Santander Consumer Adds New Centers

Santander Consumer USA will open two servicing centers in Mesa, Ariz., and in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 2016.

The new centers will increase capacity as SC’s portfolio grows, the company said in an Investor Day presentation last week. SC already operates seven centers concentrated in Texas and Colorado.

The center in Puerto Rico will also make it easier for SC to control and monitor vendor-managed sites in the Caribbean region more directly, the company said. “Proximity to existing SC servicing vendors facilitates improved oversight,” SC said in the presentation.

Separately, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has made it clear that the bureau expects all auto lenders within its jurisdiction to police their vendors, especially in the areas of furnishing customer data to credit bureaus, in handling customer complaints, and in collections.

Santander Consumer said adding new centers will also make it easier to service customers in different time zones. The Arizona site will create a presence in the Phoenix metro area and help SC service accounts for customers in the Mountain and Pacific Time Zones, the company said. The center  in Puerto Rico can serve customers on Eastern Time.

For 2016, SC expects to add about 250 full-time employees in Arizona, with capacity for 1,000 over time. The San Juan location should have about 150 full-time employees in 2016, with capacity for 500.