Santander - £140 charges for going £7.49 overdrawn!

SuffolkK

If there is a Santander thread I should be on, please direct me to it - I did look....

My 19 year old daughter used her Santander debit card for three very small transactions over a two-day period. In total they took her £7.49 over drawn (the first took her 28p overdrawn). She thought that her card would be declined if she was overdrawn, and didn't think to check her balance (I know...), so used it for those three transactions.

Santander have charged her £30 per transaction plus a £50 unauthorised overdraft fee - £140 in total. She is not in work (not on benefits either) and so I have had to cover the bill, which wasn't easy. We tried sending the letter using the template on this site (tried a two-pronged attack, financial hardship and disproportionate fees for the 'crime') but Santander is having none of it.

Is it worth continuing to press them? If so, any tips would be much appreciated.

dunstonh

Santander are usually very fair on charges and will refund if it is your first error in a year. The fact they are not refunding suggests that your daughter has done this too often before.

tried a two-pronged attack, financial hardship and disproportionate fees for the 'crime') but Santander is having none of it.

Neither of which were likely to work. No indication of financial hardship and disproportionate (i.e. unfair) doesn't get you anywhere nowadays)

Is it worth continuing to press them? If so, any tips would be much appreciated.

i would first find out the last time your daughter did this. If its recent then there probably is nothing you can do about it if Santander dont want to refund. If it hasnt happened before then try again via the complaints dept. Dont mention unfair etc as that is an auto rejection. Go on the basis of first time error.

abbas5001

SuffolkK wrote: »

If there is a Santander thread I should be on, please direct me to it - I did look....

My 19 year old daughter used her Santander debit card for three very small transactions over a two-day period. In total they took her £7.49 over drawn (the first took her 28p overdrawn). She thought that her card would be declined if she was overdrawn, and didn't think to check her balance (I know...), so used it for those three transactions.

Santander have charged her £30 per transaction plus a £50 unauthorised overdraft fee - £140 in total. She is not in work (not on benefits either) and so I have had to cover the bill, which wasn't easy. We tried sending the letter using the template on this site (tried a two-pronged attack, financial hardship and disproportionate fees for the 'crime') but Santander is having none of it.

Is it worth continuing to press them? If so, any tips would be much appreciated.

If she has went overdrawn by that amount they would normally waive the fees, so either the case is she hasn't gone overdrawn by £7.49 or just try someone else.

Also they typically charge £25 for each paid transaction not £30 so i don't know where you are getting that information of £30. The overdraft fee is high because the account must have been overdrawn for some time before it went back into credit.

Try speaking to someone else, point out she went overdrawn by a small amount.

abbas5001

ses6jwg wrote: »

Those who go overdrawn by more than £12 are entitled to have ALL their charges refunded ONCE in a 12-month period.

I believe it is ONCE forever, not in a 12 month period.

ses6jwg

abbas5001 wrote: »

I believe it is ONCE forever, not in a 12 month period.

It is a 12 month period.

dunstonh

I believe it is ONCE forever, not in a 12 month period.

With many banks, that is the case but Santander are much more forgiving (and despite their awful service record - much of which goes back to Shabby days - this is something they ought to get more praise on).

dunstonh

Well seeing as it only applied from 6 days ago, that would be fair enough. Previously it was 12 months (and that comes from other Santander staff)

Hanky_Panky

dunstonh wrote: »

With many banks, that is the case but Santander are much more forgiving (and despite their awful service record - much of which goes back to Shabby days - this is something they ought to get more praise on).

Sorry to hijack your thread OP but this from dunstonh interested me.

I think most people who work at Santander would agree that things have gone down hill since the takeover and the Spaniards foisted their IT system on them. Prior to that I admit it wasn't always great but much, much better than it is now.

It's interesting that your view is different and I wonder why.

dunstonh

It's interesting that your view is different and I wonder why.

I used to be an Abbey customer and the local branch always had queues out the door (not just at lunchtimes) and the enquiries desk was never manned (why have one if you are not going to use it). I always seemed to be stuck behind the people that were making enquiries or long admin tasks. Basically, a too small branch understaffed and not efficient management of resources (and i come from a banking background having done a number of years in the retail banking side before moving on).

They still use the same branch today but whilst I no longer use them, their branch doesnt have queues in the street any more. Maybe Santander scared them all off

Hanky_Panky

Ahh yes - the dreaded old queue out of the door at branches - I had forgotten about that. Back in my old Abbey National days in head office it was a common complaint.

SuffolkK

ses6jwg wrote: »

Santander changed their charges policy on November 1st.

A £12 fee-free buffer has been brought in which means those who go less than £12 into an unauthorised OD will not get charged.

Those who go overdrawn by more than £12 are entitled to have ALL their charges refunded ONCE in a 12-month period.

If go overdrawn by more than £12 having had 1 refund, then it is tough titties.

I'd suggest visiting your local branch about this.

I also suspect your daughter is not giving you the whole story.

I work in a branch and we have a certain group of customers who simply cannot manage their money. When it comes to charges they incurr them every month without fail, despite us giving them advice on how to manage things better.

Thank you - sorry for the delay in responding, but the whole family has had a vile bug and am only now back at my computer. It is definitely the first time my daughter has done this - she's shown me all her bank statements - and she definitely did only go £7.49 overdrawn. I'll go in to our local branch with her and see if that does the trick.