Santander refusing to refund ANY charges!

Claireaabella

Hiya!

Sent the standard letter from MSE to Santander to reclaim bank charges from past 6 years and have today received a letter back to say they wont be refunding ANY charges, they have answered all my questions raised and if Iam not happy to send a copy of their letter to the Financial Ombudsman (even enclosing a helpful booklet to show me how to complain!)

I had raised the issue that I was being bank charged while unemployed having my entire £80 Jobseekers taken by the bank leaving me with no money to live on so I had to stop having my benefit paid into my bank account.

Should I go straight to the ombudsman with this? Santander sound pretty confident I wont be getting anything back. What the success rate of getting bank charges back?

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks! =]

dunstonh

What the success rate of getting bank charges back?

Anyone's guess but based on limited info on what you have posted, then I would initially set it at under 10% chance.

The FOS cannot tell a bank to refund charges. If it feels you have suffered extreme hardship (priority arrears and your statement shows you currently living hand to mouth with no luxuries or non-essentials on it) then it can ask the bank to take another look. That is all though.

Claireaabella

Bummer. Under 10% sounds awful! I will pursue it as they left me with no money while unemployed and caused me to go overdrawn further and further by continuing to charge me even though I had explained my situation.

I will go ahead and fingers crossed I am one of those 10%!

Thanks for your help

Claireaabella

Gave the FOS a call who also confirmed as I am now in full time employment and not in "financial hardship" it would be very difficult to pursue the bank since the court case of 2009.

Gutted =(

pandora1864

I started my claim against Santander in April 2011 to get back bank charges, they immediately rejected my claim, so I took it to the FOS, I thought I had a good case. Unemployed since Oct 2008 and sinking into a pit of despair, it came to a point when I could not feed my family as the bank charges were so high. Right from the start the FOS adudicator seemed more on the side of Santander, and was refused my claim. We took it to the Ombudsman and we finally heard today that I have been rejected again, but have been awarded £50 because Santander told an outright lie.[ They said they had refunded me £500 in July 2009, well I keep all my bank statements and I could prove they did not refund me anything]. The Ombudsman claims I did not tell the bank early enough that I was having financial difficulties - but I was so depressed I could not even think straight. I am very disapointed. Thankfully I have got myself back on my feet but have huge debts due to my time of unemployment.

dunstonh

Right from the start the FOS adudicator seemed more on the side of Santander, and was refused my claim.

The FOS dont take sides. They have to consider rules and laws although they do take into account fairness. Since the court case win, the FOS has little legal reason to tell a bank to refund charges.

magpiecottage

Whether the OP can get anywhere with this probably hinges on whether they told the bank of their difficulties at the time.

If they can show they did and the bank just added the charges anyway then I think there is scope for FOS to uphold.

However, it tends to take the view that if a customer simply runs up debts for no apparent reason and does not tell the bank then the bank has not acted unreasonably.