Santander unarranged overdraft charges

skipjacktunafish

I went overdrawn by £7.64 for less than a day in September. In December, and every month since then Santander have charged me unarranged overdraft fees on the first of each month. I have since got some of the money back but can they charge me monthly for the same transaction? These fees are between £20 and £60 per month and make no logical sense. I assumed that one charge would be implemented and that would be the end of it, but not so...

premierfella

To clarify the position, would I be right in assuming that each time a charge is applied at the start of the month it puts you into a new unarranged overdraft?

Penbus

I have a friend in exactly the same position, and was about to post a topic on here asking for advice. She is with Santander and they slam her with charges of up to £100 per month for going into her overdraft. The problem is, it's the charges that put her into the overdraft, and when she asks to apply for a pre-arranged overdraft to be put on the account, they refuse it.

So she basically has to keep paying the charges, month after month after month. She is a single parent on benefits and this is bankrupting her.

We have tried getting an account at another bank, but because of this her credit rating is damaged and they refuse her.

Anyone got any advice on helping her get an account elsewhere so she can get away from Santander? Sorry to highjack your thread Skipjacktunafish, but I guess you might find the same advice useful.

skipjacktunafish

I haven't been overdrawn since that time in September. Twice they have refunded the costs to me, but they are still charging me on a monthly basis for these fees and they have not given me any response as to why. They just got back to me saying, yes indeed there are charges on the account? It is madness they can just help themselves without even telling me why!

Penbus. I would suggest your friend write to the bank and explain the circumstances and the hardship the bank is causing to get the money reimbursed. It took them a week to give me my money back this time, two days on the previous occasion. Santander have an online messaging service via online banking she can use.

Penbus

Thanks for the tip skipjacktunafish, but I can assure you she contacts them on an almost weekly if not daily basis and gets the same response every time ... "there's nothing we can do".

premierfella

Skipjacktunafish,

If these charges are not putting you back into overdraft each month on the day the charges are debited, I wouldn't waste any more time on it.

Make a formal written complaint - experience suggests that the complaints department could make an ex-gratia payment of up to £100 to compensate you for having to take the time to resolve it each month and, one would expect, it would get the problem sorted out once and for all.

Penbus,

That's a horrible position for your friend to be in. If I were in that position and Santander weren't willing to freeze the account charges, my next ports of call would be seeking help from friends and family (not always possible of course) or seeking a sympathetic credit union (as its a relatively modest amount).

Penbus

Premierfella,

Friends and family isn't an option. I have tried helping her but can't keep doing it. Have spoken to the credit union this afternoon, they said they would still run a credit check the same as the banks ... so not seeing how it would help any.

premierfella

Unfortunately it does depend on the credit union in question. Pretty much all of them will run credit checks, but the nature of credit unions means that some are still able to assist with small loans even if a credit record is damaged in this way, or to assist after a period of regular saving with the credit union (so not an immediate answer but potentially one a few months down the road).

I would have hoped that the credit union would have given an indication (not a promise naturally)over the phone as to the likelihood of them being able to help someone in your friend's position (they often have standard policies in place for first loans). Bear in mind that a lot of credit union members will have arrived there precisely because their credit records were destroyed, so that shouldn't necessarily be an absolute dealbreaker.

Some credit unions also receive grants from the DWP so that they can help people on benefits, as of course the losses on those loans are likely to be higher.

IrishGypsy

@OP: Can you put up here the writing placed at the bottom of your last paper statement for me? (It'll detail what type of charges you're receiving). I'll probably be able to work out what's going on for you as I'm rather well versed on how the Santander charges work.

skipjacktunafish

@Premeierfella
I wrote to the bank last night, as they have failed to tell me why they are continuing to charge me. As i said, all they say is Yes, charges were incurred but did not specify exactly what charges and why they are placing them on a monthly basis.

@IrishGypsy
Thank you. I do not have paper statements as i am between homes. My online banking statement says, DAILY UNARRANGED OVERDRAFT FEE.

IrishGypsy

Have you got access to online/paperless statements? I'd need a bit more info than that (a LOT of charges issue are to do with event dates and statement dates being different). PM me if you can provide more specifics for me to work from. I can't refund or reverse the charges, but I can perhaps at least enlighten you as to why it's happening.