Update: Just had this letter from Moorcroft – it basically says they’ve been looking for me and seem to want to confirm who I am…Odd as Santander know my address – there’s nothing to confirm. The account is also in dispute, and I’ve asked Santander to stop all DCA contact until they have formally responded to my complaint…I’ll prob drop Moorcroft a line just to remind them the account is in dispute – with a but of luck they will hand it back to Santander…[i live in hope] Moorcroft Letter: Dear X, We are agents of “SANTANDER (UK) PLC”. Their records show that the above account has an outstanding balance. They have therefore asked us to contact the account holder to discuss the account and we have been provided this address by a Credit Reference Agency that supply us with address links based on the information they hold. Please contact us to confirm the position and so we can make appropriate arrangements. However, if you believe that you are not the person responsible for the account, it is important you contact us immediately, either by telephone or letter. Thank you for your co-operation in this matter and I look forward to hearing from you. Yours sincerely A J Martin Manager

I did eventually - they said they didn't get first letter, they signed for the following 2 copies and said they'd never had those either so I wrote an official complaint and within 3 weeks had a cheque for over £700! Then a month later a response from the complaint saying they'd honoured my refund and a cheque for £12 to cover my phone bill (I'd sent them a letter and said it was ridiculous to pay to use their service). I dislike that they can take over-repayments but you have to challenge it to get it back and they don't give you interest yet every day that you owe them they add in interest...something which is not made clear when you take out student loans! - it's said to be 'free money' but 4k cost me 7k to pay back however it's dressed up. Rant over - good luck!

I did overpaid mine last year too, I called them and was told it was probably paid but they continued taking it for a year...basically they base this on what you tell them you pay each month but until they have the proof from the tax man that its actually be taken out of your salary they keep taking it. You can see your balance on there website if you log in. They were basically 2 years behind with my information from PAYE - send them copies if your last few P60s and they will post you a cheque for any monies over paid...send it recorded cause they 'lost' 3 of my letters (2 of which were recorded!).

Hello busy people. I know I only updated this yesterday but does anyone have any views on my situation? [is this post still in the right location as now we have worked out who the creditor is?]. I’m now very nervous that all I have some sketchy paperwork for an account that I can’t remember and a confirmation that the CCJ was awarded after a DCA sat on it for 4 years and put it in 4 months before it was due to become Statute Barred. The creditor has confirmed they have no further information due to the age of the debt. In addition to the above, Shop Direct received my CCA request on the 13th of Feb…so that’s tomorrow for the 12days…I guess allowing some postal contingency for their response I’d be right to send a non-compliance letter about tue/wed next week?. Do they have to comply? What course of action can I take if there is no agreement? I feel like the next port of call is a letter to Westcott but I’m not sure what it should say? I feel like a criminal - its so frustrating, this is the only blemish on my file ): J

