Nasty shock from Cahoot/Santander - advise needed please

[queenofthesea]

Hello, I'm hoping some of you could please give me some advice as I've had a nasty shock today.

 

I recently received a letter from a debt collecting company saying I owed just over £3.5K on a Cahoot (now Santander current account). The account in question is one I've not used in several years, I don't have any cards/cheques etc for it and have not had so for about 4 years. I contacted Santander to ask what was going on, as I thought the account was dormant and the last I knew of it I was slightly in an authorised overdraft to the tune of about £200.

 

Santander tell me they have been applying a monthly overdraft cost of £30 and that I now owe them just over £3.5K!! I am shocked and very upset about this as I have not received any letters, statements, telephone calls etc from the bank about this and the first I knew of these ridiculous charges was when the letter from the debt collecting company arrived in the week.

 

Can anyone please advise what I should do? I am happy to pay back the original overdraft, I'm not looking to duck my responsibility on that, but how £200 can turn into £3.5K is sickening and I can't afford to pay all of that off. I'm not sure how best to proceed with this, so any help or advice would be very much appreciated.

 

Thank you in advance.

[BelstarBomb]

How come you knew nothing about the charges?

 

Were cahoot sending the letters to the right address?

[queenofthesea]

I have not received any letters, statements or phonecalls from Cahoot about any of this. The first I knew was a letter from a Debt Collection company I received a short while ago. Cahoot have my address and telephone number but haven't corresponded with me about the charges, hence the nasty shock.

 

Since my original post I have sent Cahoot a letter asking for a breakdown of all charges to my account since its inception, and have also asked for proof of where human intervention would have been needed and all levels of interest charged. I enclosed a £10 cheque and intend to challenge this ludicrous way banks seem to be able to try and rip people off.

 

If anyone has any helpful advice or tips I'd really appreciate it. I shall keep you all posted.

[dx100uk]

should of ignored them

phishing trip

 

when was YOUR last financial transaction on the A/C

 

dx

[queenofthesea]

I wasn't sure I could ignore it, can you ignore a letter from a debt collection company? When I saw how much they said the account owed I didn't want it to get any worse so thought it best to confront it and try to sort it out. From memory I don't think I've used the account in about 4 or possibly 5 years. Does this make a difference please?

 

Any advice gratefully received.

[dx100uk]

DCA's have NO LEGAL POWERS!!

 

they can only sent threat-o-grams.

 

if the OC wanted their money, why have they not asked for in the in-between period......?

 

because they wrote the debt off against tax years ago.

 

their charges are unlawful and they wont go near a court if a counter claim of unlawful bank charges will be made

 

these muppets have picked it up on a phishing list they have brought and are chancing their arm to find a mug to fleece..

 

do some reading of some threads here

 

you'll soon get the idea.

[queenofthesea]

Thank you for the reply. It was a very nasty shock when the letter came, so I did some reading around on here and found the templates section and think I'm in a good position to challenge it back to them and ask for refund of all charges. With the interest it may end up that they owe me money, so they may end up wishing they'd left me alone. In the past few days they have taken to calling me up to 5 times a day, but do not leave answer phone messages - I am assuming they have got my letter asking for breakdown of charges etc as they never bothered to call/write etc before!!

[dx100uk]

harrassment letter time

 

dx

[queenofthesea]

If they keep it up and don't reply to my letter asking for breakdown of charges etc then yes it definitely will be!

[Rubberduck]

Cahoot are a bunch of sharks.

 

I have a very similar problem where a £500 o/d exceeded limit by about a £1. I now owe over £1300, in charges and interest and original debt.

 

I got letters every so often informing me off charges, so I applied to increase my o/d limit to mitigate the effect of the £30 charge; denied... I wrote them asking for help: no response. I let it simmer a bit longer to incur further charges while I 'forgot about it'. It still accumulates. I asked again for help, to be ignored, I wrote template from this site to them about refunding chrages and got a big bogoff letter. I forgot about it, hope six months hasnt passed so I can now refer it to an ombudsman.

 

I have actually told them to default it please, at least the charges will stop accuring, no worries about credit rating as its already screwed, thanks to negligient banks (santander) and how they lose important things to mess an everyday guy like me up in my life plans. (Big story see my other posts)

 

Banks are S H_Arks, and I think the bible tells us that.

 

As for Cahoot, its not even automated bots that send the letters and look after our accounts, its some really dumb people from Coventry. I used to walk past the office when I walked to Uni...

 

Ps the crux is here that they were imbasile lenders, lending to anyone and his/her dog. an interest free £500 overdraft for almost anyone if I remember.... But like anything thats too good to be true, it usually is as I'm finding out and QotS.

 

Feel free to Pm me for any private discussion on this trash.

Edited December 5, 2010 by Rubberduck

[queenofthesea]

Latest on this - I have today received a default notice letter from Cahoot, saying I now owe them £4K (it has shot up again!!) and I have 14 days to pay it back in full or else.

 

They haven't acknowledged my letter dated 30/11/10 and so am not sure what I should do. Should I write back again and say I expect the breakdown of all charges and interests, or should I refer this onto the financial ombudsman? I am sorry to post and ask for advice again but I am rather worried about all of this and there is no way I can pay them £4k on trumped up charges. Thanks in advance x

[dx100uk]

check your cra file

 

dx

[queenofthesea]

Just wanted to update you on how things have progressed.

 

Cahoot/Santander were very difficult to deal with, ignoring letters and phonecalls, but I have perservered in these past few weeks, mentioned the Financial Ombudsman to them a few times, and I have now managed to negotiate with them that they will write off just under £3,000 worth of charges and I have arranged an affordable repayment plan to pay off the overdraft.

 

Thank you to the people above who replied to my original post, and to everyone else keep plugging away at the banks, they can't ignore you if you don't go away and lie in a darkened room (which is what they'd wish we'd do, I'm sure!)

 

Thank you.

[bobsp]

Old post I know... But who did you speak to as I am in a similar position here. I had a credit card with them, which I soigned an agreement for in 2000. Cahoot opened up a current account in 2002, without me signing anything, and sent me a card. They have applied charges month after month, and it now stands at 4K OD. I have complained to the FOS and they say the agreement I signed in 2000 for the credit card also stands for the current account that THEY opened in 2002. Madness...

 

I need to sort this out asap, and was wondering who you spoke to.

 

Thanks