Complaint Review: Sovereign Bank

On 5/21/07, I called to obtain payoff on auto loan. Sovereign refused to provide any information and stated my name is not on the loan. I told them I took the loan out originally through Waypoint Bank and Sovereign bought Waypoint. I then got married and drove 2 hours to State College to the nearest Sovereign branch and delivered a certified copy of my marriage certificate. My checking and line of credit were updated with my new name.

Apparently, they neglected to correct my name on this account, so I gave them my name prior to my marriage. They still refused saying my name is not on the account.

On 6/20/07, I was able to verify that this loan appears on my personal credit report.

On 06/25/2007 at 06:47 PM, I sent an email to customer service at Sovereign stating, "I called the # to request the payoff on my van loan. I was told my name is not on the acct, but it is on my credit report. The loan was originally with Waypoint Bank and you bought them out. My name was [previous name] at the time, but I have gotten married.

I personally delivered a copy of my marriage license to a branch in State College, PA, and my checking and line of credit were updated accordingly. I just checked my credit report and this loan DOES appear on that report, so why will they not give me the payoff on this loan?"

On 06/26/2007 at 09:16 AM, I received the following email response from John Marano at Sovereign Bank: "Thank you for your recent Email. We apologize if there was a misunderstanding, please contact a Customer Service Representative or the Community Banking Office in which you took the loan. You should be assisted further with your inquiry. Should you require additional assistance, please contact us at: 1-877-SOV-BANK (768-2265), ...."

On 6/26/2007, I called Sovereign Bank again. The woman I spoke with (Nikki) asked if my name was Sharon or Shari. I told her it was Shari and she asked me if any other name is on the account. I said no. She refused to give me the information and I shared the entire story with her, even reading my email and the response I received to that email. She spoke with a Supervisor who told her she could not give me any information on the loan. I asked her why I should keep paying when I don't even know who they will issue the title to upon payment in full. She was understanding, but couldn't help me.

I sent the following email in response to Mr. Marano's email requesting that my complaint be reopened right after my call with Nikki ended: "Following your email response received from John Marano, I called the number as instructed. I spoke with Nikki at extension 603873. She spoke with her supervisor, Peter, from the New Bedford call center. Peter instructed Nikki to give me no information on this loan. I need a telephone call from Sovereign Bank with all requested information on this loan within 24 hours.

If I do not receive the information, you will hear from the Better Business Bureau and the Banking Commission because I will be filing complaints with everyone I can think of who will take such a complaint. There is no point to my continuing to make payments on a van for which a title will be issued to some unknown person upon full payment.

Since you do not have this loan under [my married name], [my name prior to my marriage] or [my husband's name], there is obviously a typographical error from when Sovereign bought Waypoint Bank - particularly since this loan appeared on my credit report which was checked last Wednesday."

I have received no response, so what do I do now? If I don't pay on the loan, It will be reported to the credit bureau and they will repossess the van, I am pretty sure. If I pay the loan in full, some unknown person will apparently receive a title for my van. Is this a scam by Sovereign to get loan payments and then repossess right before the loans are paid off?

Shari
Newport, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.

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