Beware Santander Bank they are callous thieves.

Imagine my surprise when I walked out of my house to go to work only to find my car missing. My first thought was that the brake had failed and it had drifted down the pad into the fence, but upon a quick check there still was no car to be seen.

I live in a pretty isolated area and crime is almost nonexistent out here, not counting people selfishly trespassing on your property with, ATVs and horses. Some people think that if there is a piece of property that does not have a house within a hundred feet, then it is public property and they can use it as they chose. Never mind all the no trespassing signs even the ones by affidavit, but I have never heard of anyone’s car being stolen.

Mine was and the surprising culprit was Santander Bank. I have never heard of this bank before, so it was even more difficult to understand why this company had stolen my car. Of course my first call was to the police. When I told them my car had been stolen they informed me that it had been repossessed. I asked by whom, since my car has been paid for for over 5 years and that I had the certificate of title in my hand so that I could give them the VIN number and what other numbers they needed to find my car. They told me to call the Repo company and gave me the number.

Calling the repo company was an absolute waste of time because they kept asking me for information I could not give them. They wanted my loan number, the number of the bank. I told them I had no loan number and no bank for them to call. They kept saying they could not help me because they had no record with my name or social security number. Of course not. I had no loan and my car was paid for. After being placed on hold and switched to 3 different people they finally gave me the number to Santander Bank.

I tried to be nice and concise. I told the woman that answered the phone what had happened, it took all my strength to hold my temper because she did not even try to hide the fact that she was laughing at me the whole time I was explaining my situation. I finally stopped and said look, just give me the number where I can fax the proof that the car they had stolen belonged to me legally and that they had no legal claim to my car. She gave me the number to fax the title and told me to call the reinstatement office after I had faxed the documents. I faxed the documents but was not able to reach anyone in the office.

The next morning I received a call from the Repo agency asking me where did I want my car delivered. I told him that I wanted him to return my car to the same place from which he had stolen it. He said he would be bringing my car out shortly. When 3 o’clock arrived and again I would have no car for work I called the agency asking for my car. He stated that the car was on its way and wanted to know how long I would be home. I made the mistake of telling him that I had to leave my house no later than six pm. He said that the car would be there long before six. At 6:15 I left my house with no sign of my car is sight. I locked the gate to prevent a dump and run.

I was lucky that my Brother noticed the guy go pass his house with my car and drove to my house to find out what the heck was going on. The guy kept saying it wasn’t his fault that he was only doing what the bank told him to do. My brother couldn’t open the gate and called me to tell me that the guy was at the house and was trying to leave the car by the side of the road but there would be hell to pay before he would let him do that.

I am sorry to say that my brother and this guy almost came to blows because he was not going to allow this guy to leave my car on the side of the road. He told him, “That is not where you stole the car from and you are going to put it back exactly where you stole it from, regardless to how long you have to wait.” Well it did not take long but he did have to wait about 20 minutes. My brother took pictures of the guy and every angle of the car. The guy kept saying over and over it was not his fault. That was 3 days ago and to this moment Santander Bank has not apologized or even picked up the phone to acknowledge their wrong doing.


I guess you can say that anybody can make mistakes, but when you illegally take someone’s property, inconvenience them, place their livelihood in jeopardy and your only response is to laugh at them is unconscionable and to not make any attempts to even an apology, then this is one bank that I would definitely run from.

Anyone doing business with Santander trust me on this one, they are thieves and heartless. Put your money in a mattress before trusting these people, because there in no good in them.

Why did you not report a stolen Vehicle OP?
If told to call the tow company, ask to speak to that officers commanding officer all of the way up to the county sheriff himself.
The vehicle was stolen, why no stolen report?

reply to post by g146541

If you read it again, the OP did try but the police seem to have been notified of the (wrongful) repossession of his/her vehicle. That to me sounds kinda fishy but maybe that's how those things work. I think his only way to do anything about this now would be some kind of court case but yeah, that will cost money I would guess. At least, until it is proven in a court of law. I'd claim loss of income for a day's work at least if that is a possible route to go.

OP, weird and troublesome story. Hope you can get it worked out to your satisfaction.

Huh sounds like a bank to me. I meant thief sorry, . I have a Sovereign Bank account which is owned by Santander. Looks like its time to close my account (which has no money in it anyway).

reply to post by g146541


From what I was told, Repossessions have to be documented with the local police department prior to repossession. This is why the police had my car listed as a repossession.

The police believed it would be a simple matter to have my car returned since I had the title as proof.

Wrong. The repo people are useless. They take their orders only from the bank, and the banks think we are useful only for how much they can dig out of our pockets.

You are not even worth a telephone call to say “Oops!”

I swear to God I have come to hate all banks. It is only going to be Credit Unions for me from now on.

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver


It would be great if I could find me a Harry's Law kind of lawyer that would take my case just because what they did was wrong and it would be nice for the little guy to come out on top for once.

Sigh... Only in the movies.

reply to post by Conspiracy Now


Be careful. They may try to charge you for having an account with a zero balance. I would not put it pass them.

They are not customer friendly at all.

reply to post by NightSkyeB4Dawn


Well if not a car theft at the very least falsifying a police report as you do have the pink slip in hand.
And for them to report falsely to the police..
You may need to find a liar...err lawyer.
You have been wronged one way or another.

reply to post by g146541


Presently searching.

Hope I can find one I can afford.

Where is Harry when you need her?

reply to post by NightSkyeB4Dawn

In the UK they have these places in many towns and cities called the Citizens Advice Bureau where people can go to be informed about their rights and possibilities for recourse. Holland has a similar thing called Rechtshulp (Rights Help). Maybe there's something like that in the US? Just an idea.

reply to post by LightSpeedDriver


We have people that volunteer their time in a very similar way. I will check with them but the last time I tried that route the waiting list was so long that it would have been too late for the problem that I was dealing with.

Since I don't think there are times constraints on this issue I will try them again.

Thank you.

I just ran across this news article from The Telegraph, though it was in numerous other papers and magazines.

At least we know where they are getting the money that they are putting in their pockets.

www.telegraph.co.uk...

Santander UK boss pockets £4m in pay

Count your fingers after doing business with this outfit.