do i have to pay back ex gratia payment?

weesie81 · 7 July 2011 at 5:49PM

after returning from holiday in france and their being a massive issue with using our santander card abroad, to cut a long story short they issued us with a £50 good will gesture that has shown on statement as ex gratia payment.

my question is do i pay this back? there was no mention of it at the time.

we were turned down for a temp £100 overdraft, it was at this point they issued the goodwill gesture as we were in the red and not able to withdraw anything through no fault of our own.

i personally think there is no way a bank would give us "free" money but my hubby thinks otherwise. if anybody has any experience of this i would really appreciate some clarification as i really don't want to ring them.

ses6jwg · 7 July 2011 at 5:51PM

its compensation for your complaint

if you accept it they will then consider your complaint closed.

weesie81 · 7 July 2011 at 6:07PM

thanks for your fast reply, so we accept that this is the end of the matter and the £50 is ours?

if so this is one thing i don't mind being wrong about!

ses6jwg · 7 July 2011 at 6:51PM

You had a complaint.

Santander investigated the complaint and decided that they were at fault due to blocking your cards when you were abroad. Your complaint was upheld, and they have offered you their apologies and a £50 goodwill gesture.

You can either accept this and they will consider your complaint closed, or you can reject it and go to stage 2, and then to the Ombundsman.