Santander Repossessed My Car and Now Debt Collectors Calling
In 2009 I had a vehicle financed by Santander repossessed. The account was sold to several collection agencies over the years. Today I received a collection debt settle offer letter from an attorney's office. I live in Texas and the last payment to Santander was in 2009. Can they sue me or should I even contact the attorney trying to collect this debt?
Santander repoed car and now an attorney debt collector has contact me with a settlement offer. What next?
—Marie
Your unpaid car loan with Santander appears to be passed the Texas statute that limits a debt collectors ability to legitimately file a collection action in the courts to 4 years.
Because your debt with Santander is passed, the SOL does not mean debt collectors do not file collections in the courts. They still do sometimes, and I will help you explore the likelihood of that happening, but if a debt collector does take this to court, your defense is simplified when the debt is time barred.
First, who is the attorney you received the collection notice from? Does that attorney have an in state address on their letter head?
Second, who is it that the attorney says they are collecting on behalf of?
Should you resolve your debt with Santander Bank?
What would be your motivation to settle the Santander debt? People have different reasons for resolving bills that went to collection. But if you have next to zero risk that the attorney collecting would file with the court, you will want to focus on the purpose of negotiating a settlement, and especially if the debt has been sold off to a debt buyer.
Settling now, even though it has been several years since your account went delinquent, could improve your credit in the eyes of different types of lenders. Are you thinking of getting a home loan or refinancing in between now and when the Santander collections account drops off your credit reports? Are there other reasons you would want to get this account to reflect a zero balance owed status on your credit. And who else besides Santander is showing this account on your credit (if anyone)?
If settling is not done for credit purposes, and not to eliminate the risk of being sued, then it would likely be a goal for personal reasons. Those are good reasons too.
If you are motivated to settle, you would typically connect with the collector on the account. You will often find you are in a better position to negotiate if they can no longer legitimately sue, and if you are not under pressure to accomplish anything with your credit (pending loan approval).
You mentioned you believe Santander sold the debt several times. Whoever holds the account now, if not the bank, will have paid a fraction of the balance to obtain the legal rights to collect. What was the settlement offer from the debt collector? If settlement is your goal, what is a target amount you are willing and able to pay, if less than the offer they started off with?
You can answer my questions in the comments section below and I will have more feedback. Anyone reading this page, who has questions or concerns about settling collection debts from Santander Bank, is welcome to post in the comments for feedback.
About Michael BoveeMichael started CRN in 2004 with a mission to provide people in need with detailed debt and credit help and education. Michael has participated as an expert panelist in federal consumer protection rule making, collaborated on state law changes governing debt consolidation, has worked as an expert witness in court matters related to the debt relief industry. He is available to speak with you about your financial struggle and helps people resolve their debt problems daily.
I had a loan with Santander when I lived in New Jersey and I then moved to Florida, couldn’t find a full time job and my car was repossessed while in Florida in 2013. I have since left Florida and returned to New Jersey in 2017. Here we are in April, 2025 and I just got a call from a debt collector saying I can settle the loan for $9,000. It’s been a little over 10 years. I heard the statue of limitations is 6 years in New Jersey and 4 years in Florida. What should I do?
If they did not sue to collect inside the window of time your state allows, and were it me, I would just ignore it.
I would double check to see they did not put this back on my credit reports.
I would also double check the county civil courts anywhere I lived, during that 4 and 6 year period, to see if a case was filed that I did not know about.
It is not on my credit reports. I also never received any civil court documents stating I was being sued for the money anywhere I lived during the 4 & 6 year period.
I have a car loan with Santander and was behind over 2,044 dollars or 5 payments and voluntarily had repossessed but they have not taken the car it is still parked on the street. My total loan is 9932.00 left. I’ve called Santander twice and the tow truck company that does the repo work and nothing. It’s been about 5 months, and I don’t know what to do. The car needs major maintenance and repairs before it could be driven.
Do you have any interest in keeping the car?
Do have an idea of what those repairs would cost?
Hi I have a car loan that was taken out with Santander in February 2013 I stopped paying on the car in August 2019 . I was paying on the loan until I called them and it was as if I wasn’t paying The loan was still high like it wasn’t going down at all. I still have the car please let me know what to do at this point. Santander put me in a high loan I should be in the lawsuit because of this.
Talk to an experienced auto loan consumer law attorney in your state about options you may have to deal with your Santander loan.
Check out the National Association for Consumer Advocates.
I have a repo that was taken in 2018/2019. Santander “charge off” the debt and closed the account. So far collections has not hit my report but santander has. I have 12k to offer them as a settlement – do you think they will accept?
What is the amount of the deficiency balance Santander has in collection?
Who is the last collection company you heard from regarding the debt?
