Santander disaster

Mrs.T20

Santander have done it again :mad:
I have a 0% card with a reasonable amount transferred onto it.
I set up a direct debit to pay the minimum payment starting from this month. When my statement arrived, I noticed that the DD had been set up to pay the full amount. I spoke to 'customer services' on 2 separate occasions to reverse the full amount to the minimal amount. Both times I was reassured that this was done and everything would be ok. Because I am an avid reader of this forum, I decided to check once more as I am aware of other people's problems. Again I was reassured.

This evening, I have checked my account and Santander has taken the full amount for the credit card balance. On top of this, I have also overpaid by 180 pounds. I am so angry :mad:

Any advice would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

stephane_2

Move banks....they are a waste of time

Mrs.T20

I only have a CC with them and the account will be closed down as soon as possible. I was looking for advice on the best course of action in regards to them learning from their mistakes.

sharpy2010

Forget that idea for a start, banks don't implement changes due to single customers having issues. They couldn't care less about whats happened.

thenudeone

It's quite clear. Santander have taken more than they agreed with you, and YOUR OWN BANK must immediately refund the excess into your bank account.
This is exactly what it says on those "direct debit guarantee" slips which accompany every printed DD form.
The bank will almost certainly try to fob you off saying things like: "once you've signed the form they can take whatever they want". This is untrue. You will probably have to raise a complaint with your own bank (or possibly go even further) to get your rights.
I successfully got compensation from my own bank many years ago in very similar circumstances because I had to take it so far to get them to honour the DD guarantee.

zppp

thenudeone wrote: »

It's quite clear. Santander have taken more than they agreed with you, and YOUR OWN BANK must immediately refund the excess into your bank account.
This is exactly what it says on those "direct debit guarantee" slips which accompany every printed DD form.
The bank will almost certainly try to fob you off saying things like: "once you've signed the form they can take whatever they want". This is untrue. You will probably have to raise a complaint with your own bank (or possibly go even further) to get your rights.
I successfully got compensation from my own bank many years ago in very similar circumstances because I had to take it so far to get them to honour the DD guarantee.

The bank should honour the direct debit guarantee, however (and this is a big however) if the company dispute this, they will take the payment back, so it may be worthwhile speaking to Santander also to find out why they went for the overpayment, especially if the problem could reoccur.

themull1

Ask the Bank to do an Indemnity Claim, then send the minimum payment and cancel the direct debit.

pqrdef

It seems to be common experience with credit cards that if your statement says they'll take a certain amount by Direct Debit on a certain date, that's what they'll do, unless you kill the mandate at the bank end. Any attempt to change your policy at that stage won't take effect until the following month.

In fact the originator of any Direct Debit that varies from month to month has to give you 14 days notice of how much they're going to take. Having done that, they won't want to get involved in negotiations that might result in them having to produce a revised statement.

They should have told you to cancel the DD mandate at the bank, make the payment manually, wait until the due date, and then re-establish the DD.