Accused of Fraud - Innocent and looking for Advice

Farmiloe1980

Hi all


What i would like to know is if i should be looking at taking the following case legally or am i over reacting and i should accept whats on offer now?

I had a fraudulent transaction in my savings account with Abbey/Santander back in December 2009 - £1,172 was put into my account but no money withdrawn.
Abbey refused me access to any money on 14th December 2009 and asked me if i knew about the money which i replied no, didn't even know it was there as i barley use that account - however they were hinting that i had an involvement in it.
So they stopped me using my current account because it had an overdraft so it was their money i would be using, so i used a credit card for the time being to live on and withdraw cash from while they investigated it.
Over that christmas period i started receiving letters from companies telling me that direct debits were not going through and then between xmas and new year was getting letters from my work telling me that they couldn't pay me my wages - I realised that Abbey had shut down my accounts but they didn't tell me that this was going to happen.
Also bounced cheques from a football clubs business account which led to embarrasment and also the football club being thrown out of its league.

Went into branch on 04th Jan '10 as my mortgage was due on this day and was worried that because of the situation that this was not going to be paid along with a couple of other credit card direct debits.
Spent 2 hours in the bank while bank staff phoned fraud team on my behalf to see if they would allow the debits to be paid with my remaining overdraft - they finally agreed even though they were still hinting that i had something to do with the transaction but they refused anything else.
I asked if they would allow my genuine weekly wage to enter the account to offset any debits but this was refused, they also refused me opening another account to get my ins and outs going again.
After that phone call the girl in the bank told me that i had been pre-approved can you believe for one of there credit cards with a £2,700 limit - i accepted this to make sure i would still have some access to money and within 10 days i had recived the card and pin number - So being accused of fraud on one hand but given a credit card on the other!!!!

The next day i went back into the bank and asked if i could have access to my own £800 savings, i was told i couldn't have this as i would now need to pay off my overdraft and have all my accounts closed now.

I then opened a new account with another bank who couldn't understand why Abbey had treated me like this and i left Abbey for a couple of months to allow them to further investigate the transaction.
In this time i encounted numerous financial charges as i tried to sort out all my incomes and debits again, something that went on for many months after as well.

I went back to Abbey on the 18th March '10 to get an update, a member of the staff phoned the fraud team for me to get an update, she looked quite puzzled on the phone and handed it to me to speak to the lady in the fraud department who was very rude and the bank clerk agreed with that, the call ended with me being told that i was no longer welcome to bank there anymore - obviously saying that i was involved in the fraud transaction.
I was told i would need to pay off my £4,000 overdraft with an agreement via the debt collection department but i could keep my £90,000 mortgage with them.
The manager of that branch phoned for me afterwards and confirmed that i was being accused of this because i had accepted the money - however i didn't accept the money, it went into my account without me knowing it was even there.
So after 16 years of banking with them i was being fobbed off just like that - no police involvement either or proof into how i was involved.

On 31st March '10 i was accepted from a part of Santander for car finance of about £14,000 - so with the credit card as well thats not bad for someone accused of fraud with their company.
Also in this time i have been bombarded with debt collection letters and phone calls and my credit status has been badly damaged because of this.

I then sent off a complaint to them via Special Delivery which i got a copy of the signature to prove its delivery and when i phoned up 5 weeks later for an update they said there was no complaint on there system and it hadn't been received!!!!
Did a basic outline of the complaint over the phone and in the end i was told there was nothing they could do because i had been involved in the fraudulent transaction.

The complaint is now with the financial omsbudman since september 2010.

I refused Santander's 1st offer where they say they made a mistake
Write off fees and interest which built up because of them
Clear my credit status of their own damage
£250 for distress and inconvenience
I wrote back saying that wasn't good enough and i wanted the following:

Letter of apology which also stated my innocense in the matter
Credit status cleared
All santander fees and interest removed because it was their fault
£474.00 in fees and interest charged by other companies because of my defaulting and making late payments as a result
In my mind i wanted £5,000 for distress, inconvenience and embarrasment but instead i wrote i wanted my £4,200 overdraft written off as compensation for this.
This month I have received a 2nd offer which states the following
Write off fees
Credit status cleared
£170.00 for outside charges up to May 2010 as i should have sorted myself out by then
£250 compensation
I have now again refused this offer because in my mind i don't feel its good enough and i have sent an angry reply back stating that i wanted the following:
· A Letter of acknowledgement of my innocence in the matter and an apology
· Any adverse information under the Santander brand to be removed from my credit reference records.
· £378.07 in fees and interest to Santander to be written off, as these were caused by themselves.
· £474.00 in fees and interest charged by other companies to myself as a result of this, paid back to me.
· £5,000.00 in payment as compensation for distress, inconvenience and embarrassment.
· Charge for my time – 15 Hours @ £10.00ph = £150.00

Now the problem i have is that this 3rd dealing is with an official omsbudsman and not just an adjudicator and so when i get my next reply that will be the end of it with them and so i either accept the future offer or take it legally.