I bought a car through Santander November 2017 it was repoed on August 2019. They say I still owe a balance for 9,000. How to handle this? They Told me that if I could come up with the money I could buy the car back but they sold it for 5000 and said I still all the other 9,000
I typically get these deficiency balances settled for 50% or less, as long as the account has not been placed with a collection law firm yet.
I noticed that santander is going threw a debt payment back to consumers due to there very high interest rate and faulty practices. How would someone know they qualify for this reimbursement?
I read the news update as their own internal process will identify those entitled to relief.
Please call me my Name is Eric Nunez I have a case open i will like to make a deal to pay today please call me asap thanks for your help
Hi Eric – You can schedule a phone call with me here: https://calendly.com/debtbytes/15min
I surrendered my 2004 Acura financed through Santander Aug 2016. I noticed they have a settlement due to their outrageous auto loan application. They are giving me an option to to pay them $6500 to settle. And when I surrendered the car they sold it for $800. I wasn’t able to trade in the vehicle due to the total amount of the finance being $17000 many dealers did not agree with that much $$ for a 2004 vehicle. I am unable to make the payoff amount. I am wondering if there is any other option for me to put this debt behind me and fix my credit.
Hi Wendy – I responded to the form you submitted through the site.
I have a car loan with Santander. I called them to try and settle it and instead they did a loan re modification. They say the pay out is $8500 I said I have $6500 now but they wont except it. Is there a ways to settle it for less then the payout? They have been bleeding me dry for three years already.
Settling for less and still keeping the car is not common. It happens, so worth a try, but getting them to release the title may indeed require full payment. If you do end up not paying, and surrendering the car, the deficiency balance left over is often very negotiable.
Check out the $550 million settlement for Santander Consumer thay happened this year. Heard they are forgiving the remainder of car payment debt and sending the title.
I purchased a car from CARMAX and they sold me a 2006 300 Mercedes Benz for 25,000.00 with an interest rate of 25%
I had no idea the interest rate was so high SANTANDER USA IS THE LIEN HOLDER. I paid the full amount of the car off on 07/05/2019. They added an additional amount of $11.500.57 to my loan on that day. Please help. I have contacted the and filed claims with cfpb and Santander. They cannot explain the additional charges to me.
I would talk to a lemon law attorney in your state. You may not have bought a lemon, but they would likely have experience with this type of thing too.
My car loan with CitiFinancial was sold to Santander, I could no longer afford the payments and the last payment was in January 2017. I’ve since moved a few times and looked for the debt on my credit reports to be in collections at this point. But there’s nothing listed by Santander or a collection agency that may have bought my loan. I still owe 11k but would like to try and negotiate a settlement. What can I do? Will they even be willing to negotiate with me at this point. I want the debt off my shoulders.
Did they repo the car, or did you voluntarily turn it in?
If you still have it, are you trying to keep it and drive it still?
Hi, my elderly mother had a car repo’d from Santander after her husband died back in 2013. They talked her into a smaller “more affordable” car right after and now a few years later cannot afford that car either due to income loss. The car is abiut 5 months behind on payments and they haven’t taken it yet, her payoff balance is about $16k. Do you think they would consider a settlement?
It is possible to do that sometimes, and still keep the car. Call in for a consult at 800-939-8357 ext 2. How much can y’all raise to offer in a settlement?
Have a santander loan that I have paid on time every time for 2 years. I recently had to buy another car because the other broke down and it has 2 seats and I have a child now. I offered to buy at less amount they won’t budge. I have already paid for the car and now I owe another 11 K in just finance charges. I had a divorce and why I can’t afford both now plus in school. What can I do. I don’t want it repo however they won’t take a settlement offer on a broken car
Voluntary repo is one solution, and you can also wait it out without making payments, and later look to settle and release title to you. Either way your credit report is going to get hit.
Santander closed out our loan because of default on payments. We have just sent in full back payments. And the car has not been repo yet. Can we reinstate our loan to continue paying off the car or should we just cut our losses.
How many months late were you before you made up the back payments on you loan?
You will want to call Santander and see if the money you sent in completely caught the loan up. There are sometimes fees.
I owe Santander 11,900. I surrendered my car.I immediately got another one that I pay on time.I gave them the car in December.I want to settle..see my credit go up..what do I do?
Call me for a consult Kellie. I will dig into the details I need to offer feedback about settling with Santander.
You can reach me at 800-939-8357, ext 2, or fill in the little “Talk to Michael” form in the right side bar on this page.
I have open car loan with santader consumer this is the second debt collector They have passed my loan to total is 7,723 but they want to settle for 3,090 just don’t have the money so i have any legal rights to fight
Are you being sued? What is the name of the collection agency contacting you about the deficiency balance?
the name of the cpllection agency is Client Services Incorporated this is the second collection agency the first one was from new jersey i don’t know if they passed it down fron collection agency to collection agency
Santander can send your account from one debt collection agency to the other. They may even sell the account off to a debt buyer. There are options to settle along the way, and even when sued.
