Next Steps On The Santander Consumer Auto Loan Settlement

And Next Steps for Auto Owners Who are in Risk of Having Their Vehicle Repossessed

There are a lot of moving parts when it comes to our credit records and personal financial activities.

This is especially true when your credit records and personal financial history becomes intertwined with a class action lawsuit with someone who is dogging your credit.

Here are some thoughts and suggestions I have on the Santander Settlement which might be helpful for those who may, or may not, become eligible to share in the benefits of the class action disbursements.

Please note that the purpose of this article is two fold:

(1) Help Santander Consumer auto loan consumers better understand their various options and how best to navigate through a number of different choices they may have available to them as a result of the Santander class action suit.

(2) Help non Santander Consumer auto loan consumers, who are currently delinquent on their vehicle loan payments or expect that they will be in the near future, better understand what they will soon be facing and how best to navigate through a number of choices that they will be facing at some point in the future.

Gather and Organize All Your Vehicle Records

Which vehicle records and papers am I talking about. All of them. Anything that is related to the vehicle.

That includes all the paperwork you received, or should have received, at the car dealership when you first purchased it. Things like the sales agreement, odometer statement, warranties, notices, any insurance purchased at the dealership, waivers and any auto financing documents you entered into at the dealership.

If you did not finance your vehicle at the dealership where you bought your car then you need to gather up any letters, papers or documents you received from the bank, credit union or financial institution that provided the funds for the purchase of your wheels.

Certainly, any payment records, letters, correspondence, legal documents, in short any papers you have related to your vehicle after the initial financing period could be potentially helpful to you.

Just so that no misunderstanding regarding the above paragraph, you should also include all papers you have received regarding the financing of your vehicle even if it came from a company other than who originated your auto loan.

The financing paper on your auto may have been sold one or more times and therefore any papers from subsequent financial institutions and collection companies are important in assessing your consumer rights and choices.

Maintenance Records, Inspection Records & Vehicle History Reports Are Important

When it comes to our vehicles, there are a lot of potential problems that can and often do come up while we own them.

Because many of these problems are wide spread issues which occurred through no fault of the owner there has been a number of protective consumer laws passed that might be beneficial to you now or in the future.

Odometer rollbacks, salvage fraud, lemon laws, vehicle titling and a wide assortment of other laws may become important and helpful to you even though you find yourself behind on your car payments, facing or experiencing a vehicle repossession.

Although it is hard to imagine for someone who has never found themselves in this position before, something we would never expect to be of any importance to our delinquency, such as an inspection record, can make all the difference in our legal based world.

So gather up everything you have in writing or print that has anything to do with your vehicle.

Repossession Papers Are Extreme Important

Not to be redundant, but it bears repeating because it is so important... anything that exists in writing or print that has to do with a vehicle repossession is extremely important.

So gather up all papers and documents dealing with a repossession and add them to your vehicle file.

What Should You Do If You Are Missing Papers and/or Documents?

It is not uncommon for consumers to be missing some, if not all, of the papers and documents on your vehicle.

If that is you, don't panic or fret.

It is what it is, at this point.

Although it would be way better if you had held on to and can produce all documents and papers it is not the end of the world if you did not save them and can not produce them.

With that being said, there are several options and steps you can take to try and get a copy of any missing papers/documents, such as:

(1) Contact the dealer where you bought the car and any company that ever performed any services, provided any financing, or was involved in the collection of any debts related to the vehicle and request a copy of any and all papers they have on file.

(2) Don't feel comfortable doing number one? You have a couple more options, such as contacting an attorney or law firm that specializes in consumer based litigation. Often times they will be able to, with your written authorization, obtain a copy of your files from the various companies.

(3) Check your credit report and if there is any negative credit reporting regarding your vehicle you, or someone on your behalf, can contact the reporting companies to make them prove and validate their claims. In other words, they will be forced to produce a copy of the records that have that would support their negative reporting.

The Most Important Preliminary Step: Go Over All The Documents With A Fine Tooth Comb

Once you have gathered up all the papers and documents you can on your vehicle then you should plan on either spending a lot of time researching and studying your consumer rights to apply them to your situation or...

You can reach out to an experienced consumer lawyer which represents consumers in legal matters regarding your legal rights, legal options and potential legal recoveries.

Many of our state and federal consumer protection laws contain provisions that will require the other side to pay for your attorney's fees in addition to paying you some actual or statutory damages.

Some consumer protection attorneys - not a general practitioner who practices a little of everything but an attorney who specializes or focuses on consumer protection cases - will do a free initial evaluation of your situation because they know that their fees will be paid by the other side if there has been a violation of one or more consumer protection laws.

That's all I have on this subject for now, but the Thanks Tyler Team at CPR Consumers is extra busy at work on the Santander Settlement and will be providing much more information in the near future.