Afternoon all, Just had a letter off Shop Direct stating that the ad-hoc ‘payments’ were not payments but a list of what I should have paid each month…a likely story! They also state that the last payment made to the account was March 2006 – as Westcott obtained a CCJ against this debt in October 2011 it was not quite Statute Barred at the time the judgment was awarded. So I’ve still got a CCA request in the pipeline to see if there was a credit agreement as I still have no idea what this account was – the CCJ say it was a Littlewoods account but every time shop direct write to me they refer to it as a Very account – possible a template oversight on their part. Westcott have been very quite over this – they wrote to [after Shop Direct forwarded my initial letter to them] and stated that they brought the debt in 2005, yet today I’ve had further confirmation from Shop direct that this was not the case and it was sold in 2007. The CCJ is also for some £400 more than Shop Direct say this debt was for, [assume court costs]? I now feel in a bit of a pickle given it wasn’t Statute Barred – this CCJ is actually ruining my credit file – I don’t want to pay £1400 for something I’m still not convinced is mine, I’m even less convinced that it’s balance is correct and it seems Shop Direct can not offer further clarification as to how the balance reached £1040 in the first place. Its going to continue to sit on my file until 2017 unless something can be done about it. If I apply to set it aside and then Westcot re-apply for it – do I have a defense? I’m not sure I do? And I guess this starts the 6 year clock ticking again. Any advise gratefully received J Shop direct letter below: Dear Mr …, Further to our letter of 18th February 2013 and your complaint on your Very account. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this matter may have caused you. My understanding of your complaint is that you have found the information provided in response to your SARS request unclear. In the course of my investigation, I can confirm that our records show your debt was sold to Westcot 13th February 2007. The screenshot titles Payments and Refunds shows payments credited to your account to reduce the outstanding balance. I can also confirm that the entries of £5.00 through 2007 and £1.38 in 2008 shown on your statements are not payments we received. These entries refer to the scheduled minimum payments on your account after March 14th 2006. However, our records show we did not receive any payments on your account after March 14th 2006. Furthermore, our records show your account balance was £1040.00 as at 13th February 2007 when passed to Westcot. I trust that our explanation meets with your satisfaction and confirm that this letter is our final response to your complaint. If you are unhappy with our final response, you can refer y our complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), but must do so within six months. Thank your for bringing this mater to our attention and giving us the opportunity to respond. Yours sincerely Ayotunde Dada.

Update: I wrote a 4 page letter to Santander and mailed it about a week ago, gave them 14 days to get back to me with at least confirmation that they has assigned someone to it to deal with the problem. My sign off stated that they only make return contact in writing, but I’ve just received a call from 08003890755 with a voicemail that says: “Hi this is a message for XXX from Santander, it’s just a courtesy call, my name is [i didn’t catch it as he said it so fast], if you could return my call at your first convenience on 08456007544, many thanks” I’ve never had a courtesy call from Santander just demands for money – I guess the general consensus would be to ignore it and await a letter…but I’m curious as to what they are calling for. So should I call back…

Nice to see the FSA dealing with this - their quick to reply when they are refusing PPI claims I had a letter back within 3 days saying I wasn't eligible, then the next day a different letter saying they were looking into it...funnily enough it was the day after this fine!

Update: So, I wrote to Shop Direct and basically said the SAR wasn’t satisfactory and that I wanted to know more about how this alleged balance was compiled. I also sent a CCA request to get a copy of the original agreement. I have now received 2 letters: Dear Mr X I am writing further to your recent letter regarding your request to access under the Data Protection Act 1998, for information which is being held by our company. After reading your letter I understand that you unhappy with the format of the statements you received. In an attempt to simplify the statements we provide customers with an abbreviations list, but unfortunately we are unable to do anything about the way the statements are presented. In your letter you also request to the opening of this account. It is company policy to only retain statements dating back 6 years; consequently statements provided will not go beyond this 6 year threshold. I regret to inform you that as part of the SARS team I am unable to help you any further with your remaining complaints, so I have referred your case over to eth customer complaints team. Anything regarding charges made against your account must be handled by our customer complaints team; they will look into your case in detail and inform you of their findings Yours sincerely Joel Crossthwaite. So it seems to me that they say I cant have the statements [despite some of the info they sent me going back beyond 6 years]….this brings me to letter number 2 which is a generic one form the customer complaint team: Dear Mr X, Thank you for your letter of 25th September 2012 concerning a complaint on your very account [worth noting that Very didn’t launch until 2009 so this isn’t a Very account!]. Please accept our apologies that you have found it necessary to complain. In the interests of providing the best possible services to our customers, all complaints are taken very seriously and we will contact you once a full investigation of your concerns has been made. Please find details of our financial services complaints procedure on the revers of the letter [it was a separate sheet but I’m being picky] Yours sincerely ‘Customer excellence’ [unsigned] So I guess I have to wait now to see what ‘customer excellence’ come up with and also the response form my CCA request for the original document. When this is all over I will challenge Westcot to have the CCJ set aside…I would also add that Westcot have been good as gold, they sent me 1 letter as a response to the one that shop direct forwarded them and I’ve not heard a peep since – most unlike them! Any thoughts welcome as always.

