Santander response

frankiew13

Hi

I've been helping my brother reclaim charges on his credit cards and bank accounts. Today we got a reply from Santander in reply to a claim for £506. The overdraft on the account was £340 and is wholly charges.
This is the reply from Santander:
I understand you feel you are suffering from financial hardship. Having reviewed your claim we ca see you are in a cycle of charges. To help break this cycle we have arranged to refund the charges that debited your account in August 2010, totalling £120. We have also arranged to cancel charges totalling £75, which have not yet debited your account.
In addition, we will cancel any unauthorised overdraft bank charges, to be applied to your account until the end of the statement period ending 1 November 2010.

I was hoping if someone could confirm what the right response would be. I was going to write back saying thank you for the refund however I would still like the rest of the charges refunded. I know that this is a good offer considering most people are being awarded nothing. Would this be pushing my luck?

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Frankie

zppp

frankiew13 wrote: »

Hi

I've been helping my brother reclaim charges on his credit cards and bank accounts. Today we got a reply from Santander in reply to a claim for £506. The overdraft on the account was £340 and is wholly charges.
This is the reply from Santander:scycle of charges. To help break this cycle we have arranged to refund the charges that debited your account in August 2010, totalling £120. We have also arranged to cancel charges totalling £75, which have not yet debited your account.
In addition, we will cancel any unauthorised overdraft bank charges, to be applied to your account until the end of the statement period ending 1 November 2010.

I was hoping if someone could confirm what the right response would be. I was going to write back saying thank you for the refund however I would still like the rest of the charges refunded. I know that this is a good offer considering most people are being awarded nothing. Would this be pushing my luck?

Any advice would be much appreciated.
Thanks
Frankie

Hi there,

Unfortunately, the financial institution doesn't even have to refund a single charge, even if they deem you are in financial hardship. Even if you escalate to the Ombudsman, they cannot force Santander to remove a single charge. IMO what they have done is sensible to remove future charges and refund you some back - but you are not going to get back all of your charges I'm afraid.

Premier_2

frankiew13 wrote: »

...I was hoping if someone could confirm what the right response would be. ...

Only you can decide whether you wish to accept the offer made, or risk it in the hope of getting something better. That is after all, what negotiation is all about.

As you say, the offer already made is good compared to what others have received. They have agreed to refund the recent charges and also have agreed not to charge you any more for a period of time.
This hopefully will give you the breather to enable you to break out of the cycle of charges you appear to be in.

If the offer does not indicate this is their final response to your claim, then you could try pressing for more, but be aware that as in any negotiation regarding a dispute, a proposal of a settlement can always be withdrawn if not already accepted.

If the offer is a final response from the bank, it should explain your rights if you don't agree to the proposal to escalate the complaint to the independent ombudsman to see what they would say.
Again that would imply you rejecting the proposal already offered, and so no guarantee it would still be on the table in 3 - 9 months time, being the typical duration the FOS takes to decide on most complaints.

Edit: your post only seems to discuss bank charges. How is the claim regarding credit card charges progressing. Credi card charges are subject to different rules and so advice regarding reclaiming these will differ.

frankiew13

Thanks for your replies. My brother checked his account today and they've already credited it with the £120. He only received the letter this morning and the letter does indicate that if we are not happy with the offer we can refer the complaint to the Central Complaints team. If we do not respond in 8 weeks then the case is closed.
From this I think that the offer is a gesture of goodwill and am in two minds about pressing for more. As they've already credited the account will they be able to take this back if we further the complaint?

In regards to credit card claims, we have been offered and accepted £240 from Vanquis which was all the charges but without the interest. Still waiting for the list of charges from Aqua, Capital One and Barclaycard. Only sent the letters off around the middle of August and the cheques have been cashed but I assume they're waiting until the full 40days are up to send them.

Thanks again
Frankie

Premier_2

frankiew13 wrote: »

... As they've already credited the account will they be able to take this back if we further the complaint?...

No, they will not take this back. You can escalate the complaint to their own Central Complaints team if you are not happy with the response (who will, of course, take into account the money already paid in any final decision they may come to ... but you won't lose the money already credited)

In regards to the credit card claims, you appear to be progressing fine so far, albeit that you are currently very early in the claim process for a number of them