Santander - Hardship - BCOBS?

[lovejoy]

Hi Caggers,

 

A brief outline of the problem.

 

A friend of mine has an account with Santander and over a period of 18 months incurred charges of some £500. The account is used solely for benefit payments and everyday living. They have sent a hardship letter to Santander requesting the charges be refunded on hardship grounds, along with a breakdown of income and expenditure. This was sent in September 2011, Santander chose to completely ignore this and then added further charges and threatened to add a default to the credit file.

A further letter was sent off again requesting that they consider grounds for hardship. Once again Santander completely ignored the fact that a hardship request had been made and set out to say that there charges are fair but as a goodwill gesture will refund the charges added since the first letter was sent in September 2011 but a default is still going to be added.

 

The question is this, is it best to continue with the hardship claim or pursue this under BCOBS?

If it is BCOBS how do they go about doing that?

 

I have read through the BCOBS pages on here and it seems that they have been treated unfairly due to the fact that they have been ignored on two occasions for a hardship claim. Would that be correct?

 

Anyone have any advice on the BCOBS route?

 

Thanks

[rebel11]

Hi lov

 

I would be tempted to write a further letter, state that your friend has been 'treated unfairly' and by ignoring the 'previous letters and requests' they have treated your friend unfairly under BCOBS which they are a signatroy too. Also contact the FOS, get a ref. no so you can write, FOS Ref. no. xxxxx on the letter, also add that it will cost them £500 when the FOS start looking into the matter. Which is what the FOS will charge Santander to look into your friends case.

[lovejoy]

Thanks for the advice rebel, I will write a further letter for them and contact FOS.

[rebel11]

Let us know what they say.

 

Thanks for the advice rebel, I will write a further letter for them and contact FOS.

[lovejoy]

Well I telephones FOS today and although the lady was polite and helpful she was not aware of the new BCOB regulations introduced in 2009.

Amazing really when you are directed to them as a first port of call and they don't even know the rules.

Still managed to get a reference number so a letter will be drafted later to send off to Santander.

I will post a copy of the letter on here for advice before sending it though.

[lovejoy]

Letter before action was sent and now the timeline for reply has expired I would like some help drafting the court papers if possible.

[AndyOrch]

Hi Lovejoy

 

Could you post up the LBA less any identifiable data.

 

Regards

 

Andy

[lovejoy]

Hi Lovejoy

 

Could you post up the LBA less any identifiable data.

 

Regards

 

Andy

 

Name

Address

 

Santander Bank UK PLC

XXXX

 

Your Ref: XXXXXX

FOS Ref: XXXXXX Date April 2012

 

LETTER BEFORE ACTION

 

 

Dear Sir/Madam,

 

I am very disappointed in your response to my complaints and that you have chosen to ignore my request for hardship, I therefore have no alternative but to seek recourse through the County Court system. I believe that Santander have treated me unfairly under the following BCOB rules of which Santander is a signatory.

 

Rule 5.1.1 R states “A firm must provide a service in relation to a retail banking service which is prompt, efficient and fair to a banking customer and which has regard to any communications or financial promotion made by the firm to the banking customer from time to time.”

 

Rule 5.1.4 G “Principle 6 requires a firm to pay due regard to the interests of its customers and to treat them fairly. In particular, a firm should deal fairly with a banking customer whom it has reason to believe is in financial difficulty.”

 

Santander have not at any point acknowledged that this is a hardship case despite on three different occasions me sending an income/expenditure sheet with each letter, Santander have continued to state that a default will be placed on my credit file despite me disputing the claim in full, and on those grounds I feel that I have been treated unfairly.

 

In order for this claim to be settled without the need for court action I require that the full amount shown on the enclosed letter and spreadsheet be returned to me by way of a cheque, that any default added to my credit file be removed and an acknowledgment that it was placed on file in error and my account be closed.

 

If I have not received a satisfactory response within 14 days then court action will be commenced without further notice and further costs will be incurred.

 

Yours Sincerely

 

This is the LBA sent of which there has been no response, I have put together POC and would like someone better informed than me to look it over.

[AndyOrch]

Thank you LJ

 

Are you ok with posting the P.o.C up on the thread.?

 

Regards

 

Andy

[lovejoy]

Thank you LJ

 

Are you ok with posting the P.o.C up on the thread.?

 

Regards

 

Andy

 

 

Would rather PM to you, it is a little rough around the edges and I wouldn't want anyone copy and pasting it.

 

PM Sent

[AndyOrch]

Thats fine LJ

 

Just your Sec69 state :- The Claimant claims interest under section 69 of the County Courts Act 1984 at the rate of 8% a year, from [date when the money became due] to [date of issue of claim] of £[interest so far] and also interest at the same rate up to the date of judgment or earlier payment at a daily rate of [daily rate].

 

 

 

Regards

 

Andy

[lovejoy]

Thanks Andy,

 

Do I add that to the "And the Claimant claims" under particulars of loss?

 

Also is the rest of the PoC ok as it is, or do changes need to be made?

 

Regards

 

LJ

[AndyOrch]

Insert it as your final paragraph, are you ok in calculating the daily rate?

 

Yes LJ the PoC is good you seem to have a good grasp of the BCOBS in particular 5.1.4 Principle 6 requires a firm to pay due regard to the interests of its customers and to treat them fairly, a firm should deal fairly with a banking customer whom it has reason to believe is in financial difficulty. The defendant has failed to respond.

 

Andy

[lovejoy]

Insert it as your final paragraph, are you ok in calculating the daily rate?

 

Yes LJ the PoC is good you seem to have a good grasp of the BCOBS in particular 5.1.4 Principle 6 requires a firm to pay due regard to the interests of its customers and to treat them fairly, a firm should deal fairly with a banking customer whom it has reason to believe is in financial difficulty. The defendant as failed to respond.

 

Andy

 

Thanks once again Andy,

 

I have already got all the charges in a spreadsheet that calculates automatically the daily rate. I have used the Banks overdraft rate and set the excel file up accordingly.

I shall then add a further 8% as per section 69 county courts act.

 

Thanks again Andy, it is always better if someone else looks things over, it is so easy to make mistakes.

[MARTIN3030]

Any news on this ?

[lovejoy]

Any news on this ?

 

Court N1 papers gone off and waiting to hear back.

Court forms are no longer dealt with at the local county court and have to be sent directly to Salford for processing, just more cut backs I presume. Either way it is much slower now than before.

[lovejoy]

Made a mistake on the N1 and they were returned, all sorted now and sent back off to Salford.

[skinswins]

Any update love joy?

[lovejoy]

All went quiet after we sent in the court claim. Once again papers were returned and my friend decided to let it drop for the time being.

Yesterday, out of the blue a doorstep debt collector called to her house, he was sent away after being told that the account was in dispute.

We have since decided to start up court proceedings again.

At least the interest has grown since last year and her claim will be for a lot more.

[Conniff]

So did they follow through this time ??

[lovejoy]

We passed the information on to the ombudsman and Santander dropped all claims and removed the default.

No compensation from them but at least the credit file is now clean.

 

 

I have to say the ombudsman in this case was very quick and very helpful.