Santander ignored my complaint and continue to do so even after I involved the F.O

mohamed666

Hi Guys!

I am going through a nightmare situation! 3 Years ago I read somewhere that I could reclaim bank charges and unarranged overdraft fees. Considering that I have paid £100's over the years, I thought I would give this ago, since I had nothing to lose. Santander agreed to cover new charges which we're applied after I made the complaint, but refused to refund previous charges which I had paid prior to making the complaint. All I had to do was wait a few days/weeks for this to happen.

After a few weeks went past, while I waited for the credit to be applied and then I was hit with new charges.. This time for being in overdraft for so long - I was waiting for Santander to credit the previous charges. I called and spoke with a member of their team; he advised me that he would arrange for the new charges to be applied.

I thought the matter was resolved for good, so I completely forgot about it. I then had several personal issues come at once, I was forced to move homes/even staying abroad for a while. I decided to get my life back on track, I applied for various jobs I even secured a interview at my dream job. I went through interviews with flying colours, they then carried out a credit check and my application was rejected. The opportunities came like buses one after the other. I was offered a role at another company with much less money than the job I was originally interviewed for, but I was simply over the moon to be back in work - I accepted. I moved into a flat, I contacted Santander and other, I had dealings with and asked that they update my address and contact details.

A few months later I decided to open a current account with a high street bank to my shock I was declined. I couldn't puzzle together why I was declined, so I decided to carry out a credit check. When the results of my credit check came back from Experian. I noticed that Santander reported that I owed them £98 for 2 years!!! I spoke to an advisor at Experian about the matter, he advised that Santander can remove status from my credit report. I called and spoke to an advisor, I had two accounts with them, she advised me that the account with the negative balance was closed due to the overdraft and said I could write a letter to complain re; demand for charges that should have been credited, account closure and damage to my credit history.

I wrote a letter to Santander explaining what had happened, I asked them to cross reference what I said with the notes on my account and requested they remove the status from my account. I received a simple fob off letter, which had nothing to do with what I wrote in my letter. I wrote to them again, this time round I asked them for statements covering that period in time. I received another fob off letter, this time round it was totally irrelevant to what I said in my letter and they ignored my request for statements, however with the letter there was a booklet advising me to contact the Financial Ombudsman, if I still wasn't satisfied with their response/service.

I decided to contact the Financial Ombudsman in regards to the matter, the advisor I spoke with was very helpful and said this should never have happened. She asked that I send her statements showing when Santander credited the charges and when the new charges was applied
I called Santander to request that they issue these statements, but the person I was speaking with was more concerned with why I went to the Financial Ombudsman. She said she couldn't understand why I referred my complaint to them, she also said that they've tried to help me as much as they could, but I was at fault and should accept this. I was really unhappy with this, I explained to her what had happened and in the end, I asked her if I was at fault, but she didn't respond. In the end I asked her to send me the statements, so I could forward it to Santander, she agreed.

A week later, I received statements covering the date in question, but for the wrong account. I contacted them again, this time via email, I explained that they had sent me the wrong statements and I requested they forward me the right ones.

A few days letter I received a letter from a collect 'Capquest' demanding payment for the outstanding balance. I was shocked, confused and really angry.

The first thought that came to mind was; why, why didn't they contact me prior to my complaint regarding this matter. I haven't contacted the debt collectors nor Santander since then as I'm considering my options.

Can you guys please offer me advise on what path I should take next, should I pay off the debt collector in-order to avoid escalating the matter?

P.s: Santander have sent me the wrong statements again!! :mad:

InsideInsurance

If you want account information you could do a SARs request under the Data Protection Act and get all information held about you for all your accounts etc held with them thus avoiding the "wrong statements" issue (this assumes that records are still held electronically but if it is only 2 years ago I'd be highly surprised if they arent).