Santander & Debt Collection help

silverlaces

Hi there,

First of all let me start by saying thanks to everyone this forum - I didn't create an account before as I thought I had solved my problem through reading others who had experienced similiar issues. However, I now find myself at breaking point with Santander and require the insight of others. I simply don't know where to turn.

I'll try to be as brief as possible - I am a student who was very good with my money (believe me, after seeing what some of my housemates had for debt - I was good) and left University with a debt of approximately £1850 to pay back to Abbey National (now Santander). I managed my first payment of £250 and made an agreement with Abbey to pay back what I owed them over a period of time. I can't recall what timescale, but the money was to be debitted from my account on a set date etc. All seemed well.

However, March of last year (2010) I received a letter from "Debt Collectors" stating that I owed them £1550 approx and that I should pay immediately. I noticed that they had my Abbey National account number, name and address but was unsure how to handle it because of my previously set up agreement. I decided to confront Abbey on the issue.

The guy in the branch was very helpful, but it later came to conclusion that Abbey National had closed my account, defaulted the debt to a collection agency and wanted nothing more to do with me. The guy in the branch couldn't understand why they had closed my account without asking me / informing me in ANY way. It later became apparent that Abbey National could do nothing. I couldn't believe that I was being put through this, it wasn't like I was trying to avoid the debt.

I didn't want to pay this "Debt Collection" company as I owed them nothing. I wanted to pay Abbey National. So, following advice I'd seen on MSE I decided to send Debt Collectors a letter asking them to prove I owed the money to them. They couldn't come up with the goods, and I was sent a letter back saying the debt had been returned to Abbey National. Relief I thought, but it was short lived. June of 2010, I was contacted by another company who was coming down the same lines. I sent them the same letter and they too told me that they would return the debt to the original collector - Abbey National. I then didn't hear anything until December 20th 2010.

At this point, I received a letter from Santander saying that an account had been "re-opened" or that they were demonstrating a "Transaction Summary" of my account. Had it be opened again? What was going on? I thought that my account had been defaulted and passed onto the "horrible people." I decided to go in Santander and set up repayment of my student debt.

Today I went to Santander and queried the entire situation - They told me that they couldn't do anything about it and that I needed to contact the collection agency, even though the agency said that I needed to contact Santander as they wanted nothing to do with the account any longer! How difficult is it to just say to Santander, I want to pay the money back!? Let me pay the debts back!

For the record, Santander / Abbey National have treated me like a criminal, and not once have they taken my interests and well being into account. They've treated me with zero logic and I've been chasing this matter for almost a year now trying to pay them the damn debt back as previously agreed.

I am just in the dark here and I don't know what to do? It's not like I'm trying to avoid the debt - How they've handled the situation defies logic. The way they've spoken to me has just left me scared and upset, I just don't know what to do. I want to complain and make Abbey National suffer for how they've treated me - But I'm just worried it will fall on deaf ears.

I'm sorry for the long post - I just needed to vent all my thoughts on one place. MSE seemed like the best place...

Any advice is greatly appreciated - Thank you for reading. If you require any further information, just let me know and I will post it here.

M.

silverlaces

Can anyone offer any assistance on this matter or have I posted it in the wrong section?

BigCraigJohn

Well youve done all you can. Sit and see what comes in the post, for future reference its best to keep everything in writing so you have record and they will respond to written letters.

barbiedoll

Abbey National no longer exists as a bank, as you know they were taken over by the spanish bank Santander and sadly, are now notorious for their ineptitude and complete inability to deal with issues such as yours. You only have to take a look over at the "Bank accounts" board to see the amount of complaints, they are consistently voted amongst the worst banks for customer service.

You should write to their complaints department giving all the details as you have done here. Let them know that you WANT to pay this debt, it's not a huge amount of money and you are obviously budgeting to accommodate these repayments, well done for that at least!

Keep a copy of all correspondance, I wouldn't bother with calling them, you will just be sent around in circles again. Let them know that you want to reactivate your payment plan and request that no further interest and charges be added to this debt, it's not your fault that you couldn't pay it. (Although, looking at the amount that the DCA wanted, it seems as though they are asking for £50 less than you owe?)
Let us know what happens next, and if I were you, I'd keep the £250 aside each month, if they agree to the original repayment plan, you will be able to get a payment to them immediately. Good luck!

silverlaces

Hi guys, I really appreciate your help with this one. Does anyone have a complaints template that I can draft a letter to Santander from? These things take so long it's untrue.

Thank you Barbiedoll - Your input is greatly appreciated. You need support from REAL people in situations like this.

silverlaces

Does someone have an email I can send my draft letter to for checking / opinion? I'm not too sure about posting the entire contents of the letter on MSE? Unless people think it's OK to do.