Need advice - dealing with Santander and overdraft charges

WinterRose_2

Hi,

I've just registered so I'm sorry if this post is in the wrong forum. Briefly, this is my situation:

I am 20, I live with my uncle and for the last few years he has been drowning in debt; refusing to look at his bank statements, leaving mountains of unopened post stashed all over the house, being threatened by bailiffs on a weekly basis. This problem has been exacerbated by his "head in the sand" attitude, so I spoke with him & decided to "de facto" take over his accounts and finances.

I registered him for online banking so that I could clearly map his incoming/outgoing cash, cancelled any superfluous Direct debits (of which there were many!), set up new DD instructions for the rent/council tax/utility payments etc and borrowed him £600 to pay off some of his outstanding debits. Things are gradually starting to get back on track ....

However, due to his previous poor money management, Santander have listed 5 "unpaid item" charges on his current account and they want to take £150.00 from him on the 29th May. This is a huge portion of his "disposable" income and it will push him back into the minus numbers and liable to more overdraft charges. Is there any way that we can negotiate with Santander to waive at least some of them, if we fully explain his situation?

IrishGypsy

WinterRose wrote: »

Hi,

I've just registered so I'm sorry if this post is in the wrong forum. Briefly, this is my situation:

I am 20, I live with my uncle and for the last few years he has been drowning in debt; refusing to look at his bank statements, leaving mountains of unopened post stashed all over the house, being threatened by bailiffs on a weekly basis. This problem has been exacerbated by his "head in the sand" attitude, so I spoke with him & decided to "de facto" take over his accounts and finances.

I registered him for online banking so that I could clearly map his incoming/outgoing cash, cancelled any superfluous Direct debits (of which there were many!), set up new DD instructions for the rent/council tax/utility payments etc and borrowed him £600 to pay off some of his outstanding debits. Things are gradually starting to get back on track ....

However, due to his previous poor money management, Santander have listed 5 "unpaid item" charges on his current account and they want to take £150.00 from him on the 29th May. This is a huge portion of his "disposable" income and it will push him back into the minus numbers and liable to more overdraft charges. Is there any way that we can negotiate with Santander to waive at least some of them, if we fully explain his situation?

Sorry to hear about your Uncle's situation, but at least you're helping to get him on the right track. Unless the issue was a Santander error you'll struggle to get them all back.

If your uncle isn't over his authorised OD limit yet then he'll have to see what a branch can do to refund/reverse some of them.

If they can't or won't reverse or refund all of the charges (and try not to shout at the staff if you can ), then I strongly recommend that you do what you can to get them covered before the 29th, otherwise you'll trigger additional daily unauthorised fees at £5 per day for a maximum of 20 days.

Best of luck.

zxspeccy

It sounds like the charges are justified, as in all likelihood they were detailed in the T&Cs of the account. However it is always worth asking the bank if they could waive/reduce these charges, but do this in a nice way as shouting at them will not get you the result you are after, especially as the bank have done nothing wrong. Ultimately if the bank do waived/reduce then it would be as a “gesture of goodwill” and they would expect the account to be run within it’s agreed limits in future.
Also unless you have some Third Party Authority or a Power of Attorney your uncle’s bank will not speak to you due to the Date Protection Act (in fact you best not mention you has access to his account online, as this may be seen as a breach in T&Cs as well).
If the bank will not budge on it charges then you will somehow need to get them covered as further charges may get applied if the account continues to go overdrawn and it is a downwards spiral from there.

It is great that you are helping out you uncle, and what you have done so far is absolutely the right thing.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

WinterRose_2

zxspeccy wrote: »

It sounds like the charges are justified, as in all likelihood they were detailed in the T&Cs of the account. However it is always worth asking the bank if they could waive/reduce these charges, but do this in a nice way as shouting at them will not get you the result you are after, especially as the bank have done nothing wrong. Ultimately if the bank do waived/reduce then it would be as a “gesture of goodwill” and they would expect the account to be run within it’s agreed limits in future.
Also unless you have some Third Party Authority or a Power of Attorney your uncle’s bank will not speak to you due to the Date Protection Act (in fact you best not mention you has access to his account online, as this may be seen as a breach in T&Cs as well).
If the bank will not budge on it charges then you will somehow need to get them covered as further charges may get applied if the account continues to go overdrawn and it is a downwards spiral from there.