Well in an interesting twist, following yesterdays letter I received this one, dated a day later: “Thank you for contacting us about your complaint. I am sorry this situation has occurred and I appreciate you taking the time to bring this to my attention. My understanding of your complain is that you are concerned about the way that you were sold Payment Protection Insurance on your Black Horse loan. We are now gathering information and documentation relevant to your complaint. We will respond to your complaint as soon as possible, and in any event within eight weeks from the date we received your complaint. This is in line with specific requirements that the FSA has published for the handling of PPI complaints. You can find full details of the FSA’a requirements on their website shown below:” http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Library/Communication/PR/2011/049.shtml it then goes on to say they have included their complaints procedure leaflet and that they will deal with this as quick as possible. Its also signed by Vicky Watts - this time signed in her own ink not pp’s I’m not sure what to do, the first letter dated the 14th seemed to be a tailored response say no chance but with this new one dated the 15th has suggested they’re looking into it I might just give them the 8 weeks to look into it…obviously they might not be looking into it but time will tell.

Well further to my last post Black Horse have already responded and refused my claim. I stated the following reasons for my claim: The policy was not fully explained to me. The total cost of adding PPI to my loan was not clearly explained to me, i.e. there was no option to pay for the policy upfront, it was added to my total loan value. It was alluded to me that it would be extremely difficult to be excepted for a loan should I not take out PPI with my loan. Despite attempting to pressure me into taking out the cover, I thought I had declined it; yet in 2006 when looking through the contract, I discover I had been paying towards PPI. I cancelled it accordingly [although as I had declined it was not explained to me that I could cancel the policy]. The loan contract says below the ‘details of supplier’ to refer to clause 7 for the Terms and Conditions of the PPI – Clause 7 refers to ‘Early Settlement’ of the Loan and makes no reference to PPI. Clause 6 states that the PPI cover is only taken out if the ‘yes box’ in the payment protection plan section is ticked – there is not box to tick, let alone one with a tick in it. This was their response: Thank you for your recent letter regarding the sale of PPI in relation to the above account. It is important that we are made aware if any instances where our customers feel that insurance has been miss-sold, however, our records show that we did not sell the PPI for this agreement. The insurance was sold by Carland (ref CA) at the point of sale. Unfortunately, Carland is no longer trading so we are unable to refer this matter to them for a response but we have reviewed the information available to us. I have enclosed a copy of the signed agreement. This clearly states that the cost of the policy and the level of cover being provided. It also confirms that the policy was optional. Further, the full policy terms and conditions were sent out when you accepted the agreement.. This confirmed eligibility and exclusions for the policy and that if the customer was not entirely satisfied with the level of cover being provided, it could be cancelled in full without cost by writing to us within 30 days of the date of the agreement. Having checked our records we did not receive such a request in relation to this agreement. On this basis, we are unable to find any evidence that the policy was mis-sold by Carland. If you are able to provide any evidence that the policy was mis-sold, please send it to us at the above address and we will investigate further. I trust this explains our position. Vicky Watts [pp] for teh record, they didn't inc. a copy of the agreement as she suggests - I have one but that's not the point

Well I just posted it off so fingers crossed. Thanks

OK, I’ve finally gotten around to dealing with this! I have reviewed the information I received from my SAR and ‘think’ this is right: I took out a loan for £5049.00 and PPI was included at an additional cost of £1068.53 Both were lumped together to make a total figure and were subjected to 19.9% APR. I think I’m right in saying £1068.53 is 17.41% of the total loan value £61173.53 so every month 17.1% of my payment was the PPI and its associated interest? I paid 150.68 per month which means £26.23 was allocated to the PPI? So using the calculator and the exact dates my payments were paid for the 2 years prior to me cancelling it I’m owed a refund with interest of £951.88. Is there anything I’ve missed? I’ve filled in the claim form on Black Horses website however I need to put a reason that this insurance was ‘miss-sold’. Looking through my SAR originally when I cancelled I’d said it was miss sold as I didn’t think I’d agreed to it and they just sent me back a copy of my signed agreement for it – but having now racked my brain I recall the salesman telling me I’d have a much better chance of having my loan approved if I opted for the insurance… I’m not sure who to word this part of the claim? Sorry for all the questions – I’m normally good with these things!

