Santander Fees are bringing me down

Tottonian

Morning all, have had really good advice in the past on here & those who know my problems will agree that this is not looking good.
Santander are a nightmare, Just when I’m trying to get things sorted with the CCCS & get some sort of repayment plan set up with my creditors, 1 step forward & 3 back.
I have a £350 overdraft facility with Santander which to be honest I have to use each month, but was shocked to be charged £190 in fees this month so far ,I think they make there fees up, never want to listen to you. On Tuesday I was shocked to see 6 fees for not enough funs at £25 each for Standing Orders & Direct Debits charged this month for last month charges ?, I spoke to somebody who was not understanding but did manage to get £50 back in fees, £25 good will gesture & £25 for a S/O payment that went out for £3 & took me over my limit , then this morning (Sunday 17th) I noticed I had £5 daily fee for arranged overdraft, then £10 fee for unarranged fee then £25 for Paid Item fee back on the 14/6/2011 which was £6 over which I got charged back then £10 & I added funds to straight away back then. Seem to make you go over then add fee’s on top. The strange thing is I looked around 7.30am yesterday morning & nothing on my online statement saying I was over my agreed overdraft , but looked this morning & have mysteries fees added on it’s impossibly to keep up. This is how it looked.

11/7/2011 Payment of £5 taking me to £325.
16/7/2011 Daily Arranged Overdraft Fee of £10 £335.
16/7/2011 Daily Unarranged Overdraft Fee of £5 £340.
16/7/2011 Paid Item Fee Back On The 14/6/2011 of £25 £365.

Can’t understand why the fess from yesterday were charged if I was in my agreed overdraft & not over. I have absolutely no money what so ever to make back up to my agreed overdraft as I’m on the limit now & with losing £100 already this month it’s really brining me down as I don’t get paid until the 10th of each month, they will charge me £5 per day now for going over & seems to be spiralling out of control because they will then add more charges next month. I did try phoning them this morning at 6.30am (Up early due to me having yet another sleepless night worrying) but there not open for inquiries until tomorrow.
Help please to try & explain or is it a fault of there’s.

Tottonian

To be honest I just feel like throwing the towel in but there’s to much at stake, It’s really depressing when I only took home £1150, £700 into the bills account, pay off my Creditors & left with just enough to see you through the month, it gets worse when your back then charges you astronomical fees & have already asked for help.
I will be switching Banks ASAP but not sure who to switch to !

DreamerHelen

Hi There, the only advice I can give you is to Switch to another Bank ASAP....And make sure it is a Bank that you have no other Debts with - And make sure it is a Basic Account that you can't get an Overdraft with or Credit Cards or anything like that....that way you can't get in this place again...and then your Wages are your own.

Of course you will have to pay Santander back...but perhaps CCCS might add them to your Debtors??? (I'm not sure about this one...perhaps someone else can advise).

I wish you all the best....I'm in serious Debt myself and only just getting myself out of it....

I'm sure you will be fine...I have faith in you!!

Tottonian

Just got of the phone from them & they do not in anyway want to help, I then explained that yesterday was Saturday & I never knew that this was a banking day, at least I would have been able to put funds in by tomorrow (Monday) to level out, I’m now robbing Peter to pay Paul.
I swapped banks back in Feb this year from what I thought was the worse bank (HSBC) to an even worse bank.
Thanks For Nothing Santander & why did you tell me to phone up as soon as I feel I’m in money difficultys to see if you can help :mad:!

Happytogetdebtfree

Afternoon I'm sorry your having a tough time im just moving away from Santander after finding them to be useless im returningto Halifax even though I swore I wouldn't.. Keep your chin up I'm sure a way will be found xx

eyeopener2

Hi

You need to open your new bank account asap. You are now in a downward spiral of charges.

Open your new account and Santander become another creditor on your dmp. You have to open a new account when you begin your DMP so why wait?

E2

Tottonian

I’m sure these companies enjoyed other peoples pain/stress, thing is it was a nightmare to switch everything over back in Feb, both me & my Wife bank with them & have a 2nd joint account me & my Wife pay bills/mortgage etc into.

MattSS

I know it can be a pain to switch but look at it realistically. It's what? An hour? Two hours of your time? Could save you a lot of cash in unnecessary charges.

Or.. Is there the option to switch spending to a 0% credit card to allow you to get your bank account back in the black to stop the charges as you won't be using your overdraft so much?

bottleofred

Tottonian wrote: »

I’m sure these companies enjoyed other peoples pain/stress, thing is it was a nightmare to switch everything over back in Feb, both me & my Wife bank with them & have a 2nd joint account me & my Wife pay bills/mortgage etc into.

You should go with the advice of changing bank, even though it is a bit of a hassle. It may well take 2-3 hours to sort out, but would be financially worth it in the long run.

edinburgher

I’m sure these companies enjoyed other peoples pain/stress, thing is it was a nightmare to switch everything over back in Feb, both me & my Wife bank with them & have a 2nd joint account me & my Wife pay bills/mortgage etc into.

I think it's a bit strong to say that banks actively enjoy peoples' stress - after all, their staff are human (no matter what it feels like when you're on the phone to them!) That said, their business models certainly don't allow for individuals, as they are only concerned with profit and loss and groups of customers as statistics.

Maybe time to consider a more ethic bank (nothing against Santander specifically), Co-op or your local credit union might be ones to consider?

Naf

I empathise, I was in the same position with Lloyds a couple of years ago, unfortunately charges have gone up since then across the board, with daily fees replacing interest.
As above, open a new account somewhere, anywhere; I have heard good things about Barclays, but the where is pretty much irrelevant as you will be ensuring you never receive any charges on this one. Budget and ensure you always stay within agreed limits on the new account. Also, don't accept any offer from the new bank to 'switch' your current DD/SOs. While this is a worthwhile service, when you are struggling with charges and need to ensure wages go in before payments come out, it can cause more harm than good. I would also recommend (where possible and even if its only until you're settled) paying the majority of bills by SO rather than DD, and having a separate payment set up where you can manually send any additional amounts you need to.

As to the charges, unfortunately they do sound correct as to Santander's T&Cs; 50p per day for your arranged overdraft (capped at 20 fees per month: £10), then £5 per day for when you are overdrawn further than your arranged overdraft (again, capped at 20 per month; fortunately you only have one), plus paid/unpaid item fees of £25 per item.And these come out anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks after they occur. This is because, legally, you need to be informed in writing at least 14 days before they can be taken; and this is done by them showing on the bottom of your paper statements (and on the new online banking system). Therefore, if you're overdrawn the day before your statement is produced it could be as little as 2 weeks till they come out, if, however, its right at the beginning then you have to wait 'till the next statement (4 weeks ish), and a further 2 weeks. That's why you cant understand why the fees come out when you're not overdrawn, its because they're for previous periods where you have been.