Can Santander Bank Legally be Stealing Money in Overdraft Charges from us by theft?

xtratalk

I mentioned this in another thread but the issue deserves a thread of it's own as it's a different issue and shouldn't be crashing the other thread, the fact is Santander (Former Abbey National) bank are trying to steal money from us in overdraft charges. When I say steal I don't mean the extortionate fee's they charge, I mean outright steal, this is what I posted in the other thread...

Abbey Santander Fraud theft charges
Grrr sorry to see I'm not alone. Santander are nothing short of thieves currently stealing overdraft charges from us and at Christmas.

After previously paying overdraft charges to Santander for going overdrawn by a few pounds we've been very careful not to again. However they've still hit us right where it hurts. After being paid at the same time by the same company on the same day for 2 years Santander delayed clearing payment a day which coincided with a direct debit charge that is always paid the same day as this payment. As a result it put us overdrawn and incurred us £60 in overdraft charges. Now this has got us fuming as it's them who delayed things a day for the 1st time ever and put us overdrawn for a day and now they are charging us for it. This to me is nothing short of theft, is there anything we can do about it?

I rang santander on the 0845 number which has cost us a lot more just to be hung up on by a very rude woman who was apparantley a manager called Laura Hints. For anyone reading this, to avoid losing more money when ringing santander use one of the 0800 numbers on saynoto0870.com

Anyway we both feel physically and mentally drained after all this and of course financially, we're a low income family coming up to Christmas and they are basically charging us money for an error/delay on their part. Surely this isn't legal?

Santander = Thieves

So my question to moneysavers is, is this really legal? As we have always done the past few years we were paid as usual to cover the direct debit on the same day and time, but Santander delayed clearing payment a day which just by coincidence was the day our direct debit is due and the exact same day we get paid. I know they have other underhand tactics like choosing days to charge interest when it will put people a few pounds overdrawn to charge them hefty fee's but this to me seems worse as they are in effect engineering overdrafts and charges caused by themselves and at no fault of their customers.

And then after spending a lot more money ringing trying to get our money back they get rude and hang up on us

Can this this really legal, has it happened to you, and is there anything at all we can do about it. Christmas has hit us hard financially this year as a family so this has come at a bad time?

anselld

I agree that Santander are dreadful and I will never deal with them again.
But to understand the question, how do you know for sure they delayed clearance?

xtratalk

Hi anselld

Well, I have the proof that for the past 2 years I have been paid the same way, by the same people at the exact same time and day every week and this time wasn't any other different. I've confirmed with my company and even Santander. However this time it took an extra day for them to clear it which made my direct debit payment which comes at the same day as this payment take me overdrawn, even though the money was there as usual but delayed clearing by Santander.

I rang them and tried to explain that I had been paid as usual and because of their processing delay they made me overdrawn and could they remove the fee's as it can clearly be seen it's because of their actions and not ours, but in the end they got rude and the woman hung up, it's left us reeling but most of us we feel victims of a crime as this surely has to be theft?

bengal-stripe

Actually, Santander is one of the few banks which process payments before debits.
　
Incoming payments might be late for whatever reason. Do you really suggest the bank has a dedicated member of staff on the look-out for the incoming payment, with the task to delay it by a day, as charge to the xtratalk-family.

Congratulations, you are taking conspiracy theories to some new extremes.

Just don’t cut it so fine. Leave at least a day or two between monies coming in and monies going out.

epsilondraconis

As bengal-stripe has already said, all you need to do is ensure that there is sufficient time between money coming into the account and money going out.

Both my wife and I get paid at the end of the month, all of our direct debits are scheduled to leave the account on or around the 15th. I set it up like this specifically so that if there is a problem with our pay for whatever reason (never happened to date, but I just didn't want to risk it), it gave me two weeks to organise something.

I'd recommend you changed the date of your direct debits in future, and also change your bank.

Malory

Santander are crap, but I agree that you need to give yourself a "grace period" of at least a few days between money coming in and money coming out.

The best solution, obviously, would be to have enough money saved up so you have at least enough to pay all your bills for one month without relying on your pay to come through on time.

dzug1

No it's not theft. It may be many other things but not that.

KimYeovil

Why are you continuing to mismanage your account? If fees annoy so much don't incur them. If you do not know how to use a bank account (or are too babyish to be arsed) then do not pay by direct debit. Simples.

Thank you for separating your baseless whinge to a different thread and not jacking someone else's posts, though. Why don't you use the same good sense and manners when it comes to managing your money, though?

dunstonh

There is plenty to have a go about the banks in general and Santander in particular. However, there is no wrong doing here on the part of the bank.

Going into unauthorised overdraft is closer to theft than them charging you for taking their money.

And then after spending a lot more money ringing trying to get our money back they get rude and hang up on us

They will only do that if you are rude and/or abusive.

jamesd

A week is a reasonably sensible time to allow between a payment coming in and drawing against that payment.

In this case, write a letter of complaint to Santander asking them to investigate why this payment was handled differently from the past and to refund the charges. Don't use words like steal or theft in your letter.

tamarto

dunstonh wrote: »

They will only do that if you are rude and/or abusive.

Or they don't know how to deal with your issue, or they decide your are being abusive because you keep asking them the question that they keep refusing to answer or.....;)