Is this standard banking practice

highestb1d

I have a current account with Santander (everyday account)
I never had a salary paid into this account so I never applied for an overdraft facility. I opened the current account when I opened my free business account but I decided to keep a salary going into my Halifax current account because I couldnt be bothered transfering my bill payments.

Ok, so I setup a standing order for a gym last October for £16 through my santander current account, It was the santander card I had on me at the time when I walked into the gym so I just transfered £16 into the account a few days before the standing order was due from my Halifax account (every month)

This worked out fine until I joined the gym for a year with cash, I stopped transfering £16 to my santander account and I just forgot all about it thinking the money would no longer be paid to the gym because the funds were not available.

That was in July and I was gobsmacked to receive a call from their collections department today asking how I was going to settle a bill of over £400 !
They didnt pay a single penny to the gym so I didnt go overdrawn with any money I spent, They created an unauthorised overdraft by slapping a £25 charge on my account every month since july but in the second month they hit the account with unauthorised overdraft fees and a further £25 and so forth and so forth creating this ridiculous bill.

So my question..........
is this standard practice to hit a customer for charges like this for having a standing order setup with no funds in the account and no overdraft facility setup?
*Iam particularly annoyed I never received any warning letters through the post ( they say letters were sent to my online banking)
*no warning emails
* They only contacted me by phone today allowing all these charges to just mount up to this ridiculous level when no salary has ever entered the account
*no money was spent or left my account unless funds were available


£400 in charges over a £16 Gym membership standing order

Help !!!

mgdavid

when you opened this account, what arrangement did you make about statements, are they posted to you or did you choose to manage the account online?

highestb1d

I think I did choose to have the statements paperless.

But surely an email or a phone call from them at an earlier stage would have been more appropriate in these circumstances.
I cant believe all high street banks would let these charges accumulate and pass straight to collections before making an effort to warn me but I'm guessing you're going to say they're covered by sending electronic statements to my online banking account?

Seems sharp practice at the very least this outrageous bill

dalesrider

I ssem to remember that when Mrs set hers up. That you have to transfer £250 a month to avoid being charged.
She gets a email to advise of any messages.
Have you changed your email or checked spam/junk folder?

It will only have been picked up as you have not made any money movements after a certain period. and passed to credit dept.

pqrdef

Paperless is a trap, a snare and a pitfall. As soon as you go paperless you take on the responsibility for checking your online statement promptly every month even if you don't expect there to be anything on it.

Santander give advance notice of charges - they tell you on their statements what charges they're going to apply next month, so if you aren't disputing the charge you can at least get some money into the account to cover it, so it doesn't give rise to an overdraft.

highestb1d

Ok well I'll have to live and learn.

I'm changing all my financial accounts back to paper statements, I'll never get caught like this again.
They've just offered to drop the bill to £220 as a gesture of good will so I'll accept that and move on.

Thanks for the replies