When does 15p equal to £65?

dabbit

My daughter has an account (standard one where her wages go in). She has no overdraft on the account at all, but due to a Graze box being delivered near the end of the month Santander paid the graze box and she went overdrawn by 15p! Today she has received a letter saying that they plan to charger a whopping £65 for the 15p error.

Firstly, if she has no overdraft facility with them why didn't they decline the payment? And secondly is £65 justified for 15p?

:mad:

Lokolo

The charge is a fee so nothing related to the amount overdrawn by.

However if she is under 18 she cannot be charged an overdraft fee.

If she is 18 or over its an important lesson learnt.

DeeMarie89

Tell your Daughter to give Santander a call and see if they will remove the charges as a goodwill gesture. You will find that if she usually keeps her account in order, and this is a "first offence" so to speak, they will usually do this

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

dabbit wrote: »

Firstly, if she has no overdraft facility with them why didn't they decline the payment?

To save her the embarrassment of having the payment declined?

dabbit

Fruit_and_Nut_Case wrote: »

To save her the embarrassment of having the payment declined?

I think at that price she may well have not been too embarrassed about it being declined.

dabbit

Lokolo wrote: »

The charge is a fee so nothing related to the amount overdrawn by.

However if she is under 18 she cannot be charged an overdraft fee.

If she is 18 or over its an important lesson learnt.

I think she has definitely learned a lesson, which I personally find appalling! It is a mere 15p, it cost more to send the letter!

p00hsticks

dabbit wrote: »

I think at that price she may well have not been too embarrassed about it being declined.

She can't win really as there's a good chance she would then have been charged by the bank for bouncing the payment and also by the company presenting the payment for having it bounce back ...

As others have aid, for a first offence, the best bet is probably to ask nicely for the charges to be dropped.

If she's gonig to be operating this close to the wire in future, then I'd suggest looking for an account that includes a small authorised overdraft limit as standard to act as a 'buffer zone' (and then pretend that it's not there so you're not tempted to rely on it)

Trajal

£65 for 15p seems punitive to me rather than an administration charge.

I'd contest it immediately, ask for the chief exec's office etc if you have to. Absolutely outrageous and I have no doubt that you will be able to get this refunded, and frankly some flowers sent to apologise for the inconvenience.

Shout loudly, and for a long time until they refund that charge. It is simply wrong.

CLAPTON

how is the £65 arrived at?

zppp

Trajal wrote: »

and frankly some flowers sent to apologise for the inconvenience

Why would they do that? After all there is obviously no error on their part.

Trajal

zppp wrote: »

Why would they do that? After all there is obviously no error on their part.

Depends on your point of view I suppose. Are you trying to genuinely defend a £65 punitive charge against a 15p overdrawn balance?

If you have a way to defend that I suspect the banks may require your assistance for leading counsel in a certain law suit that's currently pending appeal!