Law Offices of Gary Green has been associated in a class-action lawsuit against Santander Consumer, USA alleging, among other things, that Santander has violated the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The lawsuit also claims that Santander breached its contracts with consumers in the manner by which it charged fees. If you believe you have been subjected to abusive or illegal actions by Santander or any other collection agency or bank, please contact us.
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Debt collectors may violate federal law if they engage in any of the following practices:
- Communicate with your friends, relatives, co-workers, or individuals other than yourself on multiple occasions.
- Disclose to others that you owe a debt.
- Communicate with you at odd times or places without your consent.
- Make repeated phone calls to you with the intention of harassing you or communicate with you in a harassing or abusive manner.
- Communicate with you in a false or misleading manner.
- Call a cellular phone using an automatic dialing machine or a recorded message without express authorization.
Since Santander has been challenged on its heavy handed tactics, it has added to the standard form Modification Agreement that it uses in negotiating claims that if one signs the Modification Agreement, one will not be able to bring a claim against Santander for violations of federal law. This shows that Santander knows what it has been doing is wrong. Since Law Offices of Gary Green does not undertake to represent you in the dispute you have going with Santander about late fees, repossession, etc., we cannot tell you not to sign a Modification Agreement. Of course, you have to protect your credit and your self interest above preserving a claim against Santander for violations of federal law; however, you might consider crossing through and initialing the standard form paragraph that says you are waiving any future claims; or consider adding to the signature line, “This cohesion contract signed under protest”. The Santander language which attempts to limit its liability reads as follows:
(d) No Class Actions/No Joinder of Parties. Claims and disputes by or on behalf of other persons not a party to the Contract will not be arbitrated in any proceeding considering your Claims. You may not serve as a class representative or participate as a member of a class of claimants or act as a private attorney general with respect to any Claim against any party entitled to compel arbitration under this Agreement. You and SCUSA agree that all claims must be resolved on an individual basis through arbitration and that representative actions, such as class actions, are prohibited (this is referred to below as the “class action waiver”).
Keep in mind each phone call in violation of federal law can mean a civil penalty to Santander of at least $500 per call. This penalty triples for willfully or knowingly violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Violations can add up quickly! 5 calls a day for 7 days at $500 each is $17,500! Triple that for willful violations - $52,500! Use this information as you negotiate with Santander!
Please preserve and keep any recordings you might have of Santander employees who have left messages on your cell phone; or any recordings on your home phone where Santander employees have left harassing messages. Record your calls with Santander. Tell them they no longer have consent to call your cell phone - this will negate any “express consent” arguments they will put forth.
You can read more about the FDCPA on the Federal Trade Commission's website at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/pubs/consumer/credit/cre27.pdf.
You can read more about the TCPA on the Federal Trade Commission's website at http://transition.fcc.gov/cgb/policy/TCPA-Rules.pdf.
Dear Friend:
Sometimes we work on cases that people wouldn't know about unless we broadcasted the fact. One class of such cases is our work against Santander, the Spanish bank which has moved into the United States market, buying up a lot of the consumer loans previously owned by Citigroup and others.
Santander has acted as a bad corporate citizen. I don't know whether they have come into the market completely ignorant of the United States Telephone Act and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act or whether they have chosen to ignore the laws all together, but suffice it to say they have been merciless and mean spirited to those among us who have had a difficult time recently financially. Santander is known for it's incessant telephone calls-sometimes directly via its employee agents or sometimes via a robo dialer. Literally, some of the people who have called on us for help have reported in excess of 100 calls a day to not only the debtors, but to their neighbors, families and friends, telling other people about the debtor's business. These calls are all blatant violations of the law.
It's possible that the cases might be amassed into a class action. However, the law is not strongly in our favor on the class action front. Class actions are getting more and more difficult to prosecute, because of the strong business lobby against them. If the class action idea fails, then our plan is to handle the cases individually. Unfortunately, Santander has required these consumers to sign releases that would compel arbitration, rather then litigation, for any claims against Santander. It is possible that we will be able to defeat the requirement for arbitration, but if we can't, we are prepared to arbitrate each individual claim. Fortunately, the law upon which we rely allows for a $500.00 penalty per illegal call, with that amount tripling if the violation is intentional. As you can figure, these aren't your typical minimal damages class action plaintiffs who have no remedy whatsoever if the class action is not perfected.
While the motor vehicle, medical negligence, nursing home and product liability cases continue to be our main areas of practice, it is a privilege to be able to handle this complex and difficult situation for these folks who have had their rights trampled.
Read more about how you can get involved by clicking here.
Very truly yours,
Gary Green
Law Offices of Gary Green, P.A.
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