#Abbey/Santander : Unauthorised overdraft and other incredulous charges

[AngusMcTavish]

I am in dispute with Santander, for their excessive overdraft charges and penalaties,

I am refusing point blank to pay them, I am on my own with no advisor however, I have told them verbally and in writing that I am not paying them.

Thus far (since last October, they are ignoring me and are continuing to charge me daily, they refuse to close my account although they have closed my overdraft account as of January 7th 2011,

 

I will go to prison before I will pay these people what amounts to extortion on their part,

 

they advised me to go onto DWP, to claim as much money as I could to pay them,

I wonder how many more people have been forced to claim benefits to pay to them?

 

It worries me, sure it does but I am determined not to bow to this intimidation.

I am unemployed, I am on benefits and trading standards told me that the government are not paying me money to to pay my debt,

 

any thoughts on how I can end this?

[BankFodder]

From what date have the charges been levied?

[AngusMcTavish]

From what date have the charges been levied?

 

I wrote to them on the 15th October 2010, asking can I close my account, they was no reply until January 2011 after I again wrote to them, so I guess you could say from October last year,

I did owe them £250, but that figure is now £750 +

[BankFodder]

OK.

 

Could you go through the chronology a bit more carefully please.

 

I'm interested in teh bank's treatement of you since Nov 2009. I think that there is a basis for the recovery of banik charges from that date onwards.

 

How long had you had the account. What was the state of the account at Nov 2009.

Why did you want to close the account

What kind of account.

Did they reply to you at all and refuse to close the account

 

Where are you in the country. Are you in Scotland?

[AngusMcTavish]

OK.

 

Could you go through the chronology a bit more carefully please.

 

I'm interested in teh bank's treatement of you since Nov 2009. I think that there is a basis for the recovery of banik charges from that date onwards.

 

How long had you had the account. What was the state of the account at Nov 2009.

Why did you want to close the account

What kind of account.

Did they reply to you at all and refuse to close the account

 

Where are you in the country. Are you in Scotland?

 

Thank you, yes I am in Scotland.

 

I have had the current account since about 2003, it was originally opened by me to have a wee bit "pocket money" in,

the terms were that I banked £500 per month which I duly did,

around 2005 I lost my business and went onto benefits and I became a client of CCCS, these Benefits are paid through my husbands pension credit,

Also at this time I asked for a small over draft, of £250, which I duly got from the bank.

 

The account is mine,

but the bank have accepted my husband's pension weekly into it, but they would not allow me to change the account to a joint one.

 

From Nov, possibly before 2009, the bank have taken varying amounts of money from my husband's pension, on occasion leaving us with little or no money to live on,

I wrote to them in 2009 asking that they stopped this practice as the money going into the bank was not all mine,

they refused.

I wrote to them again asking that they reconsider giving me a joint account and a debit card for my husband and again they refused.

In 2010, our finances were in a terrible state, and by this time the bank although they continued to honour some of our debts, continued to take from my husband's pension,

which inevitably kept us continually overdrawn on the overdraft and of course continually subject to further penalty,

 

By October 2010, we had creditors chasing us all over the place, the bank taking what was due to it before paying out anything else and one day my husband said, that is it and he ttranferred everything from Alliance and Liecester to a new basic account with another bank.

I wrote to the bank asking can I please close my account, but there was no reply. I explained that although I was on benefits that these are not paid to me personally but rather through my husbands pension as is the way at least in Scotland.

 

"Sam" (a woman) contacted me by telephone, she tolfd me to get as many benefits as I could, in order that I pay the bank,

 

I am being subjected to periodic phone calls by Santander, even though, I have written and asked them not to phone,

 

I have written to them about 4 times since January, there is however, seldom a reply and mostly they have ignored what I have said,

I have written and asked for a copy of all data that they hold on me, and they ignored me,

I have written and asked that they accept a token payment (as advised by trading standards) of one pound per month, in line with my other creditors, and they have verbally on two occasions refused.

 

I wrote to them sending a £2 postal order for a copy of any credit agreement they might have in place, this letter was ignored but the £2 was put on my account.

 

I don't have a copier, all letters were hand written and I have no copies,

 

I am at my wits end with these people, and I really do not know what I can do.

