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Can you accuse the bank in a complaint, without hard evidence?
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Nine_Lives
Posts: 3,031 Forumite
Basically there's been a kcoc-up between Santander & Halifax with my girlfriends ISA & it's cost her an agreed rate of interest.
As pointed out by a member on here, Halifax would've been happy to close the account (resulting in the lower rate) as they would've then had to pay out the smaller fee.
This is an accusation that could've been put to them in a letter, but there's obviously no hard evidence that this was the reason behind their "mistake".
Question is, can you get into bother for accusing them of being underhand like this? Want to complain, but don't want to overstep the mark.
As pointed out by a member on here, Halifax would've been happy to close the account (resulting in the lower rate) as they would've then had to pay out the smaller fee.
This is an accusation that could've been put to them in a letter, but there's obviously no hard evidence that this was the reason behind their "mistake".
Question is, can you get into bother for accusing them of being underhand like this? Want to complain, but don't want to overstep the mark.
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What exactly has happened - or is that in another thread?Can I find out my credit score?You do not have a single credit score or rating. Different organisations take different information into account when working out your credit score and may have different scores for different products. (Kindly from Experian)0
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The details are in another thread, but the basic jist of the complaint:
* gf had "old money" ISA with Halifax gaining 3.2%. It was actually gaining 3.0%, but the extra 0.2% gets lumped on at the end of 12 months so long as the account stays £1+ for 12 months.
* Santander release their 3.5% 1yr fixed ISA the other week, so the gf opens it with a balance of £0.
* She transfers her "this years" ISA (held with Santander) into the 1yr fixed.
* She fills out the form to transfer ALL BUT £1 of her Halifax "old money" ISA into the Santander 1yr fixed ISA.
* The Halifax ISA then ends up being closed & the entire balance seemingly transferred (not yet credited to Santander).
Someone has messed up. Halifax blame Santander (surprise surprise), but as already suggested - Halifax gain by actioning this mistake themselves.
The gf called Santander who found her form & said she had indeed filled it out CORRECTLY and £1 should have remained at Halifax.0 -
Question is, can you get into bother for accusing them of being underhand like this? Want to complain, but don't want to overstep the mark.
If they were told to close the account and send the lot, and if they'd been a nice friendly obliging bank, they could have contacted your gf and pointed out the advantage of leaving £1 in. But you can't complain formally that they didn't do that, you can only grumble."It will take, five, 10, 15 years to get back to where we need to be. But it's no longer the individual banks that are in the wrong, it's the banking industry as a whole." - Steven Cooper, head of personal and business banking at Barclays, talking to Martin Lewis0 -
Basically there's been a kcoc-up between Santander & Halifax with my girlfriends ISA & it's cost her an agreed rate of interest.
Organisations prefer making "ex-gratia" awards than admitting error. Usually "ex-gratia" offers are adequately generous, often more generous than calculated "compensation".
Partly that is because while the FOS process is free to the complainer, the organisation win or lose incurs a £500ish case fee.0 -
Partly that is because while the FOS process is free to the complainer, the organisation win or lose incurs a £500ish case fee.
And currently five out of every six complaints received are handled by frontline staff without resorting to formal adjudication.
We've been here before haven't we?0 -
OP,
When I had a similar issue a few years ago (YBS to A&L ISA transfer was taking forever, and neither would admit liability), I went straight to the FOS, via phone, as well as raising formal complaints with each organisation,
The FOS took the details of my complaint and passed it on to both organisations. The 'payout' for me amounted to some £325 (although some of it was lost interest, the goodwill paid by A&L was substantial...well into 3 figures [circa £200 rings a bell] from memory).0 -
So who on earth do you complain to then really?
I appreciate what you're saying - that Halifax can only action the request from Santander, but how is the request put to them?
If Santander just say "give us all the money from account 12345678" then where's the proof that this is what the customer requested?
However, if Santander fax (or email, or whatever) the original transfer request form as filled out by the customer, then it is impossible to be disputed & the blame would then lay with Halifax totally, as the form states 1) the account is to NOT be closed and 2) an actual figure to transfer (for example, £499 of a £500 balance, leaving only £1 remaining).
I don't know how the system works - whether Halifax are just "asked" to release some funds on the word of Santander, or whether they actually see the original transfer form.
So on the back of this, i don't know really who she should be directing her complaint towards. Both of them would cover all bases, but surely the blame only lays with one of them.0 -
YorkshireBoy wrote: »We've been here before haven't we?
Possibly. I once saw copies of case correspondence (under SAR rules, but foc). As a matter of fact I can tell you that the first correspondence from the FOS to the financial organisation clearly stated that the case fee now applied.
I don't *know* I am right, only that I know the correspondence "fact" I state is correct. Do you have a contrary factual basis in support of your argument? Did I deploy my argument last time?0 -
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YorkshireBoy wrote: »Only that which I've previously provided to you, and which is freely available on the FOS website.
Oh go on. Post the FOS link.0
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