I’m going to go through hall my paperwork this week and write up what’s actually gone one – then I’ll start with BCOBS – I’ve read the posts on it however I’m still unsure how to get this started – do I write to Santander as a first port of call? Can a mod please change the title of this thread to reflect its current status please?

Hi everyone, Sorry for the delay, its been one of those months! update: I got my information from my SAR request last week – Santander had sent it via next day signed for 2 weeks ago but had put an old postcode on it so it was going around the Royal Mail sorting office looking for a home. There are gaps in the statements but overall I can see that I opened 1 account through a switching service at Alliance and Lester, I used some of the overdraft [but within its limit] whilst I was waiting for them to switch it as I’d opted for their switching service. It never got switched despite me chasing them about it - I went back into branch, now a Santander branch and they said I had to open a new account to get the account offer I had signed up for – they set up another account and promised to switch my current account over with their switching service – 10 days nothing, called them, they said another 10 days – over a month later nothing. it never switched – I’d called up, been in branch and still got no sense out of them. I never used the 2nd account but I did set up a direct debit to a new credit card I had as to all intents and purposes it was going to be my current account. Long story short the interest on the overdraft on the first account tipped it over the limit [£250] which has now resulted in £720 balance [£470 charges]. The second account was never switched either though Santanders neglect to do so - subsequently my salary never went to that account and I bounced the Direct debit I’d set-up – this incurred charges that have now accumulated to a total of £1750 on account 2 – all charges. I’m getting weekly letters from Robinson way and I’ve not yet replied to Santander – I’ll update this more once I’ve been over the SAR paperwork fully. Any initial thoughts will be gratefully received Thanks J

Received a letter today from Robinson Way claiming they are now authorised to collect the smaller of the 2 accounts [£750ish] on behalf of Santander. I’ve received no deed of assignment – do they still have to issue such things? Still no sign of the SAR information – I guess it’s time to take thinks further.

That’s frustrating – I guess I need to CCA them now. My bigger concern is these later payments which obviously kept this account from being statute barred – I didn’t make these payments and they were received after the account was sold on. On top of this do you consider a few statements and no real evidence of how the balance got to £1400 acceptable from a SAR? I was expecting a copy of every statement they’ve ever produced so I could see what the alleged balance was made up of…

Hi guys, I’ve finally received a response to my SAR from Shop Direct, I’m less than satisfied and very confused. There is no agreement, signed or otherwise. There are some screen grabs of orders which mean nothing – i.e. the say catalogue number not found and the total orders on the account were 2.95+2.95+2.95+49.00 – that was in 2001/2002 – I assume the £2.95 is PPI but it doesn’t say but either way if I add them all up its £57.85 There is a screen grab called payments and refunds which shows 8 payments in 2002 totalling £54.32 Then a payment in 2005 for £40.06 Then 3 payments in 2006 totalling £110 Interestingly Wescot said in their letter that they brought the debt in 2005 yet there is a line on the screen grabs which suggests the debt was sold in Feb 2007? There is a screen grab called ‘adjustment details’ which has a list of dates starting in 2001 and ending in 2002 the middle section has a page break through it suggesting there’s more but its not included. Each transaction on this list is ‘Extra Care 500’ followed by Interest – these were around £3 each in the 2001 period and by the end of 2002 they are nearer £15 Then I have copies of statements that start in Oct 2006 and end in April 2008 The statements list a scheduled payment of £5 coming in until Dec 2007 then a payment of £1.38 in Jan 2008 I have not been making these scheduled payments, and on top of that they have been allegedly collected after the debt was sold to Wescot. So to summarise, I have no idea how the balance was attained. I have no idea why there are payments showing when I haven’t made them, and I don’t have an agreement to refer to. Not sure what my next move is? – interestingly I’ve not heard a peep out of Wescot

I wrote a letter of complaint as a first port of call as I really need the facts from my SAR before tackling anything else. I got a response on xmas eve that said they were extremely sorry that they had misinterpreted my SAR and that they would escalate the matter to ensure I receive my SAR as soon as possible. I’m hoping that they get this to me soon as I really want to get this debt that they’ve caused resolved!