It is great that you are helping out you uncle, and what you have done so far is absolutely the right thing.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

So, it's been a while - just a quick update, if anyone cares! I sent Santander a secure message online concerning the bank charges, and they responded within 24 hours and waived the full £150!! :j :beer:

As for my uncle, it feels like he's finally taken his head out of the sand. We've spent weeks going through unopened post, and our rooting has uncovered some nice unexpected finds - 2k in shares from the 90s that he'd long forgotten about, old insurance policies with a cash surrender value, at least a dozen neglected cheques and tax refunds, pension schemes that he started and then abandoned as his employment changed etc. We're able to manage/consolidate all his debts, which have a current total of £2,400.

As for me...now that my uncle is starting to get "off the ground" financially, I'm hoping he can continue to manage his money on his own. I still help with all the Internet-related stuff because it's easier, but I've pinned a notice in the kitchen with an exhaustive list of his direct debits and the days they leave his account / made savings targets for him etc. If he can stick to it, we're sorted :cool:

innovate

That's brilliant news for you, and your uncle can be very pleased he's got someone like you to hopefully got him back on track. Well done! Keep up the good work - and many thanks for coming back with an update.

ruthy123

i am with rbs and have been for five years. i dont have an overdraft and in may this year i was overdrawn by £19 they have charged me £18 total owing £37 which was paid when my wage went in on the 31/05/12. everything was okay, payments coming out for direct debits etc. then yesterday 19/06/12 i looked at my statement on line and it said i was -£203 and these were bank charges. i have spoke to numerous people on the phone at RBS and they have said that they charge £6 per day for being overdrawn. when i asked why did they not take the money when my wages went in they said it only comes out on certain days and that was the 18/06/12 i have told them i cant afford to pay this and that being overdrawn by £19 and being charged £203 is ridiculous but they wont listen has anyone got any advice

trikidy

The staff in branch can clear it, they did this to me, charged me £50 one month so I went in to complain as it was for going over £1 and £5, luckily the woman was a friend of the family. She cleared the charges and said that I had £250 of charges coming for the next month! She wiped them for me too. I closed my account and left, I strongly dislike them.

Sailmakers

trikidy wrote: »

The staff in branch can clear it, they did this to me, charged me £50 one month so I went in to complain as it was for going over £1 and £5, luckily the woman was a friend of the family. She cleared the charges and said that I had £250 of charges coming for the next month! She wiped them for me too. I closed my account and left, I strongly dislike them.

So u leave a bank where you have a close contact who saved you a bunch of money. With that kind of logic it's no wonder you went overdrawn in the first place :wall:

WinterRose_2

ruthy123 wrote: »

i am with rbs and have been for five years. i dont have an overdraft and in may this year i was overdrawn by £19 they have charged me £18 total owing £37 which was paid when my wage went in on the 31/05/12. everything was okay, payments coming out for direct debits etc. then yesterday 19/06/12 i looked at my statement on line and it said i was -£203 and these were bank charges. i have spoke to numerous people on the phone at RBS and they have said that they charge £6 per day for being overdrawn. when i asked why did they not take the money when my wages went in they said it only comes out on certain days and that was the 18/06/12 i have told them i cant afford to pay this and that being overdrawn by £19 and being charged £203 is ridiculous but they wont listen has anyone got any advice

The only advice I really have is to go into the branch and communicate with the bank graciously and courteously. If you go in shouting the odds and blaming the staff then they won't feel obliged to help you - and with things like bank charges, any fee waive is just a goodwill gesture on their part and you have to be aware of that. Go in, calmly explain the situation (accept a bit of personal responsibility for being overdrawn), appeal to their compassion and just ask if they could do anything to waive it. Even if the charges have already been paid, they still have the power to reverse them. Good luck xx