Need HELP urgently! Lost Savings!

sb1987_2

Hi guys

This is my story in brief. Around 18 years ago when my child was born we set up a savings account with Santander for him and depositied £1000.

We had totally forgotten about it and never closed it and the money remained untouched. Recently we were reminded by finding the pass books which also prove we had not removed the money and was not closed.

We have since contacted Santander about the account and they say they have no recollection of the account number and do not know about the account.

This is the exact letter they replied with (which I recieved today)

"Thankyou for your letter dated 13 October,

Firsty, I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking time to contact us providing with photocopied passbooks in order to help us try and locate the above dormant account. I hope the following will clarify matters for you.

Unfortunately, as apreviously advised, I am unable to assist with you request on this occasionm due to the timescale involved. As this account was closed some time ago in the past we have been unable to locate evidence of this on our archive data.

I realise this is not the reply that you would of liked, but santander is not legally required to hold past transaction details on any account for more than 6 years. Sadly we are therefore unable to provide any furth information for you. I am sorry.

May I take this oppotunity to advice you that there is a standard fee for services such as ordering copy cheques and statements. Therefor, please note that it is £10.00 fee to obtain a statement from our archive data and a £4.00 fee for each copy of a cheque you require.

Please do not hesitate to contact us...blah blah"

I would like to add the account was not closed as they stated and they have no evidence on our behalf (and we hoenstly know we did not close the account 100%) or on their own behalf proving that it was as they have no recollection of the account.

I am lost what to do.

Its like putting savings into an account and one day realizing it has just simply been taken away by the bank!

Anyone got any advice? Would really appreciate any help.

oldfella

ask them for proof that the account was closed

if they cant produce, write them a formal complaint letter enclosing copy of the passbook, and stating that it wasnt closed, and if they cannot show the account was closed, to return your money.

Rob_192

I wish you the best of luck in sorting this one out.

I would however say that it seems very strange that you could forget you had put £1,000 in an account. Given that rates do drop to next to nothing, I would expect anybody to review things from time to time. Even if you are successful in locating the account it is likely that the money will have grown very little in that time, whereas it could have provided a reasonable return if it were properly managed.

I would also suggest you try locating the account via mylostaccount.org.uk.

psychic_teabag

I thought that when you closed a passbook account, they tended to clearly mark it closed, sciribble on unused parts of the last page, physically remove blank pages at the end, etc to make it obvious that it's closed.

Actually, I happen to have an old abbey passbook from an account closed long-ago, and the last entry shows the final withdrawl and closure, and it has been attacked with a big stamp, and has CANCELLED in red on the front cover and every page, used or not.

Oh - you referred to it as a paying-in book, rather than a passbook ? I wouldn't have thought that a paying-in book could be proof that the account wasn't closed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passbook

sb1987_2

oldfella wrote: »

ask them for proof that the account was closed

if they cant produce, write them a formal complaint letter enclosing copy of the passbook, and stating that it wasnt closed, and if they cannot show the account was closed, to return your money.

That is what we did to which we got this response in the original post.

We stated we have the pass-books which clearly show it hasnt been closed on our behalf.

If the account has been closed it would have been closed by them, which they have no proof as they have lost track of the account completley it seems...

sb1987_2

psychic_teabag wrote: »

I thought that when you closed a passbook account, they tended to clearly mark it closed, sciribble on unused parts of the last page, physically remove blank pages at the end, etc to make it obvious that it's closed.

Actually, I happen to have an old abbey passbook from an account closed long-ago, and the last entry shows the final withdrawl and closure, and it has been attacked with a big stamp, and has CANCELLED in red on the front cover and every page, used or not.

Oh - you referred to it as a paying-in book, rather than a passbook ? I wouldn't have thought that a paying-in book could be proof that the account wasn't closed.

Sorry I meant pass book. Our one has no closed stamp etc (and it wouldnt as we didnt close the account!).

All our one shows is the payments we made into it, nothing taken out.

sb1987_2

Rob_192 wrote: »

I wish you the best of luck in sorting this one out.

I would however say that it seems very strange that you could forget you had put £1,000 in an account. Given that rates do drop to next to nothing, I would expect anybody to review things from time to time. Even if you are successful in locating the account it is likely that the money will have grown very little in that time, whereas it could have provided a reasonable return if it were properly managed.

I would also suggest you try locating the account via mylostaccount.org.uk.

The reason we lost track of the account was because we recieved money at the time of my Sons birth to which we put some aside for him in a savings account.

That was over 18 years ago. To which he would be able to withdraw once he reached the age of 18.

Obviously 18+ years is a very long time and in that time somthing like this can easily be overlooked.

Since going through some old documents etc we came across the pass book which reminded us we had the account.

lisyloo

Go through their formal complaints process.
Send the letter recorded delivery.
You must follow the process (don't just write to any address you find on the website).
It really important that you keep hold of the passbooks, so eprsonally I would be prepared to show them at a branch but not send them off in the post (this is ultimately your proof).

Escalate it through their process.
Once you reach deadlock then take it to the ombudsman which is a free (but quite slow) process.

The other alternative is the small claims court.
This will be a lot quicker, but could involevd a small fee and some time off work.

Just don't let the passbooks out of your sight.
If they insist on seeing them, then suggest a branch visit. If you post them off then you've given up all your proof.

My personal opinion is that their loss of records does not prove anything and you have a vaild passbook (where it's common practice to dispose/cancel/crossout these), so I think you have a strong case, but that's a personal not a legal opinion.

You could also check your home insurance to see if you have any legal cover.
But the complaints process if formal and free, even if slow.

notbritishgas

I do not think Santander existed in the UK 18 years ago.Was the money deposited in one of the banks they bought, eg Abbey, formerly Abbey National.

sb1987_2

notbritishgas wrote: »

I do not think Santander existed in the UK 18 years ago.Was the money deposited in one of the banks they bought, eg Abbey, formerly Abbey National.

Yes, the pass-books are in the name of Abbey National.

Still they should have records of the account though even if they have merged.

I think I am going to do as the person above stated, take the route of;
1) writing to their complaints department (sent recorded)
2) Contacting the Ombudsman and starting that process.
3) Keeping hold of the pass books with dear life!

Cheers

lisyloo

You cannot go to the ombudsman until you have exhasuted number 1.
I think they have 8 weeks.
If it's not settled in that time or they send you a "deadlock" letter then you can proceed.
If you go to the ombudsman before this then they will jsut refer you straight back to the bank.

It will cost them about £500 once you enter the ombudsman stage so this can give them some motivation to settle earlier.
They may go through 3 or 4 stages or increasingly senior managers who will write you letters to try to "fob you off" so you have to stick with it and not be intimidated by the official letters.