Santander charges - MSE newbie!

dunstonh

extra work for the bank?

Yes there is extra work for the bank. Whilst the actual cost of the refusal is nowhere near £20 or whatever, there are related costs that you dont see. The management team that have to deal with the badly run accounts. four of those in a branch costs £100k a year. If you took the bad accounts away you wouldnt need all of them. You then have their associated pension and HR costs, supervisors, managers, inspectors, trainers etc. The computers that do all the work at low cost requires a capital outlay as will the next generation of computers and software.

So, the presses ofthe buttons may make the transaction cheap but its not just that.

That said, the charges are still really too high. However, until cross subsidy is removed (either forced or voluntarily) its unlikely to change. So, the best thing to do is try to avoid them in the first place.

maddymoo

I wouldn't mind - but I didn't even get a letter. The first I knew of it was when my normal monthly statement arrived in the post

ganonman

Could try HSBC, I believe they will never charge you more than the amount you are overdrawn, plus a few other 'fair' charges policies. I personally don't have an account with them but my wife does. Obviously check before signing up.

PS: I know your Santander pain. I 'got' a letter six weeks before they removed by overdraft apparently, so it was a shock when they demaded £500 in one go. And another time I got over £200 charges in 3 days, obviously not notified of until my statement.

MrsBartolozzi

You could always try RBS. I've been with them for years and they've refunded any charges made for small amounts like your 89p.
Recently they've also given most, if not all accounts a £15 overdraft buffer, so if you do make a miscalculation then you won't get charged as long as it's within the £15 limit.

ERICS_MUM

dunstonh wrote: »

Yes there is extra work for the bank. Whilst the actual cost of the refusal is nowhere near £20 or whatever, there are related costs that you dont see. The management team that have to deal with the badly run accounts. four of those in a branch costs £100k a year. If you took the bad accounts away you wouldnt need all of them. You then have their associated pension and HR costs, supervisors, managers, inspectors, trainers etc. The computers that do all the work at low cost requires a capital outlay as will the next generation of computers and software.

So, the presses ofthe buttons may make the transaction cheap but its not just that.

That said, the charges are still really too high. However, until cross subsidy is removed (either forced or voluntarily) its unlikely to change. So, the best thing to do is try to avoid them in the first place.

I wanted to say the same thing about fixed costs, but you put it so much better than I could !

jon_boy75

dunstonh wrote: »

Yes there is extra work for the bank. Whilst the actual cost of the refusal is nowhere near £20 or whatever, there are related costs that you dont see. The management team that have to deal with the badly run accounts. four of those in a branch costs £100k a year. If you took the bad accounts away you wouldnt need all of them. You then have their associated pension and HR costs, supervisors, managers, inspectors, trainers etc. The computers that do all the work at low cost requires a capital outlay as will the next generation of computers and software.

So, the presses ofthe buttons may make the transaction cheap but its not just that.

That said, the charges are still really too high. However, until cross subsidy is removed (either forced or voluntarily) its unlikely to change. So, the best thing to do is try to avoid them in the first place.

yes, it does require a degree of investment to create a system designed to screw people over, i agree with that. i'm sure they made it all back within the first few years, plus a tiny bit of profit

the banks could very easily implement a way of declining payments automatically when funds aren't available, like they do in some other countries...but they choose not to do that. the real costs of admin for a returned dd or brief overdrawn period are closer to £2.50.

I'm not talking about the consistently bad accounts, it's the good customers who make slight errors or miscalculations...or lower income people who pay the price, when charges snowball. That's shameful behaviour by the banks, and the reason the charges case needs to go back to court

peas and love

TheBigChief

maddymoo wrote: »

they have agreed to cancel the larger of the 2 charges (£35) and told me to make sure that my account was kept in order as no further charges would be refunded!

I don't know what annoys me more, the fact that no one on these forums have actually given you anything other than phone them as advice or the fact that this bank have decided that you are only entitled to one of their over excessive charges back.

Don't settle for just one of these charges back, having been a customer of their bank for as long as you have they should value you (even if the inbound money to the account is low).

I would fully reccomend another call to them firstly asking for the £25 charge to also be refunded and if that fails then open a case with the Fiancial Ombudsman.

I happen to know that they are looking into issues where customers that go over their overdraft by small ammounts are being charged excessive ammounts of money.

If they refuse to refund the £25 then DEMAND (sorry I know it sounds strong and harsh but it has to be) an escalation to their customer relations team.

I will be more than happy to help you and talk you through each stage of the process till you get what you deserve (thats right, deserve, not want).

PM me and I'll be happy to give you my msn etc....

This is a joke and we are all letting them get away with it. :mad:

zppp

TheBigChief wrote: »

I would fully reccomend another call to them firstly asking for the £25 charge to also be refunded and if that fails then open a case with the Fiancial Ombudsman.

I happen to know that they are looking into issues where customers that go over their overdraft by small ammounts are being charged excessive ammounts of money.

Would you like to explain what the FOS is looking into exactly? They are auto -rejecting any complaints about charges being excessive. Another person who doesn't know what they are talking about. :T

TheBigChief

It's kinda funny, you were one of the people I thought would have replied to this post with a negative comment.

Indeed they are rejecting cases however if you paid more attention you would also know that each case is taken on its own merrit and I myself have recently had a case opened with them for a very simillar matter so I guess that blows your comment out of the water?

The originator of this post asked for help and advice, I may not be a financial advisor but I do stand up and fight for what I believe in and since it has proven fruitful for me in the past I'd be more than happy to share with others how I was able to make it pay off.

zppp

TheBigChief wrote: »

It's kinda funny, you were one of the people I thought would have replied to this post with a negative comment.

Indeed they are rejecting cases however if you paid more attention you would also know that each case is taken on its own merrit and I myself have recently had a case opened with them for a very simillar matter so I guess that blows your comment out of the water?

Wrong again.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/bank-charges.html

The FOS will only deal with cases of financial hardship - not about the excessive nature of charges, and even where it is agreed one is in hardship, the financial institution is under no obligation to refund any charges, but to treat the customer sympathetically.

TheBigChief wrote: »

The originator of this post asked for help and advice, I may not be a financial advisor but I do stand up and fight for what I believe in and since it has proven fruitful for me in the past I'd be more than happy to share with others how I was able to make it pay off.

Um, advice was given, telling the OP to contact the bank directly to ask for a goodwill gesture. They agreed to reduce the charges. What you and the OP have to realise is that the bank charges do continue, and you may think they are morally wrong and spout loads of rhetoric, but this makes no difference to the OP.