Thanks, I do however feel that without the information from the SAR that I’m fighting rather blindly as I don’t have all the information I can only speculate based on what’s on my credit file. I’d like to have dates and figures to give my complain some strength. This makes me wonder, should I formally complain about their inability to respond to my SAR, then hope that this produces my information – then follow this up with a BCOBS complaint? Or is the general consensus to just crack straight on with the BCOBS? Sorry to be a pain! J

no benefits, the account has nothing going into it. J

Hi, I’ve had a good read about the BCOBS – am I right in thinking that my first port of call is to write an official complain to Santader as in a nutshell they’ve failed me by: banks treat their customers fairly well we can see that they haven’t … they lured me to their bank with an introductory offer then failed to carry out their duties to swap my accounts over. Their response to this was to then open me another account without the any facilities and still not honour their 'swap' offer. banks communicate with their customers fairly I’ve attempted to deal with this in branch, on phone and now letter including a SAR which they cashed in and not delivered. banks have regard to their customers interests when making decisions Again not the case, they could have handled my bank switch correctly and now they’d be receiving large monthly payments, I’d have probably moved my savings account to them and my recent car finance would have no doubt been with them – instead what’s happened is I now have 2 very over drawn accounts which are out of my control. They’ve destroyed my credit file so a recent loan with my current bank has gone up from the 6% I have paid on the previous 2 loans to 19% because I’m no longer a prime customer, I’ve also recently tried to transfer my credit card to a 0% one but now I fail on ‘credit check’ which I’ve never done before.

Right I've checked with my bank and Santader have cashed my £10 cheque and then provided me with nothing. I don't know what my next move is really. From what I can glean from my credit files they have listed one account at £718 and DEFAULT and the other is £1775 Late Payment. – both accounts are labelled as ‘gone away’. I really need to sort this out now as its destroyed my credit file – they messed up the opening of these accounts and that’s why I’ve ended up in this mess but I can’t even communicate with them to rectify the problem. On top of this since my SAR request I’ve been getting 2 calls daily form their generic collections number – I haven’t answered, maybe I should and see what happens when they ask me for my address and I can’t get past the first security question! All help gratefully received as always guys

...I also meant to add that they also returned the copies of bills / passport to me, the completed address form they asked me to fill in and even the envelope I sent it in! noticed the lack of returned cheque thought I've just checked my bank and I can't tell if they've cashed my cheque or not - there is a £10 cheque pending but the number isn't available yet so it could be 1 of 2...will keep you posted but I suspect its them as they didn't return it but went to the bother of sending me my used ripped envelope back!

as the account holder he should have/have access to all the statements for the account - I know my GF has her name on one of my cards for emergencies and I have one of hers - I get the statement for both of my cards and she gets it for both hers and the purchases are listed against 1 card or the other...so if its only 18 months old he can probably print that much information of his internet banking... Also if the bank didn't keep him informed of the purchases what's to say the card got into wrong hands and fraudulently run up the debt? ...I suspect he's liable for all of it tho - can he get a 0% balance transfer else where as I'm assuming his credit is reasonable to have 6k with Santander? Not saying this shouldn't be fought but at least the interest will be less?

I had this with Black Horse a few years back - took out a personal loan at the dealership so that if my situation changed I could sell the car [they also front loaded the interest so 5k loan was 10k the second i signed it] - tried to part ex it 3 years in and was told it had outstanding finance - black horse had added it to the HPI register which I felt was an abuse of its purpose given the agreement was a loan [HPI register was mentioned no where in my T&C] - I have a thread on it somewhere.. .I ended up getting no where as more important things happened... get a HPI check and I bet your car is on there!