Santander Cheeky ******

Melissa22_Mum

They are now charging me 20.00 a month for 450.00 overdraft. I nearly fainted when I got the email this morning. Not only that they are trying and going to fail, to charge me 50.00 for once going over by 2.98 when I transferred money over to put me back in credit minutes later and for going 93 pence over and money went in the next morning.

How much longer are they going to get away with doing these kind of things. We've just moved house and I've been rearranging my meagre finances. I was planning to pay off the cruddy overdraft by about 20.00 a month as it's all I can really afford.

Anthorn

Personally I think Santander are wrong in this and no doubt some bright spark will challenge it in a court of law, will win and then Santander will be deluged with claims for refund of the charge. Basically, what Santander is doing is fleecing those customers who are locked into their bank account because of the overdraft!

Previously, the daily charge for authorised overdrafts was 50p a day with a max of £5. So the new charge represents a doubling of the daily charge and a quadrupling of the maximum charge.

I received a leaflet with my statement and the new charge is stated at the top of my statement. But perhaps that is only useful if you get paper statements

Melissa22_Mum

I turned my paper statements off ages ago. They always seem to be changing things left right and centre. I can't count how many leaflets in miniscule writing I've recieved from all of my bank accounts. It's just over half of my overdraft they want back in a year. I'm most definately locked into it. Can't believe they can get away with it.

MonkeyMad

They can 'get away with it' because there are several other high street banks available with different pricing structures available for the services you are choosing to take. If you don't like the one you have go elsewhere - your overdraft is repayable on demand, so you can't really claim you are locked into any account just because you currently are OD.

Anthorn

MonkeyMad wrote: »

They can 'get away with it' because there are several other high street banks available with different pricing structures available for the services you are choosing to take. If you don't like the one you have go elsewhere - your overdraft is repayable on demand, so you can't really claim you are locked into any account just because you currently are OD.

Of course they are locked into the account: For many people the only way to escape the charges by moving to a different bank is to go into bad debt. i.e. open a new bank account, transfer all salary credits and direct debits to the new account and then make an agreement with the old bank to pay off the overdraft. Either that or take out a loan to pay of the overdraft which is likely to result in a greater monthly charge.

In an ideal world where a bank increases charges we would simply move to a different bank. But many people don't live in an ideal world!

BECKIN1507

I've just changed to a preferred account, I think thats what they call it, I only get charged £5 a month :j I swapped accounts online, it was all very easy and all account numbers are the same. Might be worth seeing if they'll let you have that acccount.

Wyndham

You did choose it. I've never used an overdraft in my life, but that's just how I handle money - for me the line is at 0, not minus something or other. So I've never paid bank charges.

bengal-stripe

Melissa22_Mum wrote: »

......to charge me 50.00 for once going over by 2.98 when I transferred money over to put me back in credit minutes later and for going 93 pence over and money went in the next morning.

Since last December, Santander gives you a buffer of £12.00.

You won't get charged if you go over less than £12.00. But of course if you exceed those 12 quid by £2.98 or £0.93 respectively, you will get charged.

Melissa22_Mum

I chose Abbey years ago, like most people. My life changed having children moving house, having other things to spend money on rather than yourself, like most people.

I'm happy for those people that can draw the line at 0 and never borrow anything and never have to. Good for you, thanks for telling us that.

Thanks for telling me about the 12.00 buffer, I didn't know about that. I'll have to look into that more. Santander changed my account to the Everyday account. I changed all my payments to a new joint account, I was then going to pay in say around 20.00 a month to start to pay off the overdraft. I've shifted my CC debts to a 0% for 23 months through my partner so that's sorted that out and we budgeted for everything rounding it all up by a few quid so we had a little cushion. Last thing I needed was 70.00 shoved onto the end of it.

They get away with it because they CAN. If no one ever complained they would be charging a hell of a lot more. As another poster noted I am locked into it as I can't shift anymore debt as I've already got to pay off the CC.

MonkeyMad

I'm not buying the 'my life changed' line. We've all had to do that, and we have all had to borrow money, but some of us recognise that it comes at a cost not entirely within our control. You have an opinion that the bank has a duty to offer you a credit line at whatever price YOU choose, and that's not the case. They are offering you the ability to pay your day to day bills. And they told you about this back in January so why the surprise?

Customer: I don't like the fees you are charging me for my borrowing.
Bank: I'm afraid those are our standard rates
Customer: They are more than they used to be
Bank: We have changed our tariffs to reflect market conditions
Customer: I can't afford those charges
Bank: Stop taking those services
Customer: I can't, I need to pay my bills
Bank: Would you like us to stop advancing you the money and return your debits unpaid, it may cost less?
Customer: No, I want the services
Bank: Then, I'm afraid you have to pay for them
Customer: I can't, I need to pay my credit card, and pay for my mobile phone
Bank: I'm afraid that is not an issue I can deal with
Customer: I still don't want to pay these new levels
Bank: Then you have the option of clearing your overdraft
Customer: I can't, I've explained
Bank: Then you will need to present to us a case to stop the charges on the basis of hardship. But I doubt we will entertain it if we find you have got a mobile phone


If you had enough CC debt to make it worthwhile shifting to a 0% card, then the reduction in interest on that should be paying your overdraft charge.

@Anthorn, Santanders figures suggest a personal loan is considerably cheaper than their overdraft rates. Why would a consumer not try to get a loan to pay the OD off this way?

Anthorn

MonkeyMad wrote: »

@Anthorn, Santanders figures suggest a personal loan is considerably cheaper than their overdraft rates. Why would a consumer not try to get a loan to pay the OD off this way?

Depends on the total overdraft and its charges and the total loan and its charges and the person involved. Can't really put a blanket definition there. Interest on a loan would vary according to the risk and the period of repayment. I don't have an overdraft so I don't speak from experience but I'm assuming that the £1.00p per day and maximum £20.00p per month is a flat fee whereas taking out a loan could involve extra charges and a whopping interest rate. Taking the OP as an example, to borrow £450 to pay off the overdraft it is likely but not certain they will have to borrow a minimum of £1,000. To borrow just £450 it is likely that the loan will come from a doorstep loan company with the result that the total amount repaid is four times or more the amount of the original loan!

To sum up, it all depends on the circumstances which will differ from person to person.