Starting My Santander Foray

[mrbrooks]

Hi everyone, I just wanted to post up this thread/post for some advice/support/thoughts on how to handle Santander. Who, from what I have read in various places are generally pretty awkward, evasive and fairly resistant to playing fairly.

 

So, I have a SAR template, ready, filled out with my details, got my tenner plus a few quid for the PO and postage ready and I had a couple of thoughts, that I wanted to get some guidance from more skilled and experienced crusaders than myself.

 

So my confusion, or more like unknowingness; I had a current account when the bank was Abbey National, and the account was only Santander in the last few of my banking years with them. In addition to this, I had a joint account with my missus, again which was Abbey National, which we both put funds into for various household things like bills and other similar stuff, like mortgage payments etc.

 

Then, we also had our mortgage with Abbey, which I believe had PPI, and sometimes around 2004/5 I tried to make a claim but they refused to acknowledge it even existed because I had lost all of the paper work.

 

I also had a credit card with them, again, originally in the days of Abbey National and again, I am sure PPI was on the card.

 

Finally, a couple of years we entered a DMP with Step Change (Actually it was CCCS and changed to SC about a month later) and the overdrafts and outstanding balances on the current accounts and credit card were taken into the DMP and we pay an agreed amount through Step Change to Santander plus a couple of other debts we owed, the mortgage was paid off, so nothing to worry about there, apart from the possible PPI thing.

 

Finally, and probably most worrying, I have very little information on record for any of this period as it was all paper based and I lost a lot of stuff due to flooding and storm damage, so it is ‘Gone with the Wind’ and water, and I have read a number of times that Santander are very good at being rather evasive, and telling people they don’t hold records that far back, and there is nothing they can do, so this is a little disconcerting to me.

 

However, I have also read (here and other places) that in fact all banks use the Archiving System and have records dating back from 50-90 years in some cases and they could access the information fairly easily if they had the will to do so and thus are just seen by many folks to be obstructive and evasive.

 

So, my questions, confusing thoughts are:

 

 

• Re current accounts, are we required to send in a SAR for both of these accounts separately? One from each of us? Or do I just send in one SAR from and signed by the both of us and this will cover both accounts I/we had with AN/Santander?
  

 

• After all I am asking for information about/connected to the persons specifically as opposed to a particular account? So I initially assumed a joint SAR would cover the request but then just figured I better check with some folks in the know.
  

 

• Again with regards to the mortgage account, do I need to address this separately or should they provide any information connected to ourselves/mortgage with the one joint SAR/Individual SARs?
  

 

• Same with the CC, do I need to SAR a different section/branch of Santander to obtain any information relating to the CC or should it just be included in the joint/individual SARs?
  

 

• Is there anything I need to be aware of being in DMP and looking at these dealings with a mind to trying to get something back? I am looking to initially see if there are any spurious charges, PPI and similar insurances on the current, credit card and mortgage accounts and anything else I think looks unfair.
  

 

• Can they start messing with the DMP arrangement or anything like is what I mean, after all I figure, if they think I am making life awkward for them, they could return the favour and pull their agreement to allow the debt to run through the DPM.
  

 

• I believe the CC debt is now owned by Pra Group Uk, though still goes through the DMP via Step Change.
  

I would be most grateful for any thoughts and advice on which way folks would feel the best way to start my daliance and dance with beast that is Santander.

 

Thanks in advance to all and I very much look forward to some insights.

 

mrbrooks

[dx100uk]

do I just send in one SAR from and signed by the both of us and this will cover both accounts I/we had with AN/Santander?

yes

 

 

I believe the CC debt is now owned by Pra Group Uk, though still goes through the DMP via Step Change.

 

 

cca request time

[mrbrooks]

Hi dx100uk, thanks for the post,

I have the SAR ready to go, just need to print n post tomorra.

..however...yeah theres always an however...

 

Who do I get the PO made out to?

I have been looking and the only thing I found was Santader Plc Uk.

but I am not sure this is correct or not..

.I will look a bit more but maybe someone has the answer...

 

Another Q,

should the single SAR include my CC and Mortgage stuff (as I hope) as well as the current accounts?

 

And re CCA,

I assume I just pop one of to Pra (I will find the template on here a bit later)

and dont need to inform Step Change at this stage?

 

Thanks again

 

mrbrooks

[dx100uk]

Hi dx100uk, thanks for the post,

I have the SAR ready to go, just need to print n post tomorra.

