Santander withdrew my overdraft facility on my pay day with no warning!

mjm3346

anybloodybody wrote: »

We didn't have any debt with the Alliance & Leicester/Santander, until all this kicked off.

Have you repaid/changed your mortgage?

We always made our mortgage payments (with Santander)

System

To be fair it can be easy to get trapped in an overdraft

AnonymousForObviousReason

simon_the_poet wrote: »

Sorry I said self righteous, I should have said sanctimonious,
You also mentioned a fart and hurricane springing to mind, I to sense a strong amount of wind.
Simon

No I mentioned the fart and hurricane not Lokolo, took me ages to write that post. hot air where hot air is due please

david39

Santander clearly had concerns about the risk in dealing with a customer who, long term, had been running a £1500 overdraft regularly every month.

In the light of those concerns, the bank would have to look at how they could cut that risk without the fear that the customer would leave them with the £1500 not repaid.

Had they given 30 days notice, then the customer would have the option to arrange for their next salary to be paid into another bank account elsewhere and, in so doing, stop Santander from recovering the debt.

If Santander acted within their T&Cs - which as far as overdraft notice seem pretty standard amongst all banks - then they have not done anything illegal. There are many threads on this board illustrating similar action by other banks.

Remember, almost all banks have shareholders and like all plc's the directors and management are legally bound to put the security of those shareholders first, before that of their customers.

Unfortunately there are thousands of people who have taken a small overdraft facility and let it grow over the years without any Plan B formulated to deal with the time when the banks want their money back at short notice.

blueberrypie

anybloodybody wrote: »

Thank you for your concerns regarding this OP's mad and silly finances. They are indeed.

If someone owed me £1500 and had owed it for several years without showing any intention of paying it back, and then they left £1500 sitting on my table, I would probably do the same as Santander have - I'd take it and be thankful I'd finally got it back. Certainly it would have been kinder of Santander to give you notice - but as has been pointed out, in doing so they would have taken the risk of you moving your salary payment, and then they'd have had a much more difficult time getting their money back. I'm very far from being an apologist for Santander - they are a nightmare in my opinion - but I understand why they've acted as they did in this situation, and I don't believe they've gone against their t&c.

anybloodybody wrote: »

If it's any consolation, 'Payplan' are now helping with all our finances; And we've since opened a new account with 'Think Banking'.

Hm, so now you're paying for people to sort out your finances for you...except that those people aren't in it for the good of humanity, they're in it to make money. Do a forum search on those companies.

anybloodybody wrote: »

This new account is where we now have our salaries paid into, and we have transferred all our DD's to this account.
We no longer have any overdraft facilty to rely on, and we no longer use the Alliance & Leicester/Santander account (except to watch the charges/interest increase £100 every month)...Isn't this what they wanted?

Yes, it's exactly what they wanted. They clearly took a decision that they did not want you as a customer.

anybloodybody wrote: »

We didn't have any debt with the Alliance & Leicester/Santander, until all this kicked off.

Erm, yes, you did. You had an overdraft (a facility intended for short-term borrowing) which you'd had for a very long time.

I'm not unsympathetic - I do see that what Santander has done has caused you a great deal of stress and I wouldn't wish your situation on anyone. It does concern me, however, that you are still blaming the bank, when in truth, it was the living-in-your-overdraft bit that was the root cause of the problem. I'm also concerned that rather than grasping your finances and sorting them out, you're choosing to hand over the responsibility to someone else - someone else who will charge you handsomely for doing it.

I hope you get things sorted out to your satisfaction.

anybloodybody

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

noelphobic

anybloodybody wrote: »

4. Didn't I pay a lot of tax recently to bail out these banks?
:mad:

not Santander

AnonymousForObviousReason

david39 wrote: »

Santander clearly had concerns about the risk in dealing with a customer who, long term, had been running a £1500 overdraft regularly every month.

In the light of those concerns, the bank would have to look at how they could cut that risk without the fear that the customer would leave them with the £1500 not repaid.

Well by that thinking then they would never give 30 days notice, just wait till funds are available and take it.

Interestingly today I've got a letter from them asking me to pay £3,000 back in 30 days (from date of letter) - this is as I'm in the process of moving banks and shutting down my accounts, I've a number of complaints with them including one which in I told them it would give me great pleasure to cause them much hassle - now that should make me high risk.

Only difference is the money isn't an overdraft but rather they double credited my account in one of their many screw ups 3 months ago. I'd have thought legally I had even less right to than the OP to this money and wouldn't be surprised if that was taken from my account without notice - yet I get loads of time.

Santander are quite bizarre sometimes but always incompetent it seems.

eagleeye

Santander

They are the worst bank in my experience.Stay away and move /cancel accounts with them.when i applied credit card , i was sent 3 diffrnt. cards in my name with 3 diffrnt credit limits.No explanation and 2 of them were cancelled by me.What security ? I don't believe that our accounts are secure in their hands.

olly300

anybloodybody wrote: »

I'll let all you know what the OFC decides...

Any speculations...?:wall:

If you want to help other people and ensure they don't get screwed by the word "usually" which is clearly an unfair term as it's meaningless when no-one knows what a usual case is, then report them to the FSA as well. Link is below:

http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/Doing/Regulated/uct/faqs/form/index.shtml

I reported a insurance firm to the FSA a few years ago and they went through the contract with a fine tooth comb making the insurance company change it. (I didn't lose out but was p*ssed by how my complaint was handled.)

You won't get any compensation but least you know others won't be screwed over by them using meaningless terms.