 

I do not want to go bankrupt, as my other creditors are happy with my payments of £1 per month, and have been since 2005, I have never missed a payment to any creditor, not even when I changed house, or banks.

 

Can you advise?

[AngusMcTavish]

Thank you, yes I am in Scotland.

 

I have had the current account since about 2003, it was originally opened by me to have a wee bit "pocket money" in,

the terms were that I banked £500 per month which I duly did,

around 2005 I lost my business and went onto benefits and I became a client of CCCS, these Benefits are paid through my husbands pension credit,

Also at this time I asked for a small over draft, of £250, which I duly got from the bank.

 

The account is mine,

but the bank have accepted my husband's pension weekly into it, but they would not allow me to change the account to a joint one.

 

From Nov, possibly before 2009, the bank have taken varying amounts of money from my husband's pension, on occasion leaving us with little or no money to live on,

I wrote to them in 2009 asking that they stopped this practice as the money going into the bank was not all mine,

they refused.

I wrote to them again asking that they reconsider giving me a joint account and a debit card for my husband and again they refused.

In 2010, our finances were in a terrible state, and by this time the bank although they continued to honour some of our debts, continued to take from my husband's pension,

which inevitably kept us continually overdrawn on the overdraft and of course continually subject to further penalty,

 

By October 2010, we had creditors chasing us all over the place, the bank taking what was due to it before paying out anything else and one day my husband said, that is it and he ttranferred everything from Alliance and Liecester to a new basic account with another bank.

I wrote to the bank asking can I please close my account, but there was no reply. I explained that although I was on benefits that these are not paid to me personally but rather through my husbands pension as is the way at least in Scotland.

 

"Sam" (a woman) contacted me by telephone, she tolfd me to get as many benefits as I could, in order that I pay the bank,

 

I am being subjected to periodic phone calls by Santander, even though, I have written and asked them not to phone,

 

I have written to them about 4 times since January, there is however, seldom a reply and mostly they have ignored what I have said,

I have written and asked for a copy of all data that they hold on me, and they ignored me,

I have written and asked that they accept a token payment (as advised by trading standards) of one pound per month, in line with my other creditors, and they have verbally on two occasions refused.

 

I wrote to them sending a £2 postal order for a copy of any credit agreement they might have in place, this letter was ignored but the £2 was put on my account.

 

I don't have a copier, all letters were hand written and I have no copies,

 

I am at my wits end with these people, and I really do not know what I can do.

 

I do not want to go bankrupt, as my other creditors are happy with my payments of £1 per month, and have been since 2005, I have never missed a payment to any creditor, not even when I changed house, or banks.

 

Can you advise?

 

Can anyone advise?

[Goatan]

Hi Angus im not an expert but you have made a request for your CCA which they must comply with they have no choice. Also put in a Stutory access request the fee for that is £10. you can find appropriate letters in the library. Once they have gone over there time limit to reply you can complain to the information commisoners office. Its a serious offence not to comply with there legal duties under the Data protection act and you are entitled to this information there is nothing they can do about it except ignore and hope you drop it.

[Shelley181146]

I am no expert but I do sympathise with you with regards to Santander. I have experienced very similar problems and a relation continues to do battle with them.

 

I have pasted below a suggested template letter which I recommend you send by Recorded Delivery.

 

Can I also suggest that you keep a copy of all documentation you send them moving forward as you may need the evidence of what communication you have had with them if fos get involved.

 

Keep us posted as to your progress.

 

Your Name and address

 

Date

BanksNAME AND ADDRESS

 

 

 

Dear sir/Madam

 

 

Penalty and unfair charges –

Request for a refund For (your name ,sort code and account number)

I am writing to get my bank charges refunded. The social securityact1992 states that banks cannot take charges from benefits a person needs tolive on. I have been on benefits since Insert date benefits were first paid.

Therefore. I am looking for all my charges to be refunded back on myaccount as not one charge should have been administered.

Please refund all charges applied to my account within the next 7 days.I reserve the right to commence further my grievance on to theFinanceal onbusmen service without any further notice, and to seek anadditional award for distress and inconvenience,together with legal expenses.

 

 

 

 

Yours faithfully

[Shelley181146]

Have you had any further developments from Santander?

