Santander - Rather Unhelpful

strawbray

Hi Folks,

First time post so be gentle. I have been doing a little spring cleaning of late attempting to be a debt free wannabe.
The trouble that I am having is that I have an overdraft on an account that I no longer use (£1150).
I called last week to explain my current situation, went from working full time to part time to protect my job as well as others in the company.
I threw all I could at the overdraft (£800) and asked if they can reduce the overdraft to £300 (without telling them that it was my intention to clear and close the account over the coming months).
They said that they are unwilling to reduce it, that it is all or nothing. It would be mutually beneficial to reduce it to this amount - Santander get a large chunk of their money back and I get to chip away at what is left.
To say that they were a little unhelpful is a bit of an understatement as I am trying to take control over it but they have a vested interest in keeping the overdraft at the current level as it nets them £25 in fees (£5 under funding and £20 arranged overdraft fee). I know they are within their rights to insist on this or remove it in it's entirely but surely they can meet people half way or in this case 1/3rd of the way.
The best of it is, the £800 represents 2 months net salary to me and a lot to pay back but was willing to do it.
I'll transfer back into savings but may be another six months and £125 in fees until I can clear it.

malkyh

..................

Sorry my response was based on me reading your post incorrectly.

bargainbetty

Go back and ask to speak to a supervisor. Explain that the fees associated with the current arrangement are high, and that you are seeking to reduce your outgoings to enable you to repay the debt. Ask why they will not actively assist a customer in this, and ask that a written response be provided. Make it a formal complaint. You are far more likely to get a response from someone higher up.

Good luck

lazer

An overdraft limit is only a limit - if you are not in the overdraft you will not be charged.

You should be using your overdraft with them at all if you are not using it as your main current account though (It is one of the main reasons overdrafts are cancelled!)

If you are paying off your credit card, do you phone them up and ask to reduce your credit limit every time?

An overdraft limit is simply available credit.

Santander are not being unhelpful (in fact they are being very helpful by not cancelling your overdraft straight away since you are not using the account)

PS - you could save the £5 underfunding fee bu transferring £1000 un and out of the account each month - this can be the same £100 moved in and out 10 times or whatever.

Continue to pay amounts into your bank account and the overdraft will reduce. By putting £800 into your account the overdraft is reduced to £350 (But the limit has not changed - so in theory you could access the £800 again)

cats2012

I'm not sure I understand why you can't just pay the £800 onto the overdraft...? Why would a £300 overdraft be any cheaper if the majority is still a general overdraft fee?

strawbray

The point I was making is that a £300 limit is much more manageable amount and if it is an enforced limit then that helps me in that it removes the temptation to use any of the £800 or there abouts that I had paid in.
Last month I paid of a Blackhorse Loan of £2000 and the month before I paid off and closed a Capital One account which was another £2000.
You understand, I am wanting to take control of my financial state of affairs and this was the last thing I needed to sort out to be debt free other than my mortgage.
I work in financial services and the possibilty of moving to another full time role is made the more difficult because of the extended amount of time that this overdraft has remained on my account.
It only happened in the first place because of an issue with the transfer process to Bank of Scotland. I never regularly used it but during the switching process, there was money flying out both accounts.

This would help in the chart below:
Balance Fees Payments New Balance
September 300 25 100 225
October 225 25 100 150
November 150 25 100 75
December 75 25 100 Closed

R_P_W

Hi sorry if I'm being a bit thick here but from the OP I take the following:-

You are currently using £1150 overdraft on a current account which you dont really use as your main account any more?

You want to pay in £800 to significantly reduce the balance owed? On doing this you want them to reduce the available overdraft to £300 to remove the possibility of you running up to the limit again?

Sounds kind of sensible to me, BUT 1150 - 800 = £350. So if they reduced the limit to £300 you would be £50 into an unauthorised overdraft wouldn't you?

Can you not just pay off £800 leave it as it is and then pay off the remainder next month and ask them to close the account?

strawbray

R_P_W wrote: »

Hi sorry if I'm being a bit thick here but from the OP I take the following:-

You are currently using £1150 overdraft on a current account which you dont really use as your main account any more?

You want to pay in £800 to significantly reduce the balance owed? On doing this you want them to reduce the available overdraft to £300 to remove the possibility of you running up to the limit again?

Sounds kind of sensible to me, BUT 1150 - 800 = £350. So if they reduced the limit to £300 you would be £50 into an unauthorised overdraft wouldn't you?

Can you not just pay off £800 leave it as it is and then pay off the remainder next month and ask them to close the account?

Sorry, it was me being a little thick, long day job hunting. Yes, I meant reduce to £350 and not £300 as previously stated.
I work part time on a small income and paying all this debt over such a short period off time has sapped all savings bar this £800 that I was wanting to pay. I'm not looking for a get out of jail free card, just a little understanding from the bank as I'm sure they have sought in Spain, and a little bit of understanding.
It's not as though I have a bad credit history bar this current account as I keep a good eye on it.

lazer

strawbray wrote: »

The point I was making is that a £300 limit is much more manageable amount and if it is an enforced limit then that helps me in that it removes the temptation to use any of the £800 or there abouts that I had paid in.

So basically you want Santander to manage your money for you so resist temptation?

Are you going to ask them to reduce the limit everytime you pay off another £25 as well?

Simply pay the £800 and forget about it - cut up any cards associated with the account etc so you cannot use the money again.

You should be able to manage your own money.

Aryndeneth

lazer wrote: »

So basically you want Santander to manage your money for you so resist temptation?

Are you going to ask them to reduce the limit everytime you pay off another £25 as well?

Simply pay the £800 and forget about it - cut up any cards associated with the account etc so you cannot use the money again.

You should be able to manage your own money.

Erm, if we all never had issues with managing money, we wouldn't need this forum would we? Remember that this board is for helping, not making people feel bad.

As for your comments about asking the institution to reduce the credit limit everytime you make a payment, why not? I did on numerous ocassions. Managing debt can be time-consuming and hard work for some people and I fully appreciate what it's like to slog along and then snap and undo your progress in getting to debt-free. If the credit limit isn't there, you can't do that much damage and the temptation to splurge is lowered. And cutting up cards isn't an option if you still need to access the money for genuine reasons.

HeadAboveWater

I was able to reduce my Santander overdraft online every time I got a bit more paid off it.