is not received by this date.

Then it goes on to give ways to play and a contact number.

I called the number after I noticed it was on my credit report as a negative item showing the remaining balance. I am not sure it the dealership received a letter similar since they are the ones who technically paid for it. But there was NO reference of the dealership at all in my letter. But when I called, the rep from Santander I requested they send me all documentation so i can go over this with my accountant so I can resolve the issue since I have had fraud alerts on my credit report earlier in the year. I just want to make sure everything is good to go and correct. They refused to send any info what so ever. So I requested them to remove this from my credit report and to show paid in full since this is a dealership situation not mine. I was still wondering why did i receive this letter and not them. Did I actually pay this through my Treasury Account? I will never know.... or did the dealership pay in on my behalf?

Now my question is, based on the threatening phone call; demand for FULL payment, the violations I received from the Santander Rep under the FDCPA above violations, TCP with No prior warning what would be the process to bring a suite against this company for all that and the anguish this has caused me?

Your legal advice will be most appreciated.

Vince
YOU are responsible for the loan, not the dealer.

It seems to me that this problem occurred because you ignored the request for $23.92 that you received in 2013.
 

FlyingRon

Senior Member
FDCPA applies to third party collectors. The lender doesn't need your permission to call you. You need to take the letter with the $23.92, call them and find out how much it has increased (probably not much) and pay it off.

Your agreement with the lender has SQUAT to do with the dealer. It's your responsibility to make it get paid off. Pay it. You can then go hit up the dealer for the difference if they were obliged to pay it.
 

Jeran

Member
Something seems fishy to me about this.

I would go to the dealership with that letter and ask them about it.

To transfer the title of the vehicle you traded in to someone else (whoever they then sold the old vehicle to), the old loan would have to be paid off in full, so that the lienholder would release the lien on the vehicle.

What's to stop them, Santander (who has a very bad reputation in Arizona, by the way), from coming back later and saying that you still owe more money after you pay them this money?

The dealership should take care of this, since they were responsible for paying off the old loan and for transferring the title out of your name and into someone else's name.

I would start there first.
 

bdancer

Member
Something seems fishy to me about this.

I would go to the dealership with that letter and ask them about it.

To transfer the title of the vehicle you traded in to someone else (whoever they then sold the old vehicle to), the old loan would have to be paid off in full, so that the lienholder would release the lien on the vehicle.

What's to stop them, Santander (who has a very bad reputation in Arizona, by the way), from coming back later and saying that you still owe more money after you pay them this money?

The dealership should take care of this, since they were responsible for paying off the old loan and for transferring the title out of your name and into someone else's name.

I would start there first.
It is very common for dealers to wholesale trade-ins to other dealers or auctions. Dealers do not get new titles in their names. It's just a trail of paperwork selling from one dealer to the next. It is also rather common for the trade-in to be sold off BEFORE the loan payoff is made. A smart person makes a point of checking to make sure the loan is paid in full within 2 weeks of the trade-in deal and follows up with the dealer if it has not been paid off.

The OP is plain out of luck and going back to the dealer is a waste of time at this point.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
It is very common for dealers to wholesale trade-ins to other dealers or auctions. Dealers do not get new titles in their names. It's just a trail of paperwork selling from one dealer to the next. It is also rather common for the trade-in to be sold off BEFORE the loan payoff is made. A smart person makes a point of checking to make sure the loan is paid in full within 2 weeks of the trade-in deal and follows up with the dealer if it has not been paid off.

The OP is plain out of luck and going back to the dealer is a waste of time at this point.
I think I disagree. The fact that dealers are not necessarily required to change titles into their names does not absolve them from the responsibility of the contracts they make with their purchasers. Part of the contract made with the OP was that the balance of his loan on the trade in was to be paid off. If it was not, then there is a breach of contract. Therefore the dealer certainly has some obligation.

That of course does not erase the OP's obligation to the original lender.
 

bdancer

Member
I think I disagree. The fact that dealers are not necessarily required to change titles into their names does not absolve them from the responsibility of the contracts they make with their purchasers. Part of the contract made with the OP was that the balance of his loan on the trade in was to be paid off. If it was not, then there is a breach of contract. Therefore the dealer certainly has some obligation.

That of course does not erase the OP's obligation to the original lender.
Some time back, we had a rash of car dealers not paying off the trade in loan balances, resulting in the car owner having to pay off the old car loan -- the dealer was not part of that contract. Almost got caught in that trap myself, but I made a point of double checking to make sure the loan was paid off. When it was stilll unpaid after 10 days, I "persuaded" the dealer it was in his best interest to pay off the loan since he had already sold off the trade in. ;)

Now, you are certainly correct about a breach of the contract with the dealer, you would have to pursue legal remedies to go after the dealer, but you would STILL be on the hook for the unpaid loan balance.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
I think I disagree. The fact that dealers are not necessarily required to change titles into their names does not absolve them from the responsibility of the contracts they make with their purchasers. Part of the contract made with the OP was that the balance of his loan on the trade in was to be paid off. If it was not, then there is a breach of contract. Therefore the dealer certainly has some obligation.

That of course does not erase the OP's obligation to the original lender.
The dealer agrees to pay X amount of dollars. If there is a balance after that, then the OP is responsible. In this case, it was a very small balance and the OP ignored it.
 

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