Original Creditor: Santander
Original Amount: $14400
Amount Settled: $6500
Debt Status: Valid
Date of First Delinquency: January 2009
Removal Technique: Series of Good Will letters
Experience Removing Santander Repossession
One of the more damaging credit items you can have listed on your credit report is a repossession. So of course, I must have one! I say that sarcastically, but I did have a repossession from Citi Financial (later to be Santander) in 2008. It wasn’t pretty, but it could have been worse. My sister was kind enough to cosign the car when I first got it, and she repaid the loan with a voluntary repossession. The loan was settled for less than the loan amount, and although it was settled, it would be best if I could remove this off my credit file. So I embarked on removing Santander repossession.
I started tackling this one early in the process, as I sent my first letter to them in November of 2010. It took a solid 9 months and a dozen letters to get this thing taken care of, but the end result was worth it.
My first tactic was to send them a letter in good will, indicating I was wrong to let this loan go into default and to try to sweet talk removal.
11/20/2010
Re: Acct # 30000***********
Dear Santander Consumer USA,
I am writing to you today regarding my auto loan which I settled with your company. The purpose of my correspondence is to see if you would be willing to make a “goodwill” adjustment on the reporting of this account to the three credit agencies.
The auto loan was a joint loan with myself, ManVsCredit and my sister, SisterVsCredit. The loan was for $15,137
During the time period this account was established I had was very happy with the service from your company, I was however not the ideal customer and made mistakes with my handling of the account. I should have kept better records regarding the account and I take full responsibility. However, I was on-time through the duration of the loan until my financial crisis.
I know that payment was my responsibility and I am not attempting to justify this breach of my user agreement, I was however hoping you might review the circumstances under which this non-payment occurred and consider removing the negative trade line associated with this account from my three credit reports.
As soon as I was financially stable, my sister and I worked to settle this debt, and it is listed as paid. I would like to STRESS that the information currently being reported IS accurate, I am simply asking for a courtesy gesture of goodwill in having the credit bureaus remove this account from my report. I do recognize that this request is unique and that it may not be normal policy. Please consider that the Fair Credit Reporting Act does not demand that all accounts be reported, only that any account that is reported be reported accurately. Therefore, a company does have legal discretion and permission to remove any account it chooses from the credit report. I’m hoping that you will do that in my case for this account.
Your kind consideration in this matter is greatly appreciated.
Best Regards
ManVsCredit
This letter fell on deaf ears. Removing Santander repossession was proving to be difficult. They didn’t even bother sending a response. I was not deterred however. I sent the same letter again in January of 2011. This time I did get a response. It was the standard ‘we have to report everything accurately’ letter most businesses will send you after your first attempt.
My gut feeling was I was going to have trouble removing this trade line, so I changed tactics. I went with the whole ‘You were wrong I am right’ tactic. Here is the next letter I sent:
02/21/2011
Re: Acct # 300001***********
Dear Santander Consumer USA,
I am writing to you today regarding my auto loan which I settled with the original company, CitiFinancial. Please see the enclosed documentation.
The auto loan was a joint loan with myself, ManVsCredit, and my sister, SisterVsCredit. The loan was for $15,137
This debt has been listed as paid yet you refuse to remove it from my credit report. Please provide me with all documentation pertaining to this account so I can verify the information. In the meantime, until this information is verified, remove this account from all three credit bureaus.
If you cannot provide ALL documentation for this account for verification, I will have to pursue legal action to have it removed from my credit file.
Best Regards
ManVsCredit
Once again, I played loose with my wording. The creditor has no obligation to remove a trade line once it has been paid. I was hoping I would get a service representative who would just remove it thinking I might become a real challenge to deal with. I received the exact same form letter from Santander. Ok, I thought. Game is on.
The next letter I sent them was a variation on one of those highly drawn out debt validation letters. I am not really a fan of them, but I was thinking maybe I could start confusing them. I sent about 5 of these before I realized something.
Santander wasn’t the originator of the loan. This could work to my favor. Santander purchased a portfolio from Citi for like, a gajillion dollars, and included in that was my charged off repossession.
My next tactic was simple. Try to convince Santander that the loan was paid, and Citi had agreed upon payment to remove the trade line. Entirely plausible scenerio given then economy. The following letter is one that I feel is one of the most convincing I had done in my attempts to get accounts removed from my file:
June 7th, 2011
Santander Consumer USA
PO Box 961245
Fort Worth, TX 76161-1245
Regarding: Acct: *******
To Whom is May Concern:
Thank you for the correspondence in regards to the auto loan file listed on my credit reports. I can appreciate your stance on the subject, and that fair and accurate reporting is the cornerstone of finance. However, I think you are missing the entire point of the letter to begin with. I am done being combative, I just want you to understand where I am coming from and what occurred, and not just a form letter you send to everyone who makes these requests. I have gotten the exact same response from the exact same person three times. I am looking for escalation. I am looking for someone to explain to me where I am off base or why you cannot do what I am looking to have accomplished. I owe Santander USA no money, I have never owed Santander USA money, and I have never had ANY interaction or account with Santander USA.
The bottom line is this. We settled this repossession with CitiFinancial in April of 2009. It was a voluntary repossession. We dealt directly with CitiFinancial and not a third party collection company. We negotiated that this listing NOT be placed on our credit file. They complied. We paid off the settlement agreement with CitiFinancial in full in April 2009. It was not listed on any report until your company starting listing it after your company took ownership of the portfolio. Per the June 24th, 2010 press release, which I have included with this letter, the agreement between CitiFinancial and Santander was not finalized until June 24th, 2010. Therefore, I fail to understand how your company has anything to do with my account. Our financial obligation was resolved with CitiFinancial more than a year prior to the finalization of your agreement to purchase their portfolio. I cannot find any sort of legal correlation to why you can report this debt, considering the 0 dollar balance.
I have copied my attorney on this letter, and we are considering legal actions to have this removed. I implore you to save yourself the time and money involved with this trade line. Once again, there is a 0 dollar balance. Santander USA is receiving no benefit from reporting this trade line, and may be subject to legal action.
I have asked numerous times for something, anything, from you indicating you have the right to report this debt. You have failed to respond. I anticipate you will appreciate the severity of this communication, and respond in a timely matter.
With Best Regards;
ManVsCredit
This one seemed to do the trick. I received a response back indicating they would be changing the account to Settled in Full – This was a minor victory, but a victory none the less. I decided to go from broke and write one more letter to them asking for complete removal. Instead of sending it to the PO Box, as I had before, I decided to email the Office of the President email account complete with scan of the Settled in Full letter they had sent me asking for a goodwill deletion. Low and behold, the account was removed! Score one for quick thinking for removing Santander repossession.
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