Santander Fraud Dept Problem

lilrachelina

Hi.

Need some advice pelase!

Last summer we got a large loan from Abbey to pay off a number of smaller loans/credit cards. We transferred money from our joint account to pay off all the loans. Two of the payments to Barclays were returned twice due to possible fraud even though I confirmed each time with Abbey that the payments were genuine. We contacted Barclays at the time to question this thinking that the problem lay with them not Abbey. Barclays assured us payments had been made and accounts were cleared.

Now out of the blue we get a letter from Santander Fraud Department saying we owe them 6k because of this error and will be taking the money out in 7 days!!!:eek:

I understand we will have to pay this money back, I am not disputing that, but can they really demand the money back in such a short space of time, especially such a large amount?

We are going to go into the branch tomorrow to try and sort this out but would really appreciate some advice from you good people if possible!!

Thanks in advance

MPH80

Can you be a little clearer about the flow of money here? Abbey lent you money ... put it into your C/A (which is where?) ... You transferred money to banks but Barclays returned the money back to your C/A - leaving you up? Now Abbey are demanding money? Well .. surely they lent it to you so they are entitled to get payments? You can see why I'm confused ...

lilrachelina

Sorry when I read my post again it is a bit vague!

We got a loan from abbey which was paid into our abbey joint account. From the joint account we transferred money out to clear the loans and credit cards. We arranged all the payments online. The next day I got an automated message via phone to confirm the payments which I did. Checked my acc later and the money had been returned for two of the payments. I arranged the transfers again and again got a phonecall to confirm payments but spoke to a real person this time who said everything was fine and the payments had gone through ok. Checked acc next day to see money had retuned to acc again.

Contacted barclays to get updated settlement figures cos this was now a week later. Barclays told me the loan/credit card had been paid in full. Rang barclays a week later thinking their systems would have realised but was told again the debts were paid. That was back in August. Obviously our abbey acc still had the money in there and stupidly we didn't transfer it to a seperate savngs acc so over the last 6-8 months we have ended up spending it.

Now today I get a letter saying they have realised their mistake and are going to take the money out of our abbey acc in 7 days. But it's £6k which we just don't have!

I know we will need to pay the money back and there is fault on both sides. But do you think we could ask to pay the money back over time interest free and would this go against us on our credit score? Or is there something else I haven't thought of?

Sorry for the mammoth reply! Hope that makes more sense now. The orginal loan is not the issue that is being paid, I was trying to set the scene (badly!)

Thanks

jambosans

Abbey confirms sending £6k to Barclays. Barclays confirm receiving £6k. £6k appears back in your account and you do what, exactly? Contact Abbey, or Barclays? Did you highlight this to them at any point? Even if they both swore blind everything was fine, you knew there was a mistake, yet spent the money. It beggars belief.

lilrachelina wrote: »

I know we will need to pay the money back and there is fault on both sides. But do you think we could ask to pay the money back over time interest free and would this go against us on our credit score? Or is there something else I haven't thought of?

You have to be joking. Yes, there was fault on both sides, more so on yours. Abbey made a mistake, however you knew something was amiss when Barclays confirmed payment, yet £6k was sitting in your Abbey account. So what do you do? You spend it. Putting it in a savings and earning some interest until Abbey discovered their error would have done little harm. Spending it and then expecting Abbey to allow you to repay it interest free, are you serious?

Advice: try and get an extension on your original loan, and use that to repay Abbey.

lilrachelina

I know we've been stupid I admit that in my posts!!

My question is can they realistically demand the money back within 7 days. I'll try asking for an extension on the loan that is probably the best we can hope for. I was just trying to get some advice before I go in the branch tomorrow and they tell me to b@gg@r off and pay up.

jambosans

lilrachelina wrote: »

I know we've been stupid I admit that in my posts!!

This transcends stupidity, it's downright dishonest.

lilrachelina wrote: »

My question is can they realistically demand the money back within 7 days.

Yes. You don't have any legal or even moral grounds to stand on.

lilrachelina wrote: »

I was just trying to get some advice before I go in the branch tomorrow and they tell me to b@gg@r off and pay up.

This situation is pretty cut and dry. If Abbey had paid in £100, you may have accidentally spent it without noticing. However, spending £6000 is no accident, and you shouldn't be expecting any advice other than beg, borrow and steal to pay it back. Sorry, you've already done the latter, so just beg and borrow.

hippey

There is very little room for you to move here, extending your loan is one option but in real terms most people would think --- they still haven't taken this £6k I must sort it out.

You are lucky that's all they are doing!

crispy_chris

To be fair chaps, shes already said she knows what she did was wrong and silly. Shes now aware that the bank can ask for repayment on whatever terms they so desire.

If she was asking whether she has to repay it then maybe a stern word may be fair, but she was asking whether the terms of the repayment were up for dispute. Right from the start she said she knew she had to repay it.

I dunno, just seems like some of these replies would put people off trying to get advice here.

jamesd

They can demand it. Seek more time to pay and arrange a loan or overdraft facility so you can pay. Ensure that they know that you do not authorise them to take money from your account at present and will be paying by alternative means once you have arranged suitable financing.

Be sure to do it as soon as possible because they are likely to register either a default or a fraud report on your credit record soon and it'll be a lot easier to get a loan to pay it before that happens. Once it's paid they should remove those marks.