Need HELP urgently! Lost Savings!

opinions4u

Is it possible that the passbook was reported lost, and the account closed without the passbook being present?

That would explain the book not being stamped "closed".

I wouldn't expect them to have withdrawal signatures from more than 6 years ago, although I would have expected their retrievals process to be able to clarify the date the account was closed.

That said, I suspect the most likely outcome is that the funds were legitimately withdrawn a long time ago, but memories have faded about this.

System

Try the Daily Telegraph "Your Money" editor. A bit of publicity often seems to cause lost records to suddenly not be lost after all.

sb1987_2

opinions4u wrote: »

Is it possible that the passbook was reported lost, and the account closed without the passbook being present?

That would explain the book not being stamped "closed".

I wouldn't expect them to have withdrawal signatures from more than 6 years ago, although I would have expected their retrievals process to be able to clarify the date the account was closed.

That said, I suspect the most likely outcome is that the funds were legitimately withdrawn a long time ago, but memories have faded about this.

I have posted more than once now that the money has 100% not been withdrawn by us. Also if what you say was true (which it is not) the bank would be able to confirm this, which they havent.

My husband and I are still married, have been for over 25 years and would remember taking money out of our son's savings to which we are a trustee.

We have the books to prove no money was withdrawn and like I have mentioned, they have not been deemed closed or 'replaced' as we would clearly remember doing this and the bank would have evidence of it. They have no evidence of it being closed at all yet state it has been closed because they have lost all recollection of it.

The money was simply saved and forgotten about in good time awaiting for our son to reach the age of 18 to which he would legally able to access it.

lisyloo

They are professionals and as such they have lots of expectations placed upon them in terms of records, backups, security, processes and procedures.
You are an individual and are expected to have no expertise in banking and no processes & procedures in place.

The ombudsman and the court will have completely different expectations of each parties behaviour on the basis that one has no expertise and the other is a professional organisation expected to have expertise and proper processes and procedures in place.

If nothing can be proven apart from possesion of the passbook, I'd say the benefit of the doubt is on your side.
At the very least, they should have procedures for dealing with passbooks when accounts are closed and that also includes passbooks that are reported as lost or stolen.

It is possible your memory is flawed (although I believe you) but that is something the bank should have procedures to cover.
If they can't deal with forgetful people then how do they deal with the deliberately malicious??
Sorry but I think this is their problem and you have a free way ahead to proceed.

If they had no procedure it would be dead easy for people to report passbooks stolen and then claim the money and once this loophole was realised then it would be repeated ad-infinitum.
This is THEIR responsibility and they are just hoping they can fob you off.

opinions4u

sb1987 wrote: »

I have posted more than once now that the money has 100% not been withdrawn by us. Also if what you say was true (which it is not) the bank would be able to confirm this, which they havent.

The money was simply saved and forgotten about in good time awaiting for our son to reach the age of 18 to which he would legally able to access it.

So you can forget the money exists, but you 100% wouldn't forget closing the account in 1993, for example? Ok.

Look, most regulars on here know that Santander are an incompetent bunch of fools, so keep pursuing this, if necessary through to the FOS if necessary.

Have you moved house in the last 18 years? This could have led to a dormant indicator being placed on the account.

We have the books to prove no money was withdrawn

All that proves is that any transaction was not recorded in the book.

(Apologies if my post annoyed you, but if you want to pursue this through to the FOS or potentially a court, you will be questioned in a much more challenging way).

sb1987_2

opinions4u wrote: »

So you can forget the money exists, but you 100% wouldn't forget closing the account in 1993, for example? Ok.

Look, most regulars on here know that Santander are an incompetent bunch of fools, so keep pursuing this, if necessary through to the FOS if necessary.

Have you moved house in the last 18 years? This could have led to a dormant indicator being placed on the account.

All that proves is that any transaction was not recorded in the book.

Look, people can be reminded of things by coming across items.

Just like people can be reminded of important days like their wedding because they came across their tiara which they wore on their big day or like how I remembered back to my first communion because I came across a bible which was given to me on that day.

It is very very simple. We had a clearout (going through all our paperwork) and came across the pass book. From reminding ourselves of the account we remembered not long after our sons birth we made a deposit of £1000 into an account in his name to which would become accessible to him at the age of 18.

From reminding ourselves of the account we would also very clearly remember if we had taken money out or placed more in. We for certain however know that account exsists of one, single transaction which was a deposit for the whole amount at the time. We didnt even need to read the book to know what was already inside and long and behold when we did look it confirmed what we already knew, a single depositied transaction.

Now I will appreciate it if you stopped with the attitude, accusing me, a person you do not even know of what I am capable and incapable of remembering.

I have explained the situation countless times in the past in this thread to the many different people, yet you seem to be the only one having difficulty.

Now I will follow some of the very helpful and 'polite' peoples advice who issued me their knowledge in a courteous way without accusing me.

As I have said before, the bank cannot confirm the account has been closed quite simply because it has not been closed. We would remember when coming across the book because that memory would be assosicated with the bank account.

They can provide no evidence of its closure because there is none. If there was they would have issued it to use like a gunshot.

Thankyou.

Apologizes for my reply as I have just seen your edit to which I now retract my comment directed at you, but you should understand that accusing people of somthing without knowing how certain I am of the situation can be annoying and deemed rude. As for how they will question me in court, they can stick me on a lie detector for all I care as I am that certain.

Stompa

Not sure if there's any useful info here:

http://www.mylostaccount.org.uk/help.htm

metrobus

Are you sure your son has not closed the account ?

CloudCuckooLand

sb1987 wrote: »

Look, people can be reminded of things by coming across items.

So, until some other event happens to jog a different set of old memories, you have to concede that it is possible that someone has forgotten about a transaction 8, 10, 12+ years ago...you cannot mind-read other people to tell if they have really forgotten.

Not saying you/they definitely have. Not meaning you to get uppity again. Just consider the possibility.

Now, as suggested, by all means pursue Santander. Also, as stated, they are poor at customer service. Their response was probably a "first response", to whittle out the timewasters. When they get a firm complaint from you, they can look at it more closely.

But be prepared for the possibility that there is some other explanation, altogether.

The possibility exists that some person, with access to sufficient personal information, may have pretended/believed the passbook was lost back in the Nineties, got a fresh passbook, closed the account (after waiting a while to make look less suspicious), and Santander are correct in believing it to fall under the "we don't keep closed records beyond 6 years" reasoning.

Or something else entirely. 18 years is a long time.

The reference to lie detector is pointless. You believe you don't remember, so you would not be telling a lie. So you of course you would pass. You cannot lie about things you forget.

Lying is knowing something and trying to pretend otherwise.

oramgepekoe

Have you received any correspondence from Abbey/Santander over the years such as an annual interest staement.