If you can raise 30 percent of the balance owed you have a good shot of settling. That number tends to be much higher if the account lands with an attorney in your state.
Do you handle these for my state too? I’m
From Alabama and that’s where I did my loan but I now live in California. I did a surrender before I was late and want to some how settle with them but from all the things I read about them I’m afraid to contact them. I surrendered the car in November of 2015 I owe 10,680.00 what are my options as no one has ever even called me
There were no jobs in my home town and I just had to get back on my feet
Fill in the talk to Michael form in the right column. When I see that I will email you to set up a phone call. You can also reach me at 800-939-8357 ext 2.
I live in California . I purchased a car with Santander consumer . unfortunately I got into a car accident which wasn’t my fault I was able to get 8,600 from the car and it was totaled . I payed that to Santander consumer
I only had 6,000 to pay off the loan
I had no insurance during the accident so gap insurance is out . or is it ? the auto shop that had my car put a lien on it and asked for me to pay off the lien even though it was my lawyers autoshop that he took it to . after he got his money from that settlement he never helped . so the autoshop was able to get the pinkslip.through court even though I haven’t officially owned it yet. now it’s been a year and it is haunting my father’s credit because he was the cosigner
what can I do ? he is trying to purchase a home and that loan is affecting him to get it
please help and thank u so much for the time to read this .
What is the amount of money still owed to Santander?
HI Michael, I recently pulled my credit report in hopes to prequalify for a home loan and found that a car loan with Santander is showing on the Experian report. This loan was defaulted in 2003, with the last activity on my credit with them showing as 2012. My broker is telling me to contact them to offer settlement and remove from report; however, I feel like this should have disappeared by now. Should I contact them for settlement? Should this still be showing 13 yrs later? Why would they have activity showing in 2012? Is it realistic to offer under $1000 for a $5100 default? Thanks for your help!
If you last paid Santander on this in 2003, the account should have fallen off your credit reports in 2010-ish. I would file a dispute with Experian and get this removed from your credit reports. If they do not remove it in response to your dispute, post an update and I can help you from there.
Is someone else other than Santander showing up, like a debt collector? If so, who is that?
I received a settlement request from collector settling the account for Santander and agreed to the said amount stated. The money was deducted and they said they would be sending the information to Santander. I called Santander to confirm and they stated they do not offer settlements and I would have to pay the full amount. Is this legal?
I encourage you to immediately write down all the transpired and with whom.
Who is the debt collection agency you worked out the settlement with?
Who at the agency did you speak with, at what number or extension (if you know) and at what time of day. Make a note of all calls and people you talked with.
What was the amount owed, what was agreed upon as settlement in full?
Who was it you spoke with at Santander? What number did you call? What was the time of day?
Once you have that together let me know with a follow up comment and we can go from there.
My wife and i have been prequalified for a mortgage after two years of credit cleaning. The only hiccup is a Santander car loan opened in 12/2008 and defaulted in 12/2011. We live in NY, is it worth addressing this trade line, i believe it will drop from my credit report 12/2015 (if it goes by when the trade line first opened – that would be 7 years)
A few more notes about the trade line – it states “closed” not repossessed.
amount – $8,100
Basically asking should i open Pandora’s box or let sleeping dogs lie and buy a house in 2016 when this falls off my report
thanks!!
If you defaulted in 2011, and depending on the month, the Santander collection account could stay on your credit report until 2018, or into 2019. The limit for the derogatory credit reporting is 7 to 7 and one half years. That time starts ticking when you stopped paying, not when you opened the account.
It is probably worth dealing with this. Did you already try to get a loan approved?
Would it be wise to offer a settlement to Santander on a $9.7k deficiency with a DOFD 02/19/2015. Current status is Charged off and Date closed is 9/2014.
Thank you for any help.
You can negotiate a lower payoff with Santander anytime now that the deficiency balance is known. I would not start negotiating unless you can access the money to pay the deal they agree to. Are you ready to fund a realistic settlement offer?
I have a car loan with Santander USA and I’m 158 days past due and the remaining balance is $2000.00 when I called to get the status on my loan I’m routed to the collection department and they offered me a settlement over the phone of $705.00 and they will close the loan and mail me the title. I haven’t received anything in the mail offering me a settlement is legit?
These types of offers from lenders like Santander can be completely legitimate. Offering you the settlement deal over the phone is not always going to be followed up by the offer sent in the mail, but you can request them to put that in writing before you pay the agreed upon amount. I highly recommend getting settlement deals in writing first.
If you have the money and are ready to settle with Santander, call them back and say so, get them to mail or fax the agreement to you, and post any questions or concerns that pop up along the way.
If santader consumer passes your debt to a collections agency Can a debt collection agency freeze your bank account
Typically not unless they sue and get a judgment.