[Last of the Mohicans]

Just a quick reply of support. Santander are cretinously incompetent, and I wont bore you with the litany of rubbish I've had to deal with from them, but one thing I have learned is that - if you have the gonads for it - you get an almost efficient response from them if you go into your branch, ask to use the branch phone to contact customer services and have out with them in a loud, forcefull but polite voice - letting them know that you are in the branch and you want to be connected to a manager (always take it higher,the poor peeps you get first are just cannon fodder and palm-you-offs).

This has worked for me several times on a number of different complaints - one of which they ended up sending me a hamper and £100 for.

Try and do it - you'll find that your fellow customers (and often the counter staff LOL ) are extremely supportive as they're sick to the back teeth of Santander as well.

Good luck x

[AngusMcTavish]

Just a quick reply of support. Santander are cretinously incompetent, and I wont bore you with the litany of rubbish I've had to deal with from them, but one thing I have learned is that - if you have the gonads for it - you get an almost efficient response from them if you go into your branch, ask to use the branch phone to contact customer services and have out with them in a loud, forcefull but polite voice - letting them know that you are in the branch and you want to be connected to a manager (always take it higher,the poor peeps you get first are just cannon fodder and palm-you-offs).

This has worked for me several times on a number of different complaints - one of which they ended up sending me a hamper and £100 for.

Try and do it - you'll find that your fellow customers (and often the counter staff LOL ) are extremely supportive as they're sick to the back teeth of Santander as well.

Good luck x

Ok folks, I am back and with the same old complaint! I am looking for advice, serious suggestions only please

 

Further to my original post and all those that followed....Santander have taken to ignoring me completely, with the exception of a letter I received yesterday!!

Well actually, its not a letter its more of statement of what I now "owe them" without any details of where exactly these charges were made from,

 

I last spoke to Santander in May 2011, I again offered the token payment of £1 per month towards the outstanding £250 overdraft,

it was refused, again.

 

As of yesterdays letter it now appears I am in debt to the tune of £764.51!!!!!

 

these charges are from 02/07/2011 until 02/01/2012

[AngusMcTavish]

Ok folks, I am back and with the same old complaint! I am looking for advice, serious suggestions only please

 

Further to my original post and all those that followed....Santander have taken to ignoring me completely, with the exception of a letter I received yesterday!!

Well actually, its not a letter its more of statement of what I now "owe them" without any details of where exactly these charges were made from,

 

I last spoke to Santander in May 2011, I again offered the token payment of £1 per month towards the outstanding £250 overdraft,

it was refused, again.

 

As of yesterdays letter it now appears I am in debt to the tune of £764.51!!!!!

 

these charges are from 02/07/2011 until 02/01/2012

 

Bump,

Can anyone advise please?

[depressed2011]

hello angus

 

i have few questions for you ....

1) u want to convert ur account to joint and santander is refusing - why ?

2) u have an overdraft on account and u pay arranged overdraft fees which is perfect, when did these charges started on account ? what was teh transaction and how much u were overdrawn by.

a statment wud give the best picture i wudnt really want it to be honest just give me date and amount of trasaction and how much u were overdraw by and i wud see whats the way around it.

3) have u incurred charges before on ur account ? and did u got any of them reversed at all so far?? if yes how much and when.

 

i am asking this coz sanatnder keeps on changing its charges policy so dates or rough estimates of month and year wud be great help

 

4) you are on state pension (your husband is i know it from your actual question)i m goin to research this first thing that how can charges be claimed from some one on pensions!! atrocious

 

sincere regards

[depressed2011]

Ok folks, I am back and with the same old complaint! I am looking for advice, serious suggestions only please

 

Further to my original post and all those that followed....Santander have taken to ignoring me completely, with the exception of a letter I received yesterday!!

Well actually, its not a letter its more of statement of what I now "owe them" without any details of where exactly these charges were made from,

 

I last spoke to Santander in May 2011, I again offered the token payment of £1 per month towards the outstanding £250 overdraft,

it was refused, again.

 

As of yesterdays letter it now appears I am in debt to the tune of £764.51!!!!!

 

these charges are from 02/07/2011 until 02/01/2012

 

hello angus, right for the charges after Nov 2011, call them and ask them to reverse pending and posted charges as per their new charges policy and tell me what they say, they shud reverse the money and waive teh chargesm if not i m researching on this, keep me posted