daughters student account switched to graduate account by mistake by santander HELP

cazpumpkin

my daughter opened a current student account with an overdraft facility with santander just before she started university and has finished year one ,

during the summer she started to get letters asking her to pay back her overdraft from a collections dept, she telephoned the head office and was told it was santnaders fault she had accidentally been switched to a graduate account by mistake

however they are claiming its difficult for their computer to switch her account back to her original current student account and also to turn off the letters asking for repayment

she has been made to go into the branch today to proof she is still a student about to embark on year 2 of her 3 yr degree but they cant guarantee they can fix their mistake,

any ideas what she should do as she is distraught many thanks,

tbh it all sounds like garbage to me , i told her to let her grant go in which is due any day, i will pay off her overdraft and then she should think about switching to another bank ,

would she be able to get another student current account with an overdraft facility elsewhere when she is going into yr 2 or do you have to be a first year to get it and why oh why are santander being so unhelpful considering its their mistake

any advice id be very grateful

thanks carol

glider3560

The bank are entitled to end the overdraft at any time and ask for immediate repayment.

As to why they can't switch the account back to a student account ... let's just say this is Santander!

Write a formal complaint letter and send to their complaints address. If you are unhappy with their response, or they fail to send a final response within 8 weeks, you are entitled to lodge a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service.

cazpumpkin

thanks for the reply, it was therefore unrealistic of santander to advertise it as a 3 yr student current account with the following offer yr 1 overdraft facility £1000. yr 2 £1250. yr3 £ 1500. what was the point of her choosing them over another student account if they can withdraw the service accidentally or not and then insist they are unable to fix the mistake which i find hard to believe

glider3560

Any bank can withdraw an overdraft for any reason. They are designed for short-term borrowing and not a long term measure.

stardance

I had this problem with santander too although it was rectified pretty easily once I went into a branch. They had me down as doing a 3 yr course even though when I initially opened the student account they were made aware of it being a 4 yr course.

Aelius

cazpumpkin wrote: »

my daughter opened a current student account with an overdraft facility with santander just before she started university and has finished year one ,

during the summer she started to get letters asking her to pay back her overdraft from a collections dept, she telephoned the head office and was told it was santnaders fault she had accidentally been switched to a graduate account by mistake

however they are claiming its difficult for their computer to switch her account back to her original current student account and also to turn off the letters asking for repayment

she has been made to go into the branch today to proof she is still a student about to embark on year 2 of her 3 yr degree but they cant guarantee they can fix their mistake,

any ideas what she should do as she is distraught many thanks,

tbh it all sounds like garbage to me , i told her to let her grant go in which is due any day, i will pay off her overdraft and then she should think about switching to another bank ,

would she be able to get another student current account with an overdraft facility elsewhere when she is going into yr 2 or do you have to be a first year to get it and why oh why are santander being so unhelpful considering its their mistake

any advice id be very grateful

thanks carol

Even if she had graduated this summer, they would not have reduced the overdraft until spring 2012. So I wonder why they have removed the overdraft.

My advice would be to look into other student accounts. Also do a credit check to see if there is something adverse on her history as to why the overdraft was removed.

To get letters from a collections department seems strange. Surely she has received formal demands first?

cazpumpkin

hi aelius, she is in year 2 of her 3 year degree course, no bad credit to her name, her branch of santander say it happened in error, but they still havent fixed it!!

melancholly

hmm.... they should manage to put it straight back. perhaps it's time to get a new student account and switch banks? not heard of this before, but santander don't get great reports for their customer service.

has she escalated this as far as possible? clearly the branch are next to useless. i'd be ringing daily and taking names and extension numbers of everyone i spoke to....

cazpumpkin

just an update to say santander did eventually sort out their mistake, they also got the underwriters to check her credit rating wasnt affected and gave her compensation. Took a long time but they did sort it in the end and totally fessed up in writing with a big apology, so credit to them, yes they made a mistake and it took ages but they got there in the end, thanks to a lovely lady in canterbury branch who took over the whole mess and sorted it