..however...yeah theres always an however...

 

Who do I get the PO made out to?

I have been looking and the only thing I found was Santader Plc Uk.

but I am not sure this is correct or not.yes.

.I will look a bit more but maybe someone has the answer...

 

Another Q,

should the single SAR include my CC and Mortgage stuff (as I hope) as well as the current accounts?

all both your accounts and both sign it

 

And re CCA,

I assume I just pop one of to Pra (I will find the template on here a bit later)

and dont need to inform Step Change at this stage?

 

Thanks again

 

mrbrooks

 

 

nope leave cccs alone

 

 

cca request

[mrbrooks]

I may need to contact CCCS/SC, as I no longer have a full account number for the credit card

(i have a an xxxx1234 number so only the last 4 digits show

and do not know the reference number used by Pra (I am sure we porbably got a letter)

when the debt was moved from Santander to Pra..

.and I assume I need some form of number to reference...

 

Thanks again...

 

Actually just been digging about and the credit card in question appears to be an old Egg card,

the only reaon I know that, is because prior to (according to my Noddle report) Sep/Oct 2015

 

 

the card debt is showing as belonging to Barclays,

and I never had a card with Barclays,

and know that Barclays bought out some Egg stuff.

..So the thick plottens.....

 

 

Will send a CCA Request as soon as poss.

..I might just wing it and hope they dont ask for the account.card num

and just take it that we are who we say we are...

 

 

This does bring another issue (though wont discuss it on this thread as it is for another thread),

I had an Egg loan too!!!

Paid up prior to DMP...

[ThedaBara]

I wonder if you get all of the bank account statements, the payments and account numbers for your Abbey mortgage and other debts will show up...Yes, I've heard they archive stuff for at least 30 years.. I am currently paying off an old overdraft we had with them... we also had an Abbey mortgage, (I'm sure there was PPI with this, too), in the 1980s, so will follow your thread with interest! TB

[mrbrooks]

Hey ThedaBara, thanks for the post, I wonder this as well, from all that I have read, Santander seem to be a particularly evasive group of folks, but it seems this is fairly normal across the board now.

 

With the mortgage thing, when I was paying the PPI/Mortgage protection, the mortgage ended, paid up early, but they charged me mortgage protection thing for almost 12 months after, claiming I had never informed them the mortgage had ended…When I pointed out, 1 it was plain to see it had ended and the system must have known this, and 2 it was real funny how all the other stuff related to the mortgage had finished and everyone else involved had known about this due to the letters I sent out.

 

Trouble for me is that I have very little of my own documentation available and I do wonder how much of a disadvantage this is going to be, especially if they play awkward clods as I expect them to do.

 

They offered me a month’s payment back or something equally ridiculous, citing that it was basically my own fault. In the interim lots of things have happened and I should have dealt with it a long time ago but alas just did not get around to bothering.

 

So I figure I would tackle it now and let’s just where we land, if nothing else it will annoy the pants off them.

 

I have done the SAR, a rather detailed one, not sure what will come back, but it is ready to go, will get the Post Office tomorrow to get the PO and post it off, cos I am off to bed now, haha…another day prolly wont harm my case.

 

Best wishes and thanks to the folks who have posted thus far, very much appreciate the input and the support from the CAG community.

[ThedaBara]

Good Luck!! Make sure you can track any correspondence… they will say they never received it… yes, they are all running around like headless chickens, trying their best not to pay out. TB

Edited March 9, 2016 by maroondevo52
Removed unsuitable wording

[mrbrooks]

Aye, I will send the SAR signed for,

I know it’s a PO Box,

but then I figure it means someone just has to 'pop out' to sign for it

, so I don’t mind an extra day,

I figure I will give them 40 + 3 days from the day I sent it.

then will come back for more advice, and thoughts.

 

I reckon on day 43 I will just send a formal complaint to the ICO

(I will write it just in case so I can fire it off on the morning of day 43, ha-ha)

and of course send a failed SAR letter to Santander on the same day.

 

I had long draw out conflab with CapOne about 3 years back,

which ended something like the Friday before court on Monday,

 

 

I went through a ton of dirty tricks, harassment, outright lies, to both myself and the FOS legal team from CapOne,

and a few other things too, like suddenly not being able to spell names properly they had been spelling for 20 years,

and a raft of other dirty little manoeuvres,

 

 

none of them worked I might add, because I complained about every single little thing they did wrong,

so yeah I learned a few things, it was hard work though, and I had to keep at it at every step.

