has my son been miss sold a bank account

tomcatvmp

hi, my son(18) is in the army,(so a regular income) he had a basic account with no overdraft. he is having some tempory troubles with his finances and asked santander for an overdraft. They refused because of the account type he had. they arranged for him to have an upgraded account (that costs 10£ a month) he has just recieved a fancy pack containing all his new account details. but has been refused an overdraft. meanwhile there bank charges are crippling him.
i am going to go with him to see them tomorrow so anyone got any advice. thanks in advance.
tom

happy_bunny_2

No expert, but seems dodgy to me.

If they won't give him an overdraft, then tell them to downgrade the account.

If they won't, you can complain formally or close it and open one elsewhere if they won't play ball. That's my thoughts anyhow.

HTH

Lokolo

If he is 18, got a regular income and requiring an overdraft my first priority would be why does he need one rather than being mis-sold an premium account.

He can always just downgrade the account and not be charged £10 a month.

MoneySaverLog

Change banks, Santander are very poor with their customer service as you are finding out.

tomcatvmp

Lokolo wrote: »

If he is 18, got a regular income and requiring an overdraft my first priority would be why does he need one rather than being mis-sold an premium account.

He can always just downgrade the account and not be charged £10 a month.

he isnt what you assume him to be my friend. the only reason he needs an overdraft is because he has had to pay 25 pound charges for each time he spent £1.50 that was everynight in the canteen.for over a week. when he realized he tried to sort it out with them. and this is when he asked for my help. my son does not drink or smoke, a regular church attende. his only vice is his motorbike. and he has learnt a lesson here for which i am glad. i asked for advice not assumptions based on your predjidicial view of 18 year olds.

any further constructive advice would be welcomed.

Lokolo

tomcatvmp wrote: »

he isnt what you assume him to be my friend. the only reason he needs an overdraft is because he has had to pay 25 pound charges for each time he spent £1.50 that was everynight in the canteen.for over a week. when he realized he tried to sort it out with them. and this is when he asked for my help. my son does not drink or smoke, a regular church attende. his only vice is his motorbike. and he has learnt a lesson here for which i am glad. i asked for advice not assumptions based on your predjidicial viem of 18 year olds.

any further constructive advice would be welcomed.

My thoughts were constructive. Should I not comment on an 18 year old getting in an overdraft then possible spiralling out of control, end up taking out loans, getting overdraft charges etc? Of course I should.

I suggested he downgrades the account if he doesn't want to pay £10 a month for it, which is also constructive.

I did not insult your son nor said he is to blame for needing an overdraft, just prioritising as to WHY. For all I know, it could have been because he went and spend it all on games consoles.

The fact that he has been charged £25 a time means that his internal record with Santander is most probably trashed, which is the reason why his overdraft request was declined.

happy_bunny_2

So they let him spend £1.50 on his debit card several times , then charged him £25 each time for paying the transaction when he had no money in the account?

The whole point of a basic account is that it can't go overdrawn.

If this is the case, this sounds unfair to me, so i would complain formally, telling them you will take it to the FOS if they do not give you a satisfactory response.

tomcatvmp wrote: »

he isnt what you assume him to be my friend. the only reason he needs an overdraft is because he has had to pay 25 pound charges for each time he spent £1.50 that was everynight in the canteen.for over a week. when he realized he tried to sort it out with them. and this is when he asked for my help. my son does not drink or smoke, a regular church attende. his only vice is his motorbike. and he has learnt a lesson here for which i am glad. i asked for advice not assumptions based on your predjidicial viem of 18 year olds.

any further constructive advice would be welcomed.

YorkshireBoy

tomcatvmp wrote: »

i asked for advice not assumptions based on your predjidicial viem of 18 year olds.

I don't see anything wrong with the advice given by Lokolo to be honest.

There are two things you, and he, need to understand about banks:

1. They will all charge fees if you breach the T&Cs, and

2. They will never give you an umbrella when it's raining, but will be only too happy to provide one when it's sunny!

So, as Lokolo suggested, addressing the root cause is always the best course of action.

Re 'miss-selling' he should make a formal complaint if he feels the bank hasn't acted in his best interests (and it sounds like it hasn't) by selling him a fee-based account.

Lokolo

happy_bunny wrote: »

So they let him spend £1.50 on his debit card several times , then charged him £25 each time for paying the transaction when he had no money in the account?

The whole point of a basic account is that it can't go overdrawn.

If this is the case, this sounds unfair to me, so i would complain formally, telling them you will take it to the FOS if they do not give you a satisfactory response.

I doubt he will get very far with a complaint as it's very clear in the T&Cs, however they maybe nice a refund as a gesture of goodwill. I also suspect the £1.50 wasn't actually paid out of his account.

In the Basic Account T&Cs it does state:

Basic Current accounts do not offer overdraft facilities. Each time you ask us to make a payment and there isn’t enough money in your account to cover it, we will not pay it and we will charge you an Unpaid Item Fee of £25.

happy_bunny_2

Lokolo wrote: »

I doubt he will get very far with a complaint as it's very clear in the T&Cs, however they maybe nice a refund as a gesture of goodwill. I also suspect the £1.50 wasn't actually paid out of his account.

In the Basic Account T&Cs it does state:

Hmm, OP did say every day for a week, so must have been paid?

Lokolo

happy_bunny wrote: »

Hmm, OP did say every day for a week, so must have been paid?

Indeed, that's why I said I suspect rather than for sure . The normal charge for unauthorised overdraft with Santander is £5 a day, which makes me think of the unpaid item fee rather than unauthorised charge (unless he went into it for 5 days everytime!).