Advice on loan passed to debt collectors

pettelly

We bought sofas from DFS a year and a half ago. Had a year with no repayments and then interest free for 4 years. Had direct debit set up and made payments each months for 6 months. For some reason, my husband was looking at statements at our bank and queried a payment to 'santander cards' as he didn't recognise it. Bank said they'd hold direct debit until he'd found out. I reminded dh that it was the dfs loan and he told bank it was OK. This was about 3 weeks ago.

So turns out bank didn't reinstate direct debit so didn't make March payment. Not only that but apparently they took ALL the payments we'd made to santander from them - about £200. We didn't realise until we got a phone call on saturday from Viking debt collectors! Paid the March payment immediately as could see it hadn't left account but didn't want to pay the £200 they were claiming as it certainly wasn't in our account and we've had no proof that £200 has been taken from their account by our bank. Monday dh went to bank. They said all was OK and money had been repaid to Santander (it had only been held - whatever that means!).

Spoke to debt collectors yesterday after another letter and phone call. How flipping unpleasant - total 'computer says no'! Apparently it's my problem to resolve. But if my bank says it's OK and I don't have the money, why is it my debt? And how on earth do we sort this out without it affecting my credit rating??? Shouldn't santander have some responsibility for releasing the money to our bank?! I have no idea how these things work.

Any help gratefully accepted!!!

redqueen_2

The original £200 debt will have been sent to the debt collector for recovery. They have technically 'bought' the debt from Santander and it will take time to work back through the system to Santander in light of the mix-up at your bank. You need to contact Santander and check if they have received the £200 from your bank. You should get written confirmation that your bank has paid the money to Santander. If you do not get a satisfactory response from the bank call the Financial Ombudsman.

However, be mindful that the reason for the mix-up is that you didnt recognize that Santander were actually providing the finance for DFS so your action actually interrupted the contractual repayments.

Also check that Viking havent added any fees onto the debt for recovery and make ask Santander to provide written confirmation that they will not issue a Default on your credit file