Santander / A&L Account Charges

manc

Hi- Just wondered if anyone could advise on how to deal with A&L/Santander.

Basically, over the last bank holiday a bunch of payments on my bank card didn't go through straight away and come the Tues/Weds they all came out at once and made me overdrawn. I was away for the weekend so quite a bit of spending was going on - but I'd checked my account balance online to see how much I had and it appeared I had enough to cover these payments - when in reality the system hadn't updated and I hadn't.

In total three payments took me £17.30 overdrawn for 48 hrs for which Santander want to charge me £85!! (3 x £25 charges for three payments & £10 for being overdrawn)

I spoke to them and they said they would remove one of the charges out of goodwill but no more- I'm still being charged £60. I'm really annoyed as I'd checked my balance and thought I was fine.

I've battled with debt for 5 years now and am on the final stretch - I have been able to make sure i don't get any charges for the past two years - and haven't had any problems at all since moving to Santander 18 months ago. So it's really annoyed me that they want to charge this much over a tiny mistake- this is why I left HSBC!!

I said I would accept one £25 and the £10 as it was my fault for spending - but still they said no! and they would charge me £60 and no less. I said I think that's really unreasonable of them - it was unusual circumstances, was only £17 and only 48 hrs. They said - I should have known what was in my account before I spent it!!
Got really angry at that point and told them I had looked my balance up and the system showed that I did!!! (maybe using slightly harsher language).

So...

Anyone any advice? Is it maybe an idea to go into a branch and talk to someone? My account is online only I think though.

I'm just not happy paying that big a fine for such a small mistake which was partly their systems fault as it wasn't updated...and I did offer to pay part of it, only to be turned down.

Thanks

YorkshireBoy

manc wrote: »

They said - I should have known what was in my account before I spent it!!

Got really angry at that point

How can you agrue with that...it's right.

Anyone any advice?

Take the £25 goodwill. Loosing your temper with them may well provoke a withdrawal of goodwill, meaning it will hit you in the pocket! Sometimes you need to know when to keep your mouth closed.

Then, carry a piece of paper and pen around in your purse/wallet and as you spend (or DDs/SOs etc are debited) keep a record.

It won't happen again then.

gt94sss2

manc wrote: »

I've battled with debt for 5 years now and am on the final stretch - I have been able to make sure i don't get any charges for the past two years - and haven't had any problems at all since moving to Santander 18 months ago. So it's really annoyed me that they want to charge this much over a tiny mistake- this is why I left HSBC!!

This won't help you but its slightly ironic as HSBC would have charged you much less due to their 'Fair Fees Policy'

Regards
Sunil

manc

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

How can you agrue with that...it's right.

I got angry because having looked at my balance I believed I did know what was in my account.

YorkshireBoy

manc wrote: »

I believed I did know what was in my account.

Having analysed the situation now, do you understand why the two balances (yours and theirs) were different? For example, was it a simple miscalculation on your part or did a DD come out early? Or maybe you didn't realise cleared funds had to be in the account the working day before (ie Friday) for payments due on the Tuesday after the Bank Holiday, and it's these funds that had been earmarked thus unavailable to spend over the weekend?

Getting to the root cause and understanding why you've incurred the charges will prevent it happening again. Getting angry won't!

Hasty

Can't post links but - Santander website > How Do I > Contact Us > Complaints > Complaints Form

or

0845 600 6014

pmduk

manc wrote: »

I got angry because having looked at my balance I believed I did know what was in my account.

Unfortunately you've found that that isn't sufficient. Not all transactions will have yet been presented. Only by recording what has been spent and otherwise committed (eg Direct debits) can you ensure you know what is available. That's your responsibility, not the bank's.

manc

pmduk wrote: »

Unfortunately you've found that that isn't sufficient. Not all transactions will have yet been presented. Only by recording what has been spent and otherwise committed (eg Direct debits) can you ensure you know what is available. That's your responsibility, not the bank's.

Yes I know this - I explained in my post I accepted this and offered to pay one £25 charge plus the £10.

I've been living on a budget for the past 5 years - I know how that works.

What I was asking for advice about was the £85 fine for such a small mistake.

£17.30 into my overdraft for 48 hrs for the first time since I opened the account - complete accident. £85 is massively disproportionate.

carefulwithmoney_2

Hi,

Any ideas on this one?

I received a letter on the 3rd June 2011, stating my account was overdrawn by £135+ pounds.

I was unsure of this account and so visited my local branch with the letter.

It appears this account was a previous Alliance and Leceister Premier Account, and needed to have £500 submitted every month, in order not to incur any charges.

The last transaction on this account was in July 2009 when I withdrew what I believed were all the funds (forgot to close the account - my bad). Since this time I have incurred costs of £5 per month (underpayment), and £5 per month (overdraft).

When I spoke with staff at the branch they were helpful and considerate and provided assistance in calling the Debt Recovery section.

Here I was told it was the 1st time a letter had been sent relating to this account, concerning any overdraft charges, and I have not received any letters on this account in the past 2 years, thus I thought it was closed.

I have recently moved (Nov 2010), and all mail is re-directed to my new property.

When questioned why I have never received any statement or letter showing an overdraft I was informed that as it was an Alliance and Leceister account they were unable to see the state of the accounts as they were linked in the systems, and so any followups regarding a charge were put on hold at Santander.

However this has meant I have continued to be charged for an account I have not used since July 2009, and have had no correspondance about since this time, even relating to Statements.

I have contacted their complaints department and am waiting to hear back. As long as they don't post a response, we should be fine.

I am now in the process of paying costs of £150 to close an account I have not used.

the_exile

I'm with Alliance and Leicester and have always found them painfully slow at updating both balances, sometimes takes up to a full week for them to update.

Example, last month, had exactly 100 pounds left in my account with an overdraft of 100 pounds, so 200 available right? well not according to A&L, only had 40 pounds in available balance, so 160 quid had been spent by me at some point in the past 3 days, I think I may have remembered that, checked next day, mysteriously it was back up to 200 pounds available, god knows how the A&L/Santander system works, it's very, very very complex and hard to understand how much money you actually have available, the only way to keep yourself right is to write down every penny you spend.

Edit: this has happened to me numerous times, every time i've phoned to query it, I've been told "it's a double debit, it'll sort itself out" brilliant, I'll eat toast and drink tap water til it's sorted (joking!)

Mrs_Ryan

The so-and-so's attempted to charge me £50 for going 14p overdrawn on an account I only use occasionally :eek: I rang them and said I dont think so - I aint paying it!! They agreed and refunded the charges and I transferred a quid into the account. OH is moving his account this week - he's had real problems with them and I took them to the FOS and won re my account (and straight after they froze my account in retailiation!)