Santander: Unreasonable Charges

Phil1482

Hi all, I'm not expecting to get a positive answer here, but thought I'd ask just in case.

I have an account with Santander that I used to use as my spending money account, back in August I stopped using it as I became a student and left it £0.24 in the black. Over the next few months I checked regularly to ensure there were no charges and finally stopped looking around December time, figuring I could come back to it when I next had disposable income.

Five months later and I have now received a letter from their collections department asking for £270, it seems that in February, with no warning either by letter, e-mail or phone, they decided to charge a £5 inactivity fee, which of course took me overdrawn, and I have been racking up the charges since then.

I am a self-supporting student and simply don't have the money to pay this balance, does anyone think I have a chance of having this all reversed?

Thanks for any help anyone can give,

Phil.

YorkshireBoy

Phil1482 wrote: »

I have an account with Santander

Is it an old A&L Premier or Premier Direct current account?

They're the only ones I'm aware of that have a £5 per month 'underfunding' fee.

If it was a Premier Direct account then you'll have received a monthly e-mail reminding you to check your statement online.

These accounts have always (or for a very long time) had this fee structure, but I believe they didn't start applying the fee until there had been a few consecutive months of underfunding.

Phil1482

Yep, that's the one, the thing is I had the underfunding charge in July and August, which took me down to £0.24, I was fine with that, and if I'd seen on the September statement that it was going to continue then I'd have paid the final charge and closed the account. When they didn't I assumed that they wouldn't charge that particular fee if it took you into an overdraft and having checked October, November and December too it seemed reasonable to assume they weren't going to charge anything without warning. Besides, the online statement gives no indication of forthcoming charges.

YorkshireBoy

Phil1482 wrote: »

...I assumed...it seemed reasonable to assume

That's where you fell down.

You shouldn't assume anything...other than they'll do what they say in the T&Cs, which is to charge for underfunding. If they don't, ie they allow a grace period, then better for you.

Besides, the online statement gives no indication of forthcoming charges.

My Premier Direct online area tells me when my overdraft usage fees are to be debited (3-4 weeks later). Are you saying the underfunding fees are just applied with no forewarning?

Either way, had you checked each and every month (when reminded to by the e-mail), you'd have nipped it in the bud in February and stopped it getting to collections.

Finally, you should check your credit files with Experian and Equifax, because there may now be adverse information on there regarding this account...which could affect future credit applications you make (for 3-6 years).

Phil1482

Yep, I figured that would be the case, but it was worth asking. I've checked again and there's no place on the website that mentions forthcoming charges, I guess I'm going to have to borrow some money and pay it, but I still think the manner of how they've done this without so much as a phone call is disgraceful.

Thanks anyway for your help.

YorkshireBoy

Phil1482 wrote: »

I've checked again and there's no place on the website that mentions forthcoming charges

It's in the greyed out box at the top of my 'view statement' screen, and is a clickable link saying "View charges to be applied to your account". Clicking this brings up a description, amount, and date to be debited.

Premier Direct Account xxxxxx xxxxxxxx ... .............Balance £-9,989.00

View charges to be applied to your account...........Overdraft limit £10,000.00
.............
.. ............................... ..... ............................Available balance £11.00

Phil1482

Thanks, but definitely not there. I'll be closing the account tomorrow, so won't get a chance to see if it appears whenever you receive the monthly e-mail.