So thats why i would like some advice - should i give up on it now as i wouldn't get anything better or do i take it legally if i'm not happy with my future and final offer?

If your still reading this then thank you very much, even if you could advise what 'catergory' this comes under would be a bit helpful

rodenal

Can't comment on everything here but some responses which are purely as I undestand things

I actually had a similar dealing with santander where they shut down access to my account for around a week, but not because of suspected fraudulent activity, because the branch staff never sent paperwork for the account to head office (3 months before they froze the account!), anyway

Your claim for £5,000 will be laughed off, you haven't lost £5,000 in any way shape or form and infact have benefited to the sum of around £1000 (despite not requesting this money nor accepting it as such). As far as my legal understanding goes, you cannot claim this and santander will be well aware of that fact.

You still owe the overdraft monies and unfortunately they can call this in as and when they see fit, so I would make arrangements to pay that as a seperate task.

You are well entitled to claim back the charges you incurred as a result of their freezing of your account, however I would also suspect that there would be a limit of 'reasonable time' to sort out your finances by opening another account transferring d/debits etc. Would hazard a guess at around 1 month, any charges after this should not really be linked to the issue.

Given this their second offer doesn't sound too bad, the only key point I would stress to them as an addition (which you have but i suspect not as a pressing condition) is the correcting of any negative credit reporting arising directly from the incident.

MoneySavingNovice

If I understand this correctly Santander has made an offer covering everything except the £5,000 compensation and only £170 of the £474 other fees.

In my view you don’t have an argument regarding a £5,000 compensation claim. If you really wish to pursue this you will need legal advice and be prepared to go to court.

You do have an argument regarding the £474 other fees and interest if you can demonstrate with evidence that these were directly incurred due to Santander’s error.

To increase a ‘compensation’ claim following a second offer could be consider unreasonable behaviour and if you were to go to court could be detrimental to your case.

My recommendation would be to reject the current offer as this has not put you back in a position you would have been if the mistake had not been made. Restate that the £474 in fees and interest needs to be part of any further offer, and accept the rest.

Farmiloe1980

rodenal wrote: »

Your claim for £5,000 will be laughed off, you haven't lost £5,000 in any way shape or form and infact have benefited to the sum of around £1000 (despite not requesting this money nor accepting it as such). As far as my legal understanding goes, you cannot claim this and santander will be well aware of that fact.

.

I understand and agree with what you've said.
Asking for £5,000 i know i will never get but know i need to get something however £250 just makes me disgusted that they get away with accusing me of this and putting me through so much crap for minimum pay.

I deffo haven't gained by £1,000 though as the fees offer was caused by them and wouldn't exist if this didn't happen and the same to the £170 that they offered for external charges as these wouldn't have happened either.
The only gain would be £250 and that would still be a loss as i have said over £400 for the external charges.

I am very angry with the whole situation but like i said in my first post just wasn't sure if i should take it further legally or if i am just over reacting now - and judging by the 2 reponses so far i am oviously taking it too far.

Thanks to the 2 replys so far

ffacoffipawb

Farmiloe1980 wrote: »

I understand and agree with what you've said.
Asking for £5,000 i know i will never get but know i need to get something however £250 just makes me disgusted that they get away with accusing me of this and putting me through so much crap for minimum pay.

I deffo haven't gained by £1,000 though as the fees offer was caused by them and wouldn't exist if this didn't happen and the same to the £170 that they offered for external charges as these wouldn't have happened either.
The only gain would be £250 and that would still be a loss as i have said over £400 for the external charges.

I am very angry with the whole situation but like i said in my first post just wasn't sure if i should take it further legally or if i am just over reacting now - and judging by the 2 reponses so far i am oviously taking it too far.

Thanks to the 2 replys so far

What happened to the £1,172 ?

Farmiloe1980

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

What happened to the £1,172 ?

That money wasn't mine and was removed from my savings account by the fraud department - I assume it went back to whoever it belonged to

ffacoffipawb

Farmiloe1980 wrote: »

That money wasn't mine and was removed from my savings account by the fraud department - I assume it went back to whoever it belonged to