 

In the end I did win,

when they finally realised, that I was willing to go to court and fight this fight,

with my own counter claim, in a case that they themselves had set in motion,

 

 

we had refused to pay them any more payments

(after a long drawn out argument over a minimum payment whilst the dispute was going on)

on the basis that they had the outstanding balance incorrect, so was disputing this,

and then I figured out that the owed us way more than we owed them,

 

 

so proposed they discharge the debt and forward remainder of what they owed.

They of course refused and decided after about 6 months or so we had done enough defaults to get us to court.

 

By now they had been saying for over 12 months that I had it wrong and that I was just avoiding the inevitable,

so I said ok, well as you have booked us all off for a day out at court,

let’s see what the court thinks about your behaviour

 

 

and all these things I have tried to discuss with you,

add to that the FOS advised them to pay us an award on 3 different occasions,

and on another occasion, we got the original award, plus an additional ‘bonus’

because CapOne had automatically used the award, to pay off some of the outstanding debt, which I challenged,

 

 

it was like them paying themselves, which I did not agree to and pointed out that the debt was in dispute

so I demanded a cheque,

 

 

all these awards where due to their behaviour in which the FOS found in our favour

and I honestly believe, they were just holding out hoping we would give up

 

 

and they could get us to court, without a fight, get the debt stamped, hold us up at the FOS

and then make a much smaller gesture,

 

 

having sold the debt, made a claim on their loss insurance and just let the debt recovery folks have the trouble of figuring out how to get the money, because I think they knew, they were more than likely to make a loss any other way.

 

It did not work, none of it. They could not hand the debt off, which is what really cocked up their plan I reckon, because I refused to deal with any third party while the debt was in dispute and challenged every letter that arrived from someone other than CapOne regarding the so called debt, so the 2-3 times they tried it got sent back to CapOne.

 

Well, it was them who folded and finally offered a settlement of about £10,000,

I had asked for £12,000+ a few pennies, so took it.

 

 

They then offered another £800 when I refused to cancel the counter-claim

as in my eyes they were distinctly different things,

and the counter claim was me dealing with the way they had behaved in this case.

 

 

The final bonus was when they agreed that since the debt was in dispute

and that in ‘principle’ the FOS would have upheld my case

(it was on FastTrack due to the impending court case

and the fact that I fully believed the outstanding debt would be discharged

by the fact CapOne had owed us far more than we owed them

and this was the main argument in my defence statement)

 

 

and that the debt amount was also incorrect, because they had attempted to add interest

and charges to the account whilst in dispute then found out they had added charges

because it had been passed to Bryan Carters etc, and they refused to provide any statements

(another FOS award we got) so that we could see the current outstanding balance

and confirm which charges were (if any) valid,

 

 

they removed all of these additional charges and the debt went from near £6,000 to £4,800, in the end,

we got a cheque for £5,800 or somewhere in the region of.

 

The CAG site team and various members had a hand in this from step one and I would not have been able to do it without this site and its members.

 

So I am ready for a rough and drawn out argument, if I can get the info I need to arm myself with and am more than willing to stand my ground if I feel I have a strong enough case.

[ThedaBara]

Wow! Sounds like you're more that ready to do battle with them… I guess some of them might just turn tail if they think they have a fight on their hands… TB

[mrbrooks]

I have posted off the SAR but am now wondering if I should have put 2 postal orders in there, as one of the accounts is a joint account!

 

Anyway we shall see...

 

@Wow! Sounds like you're more that ready to do battle with them… I guess some of them might just turn tail if they think they have a fight on their hands… TB

 

Yeah it was handbags at dawn type thing, I do wonder though, if I am going to get enough to make a challenge of any description, things seem to have changed somewhat since 2013 ish and I see on other forums that the methods that had a chance of working then may not work now, and I am expecting Santander to provide nothing more than 6 years worth of data, which is not going to be enough because my mortgage for example finished in about 2001/2 or thereabouts (cant remember the exact date). But we shall see...

 

I will inform the community when I get a response and have something to ask/post/update...

 

mrbrooks

[ThedaBara]

I think it's just the one payment, even if it's a joint account… go get 'em! Ha!! TB