Santander Bank Charges - where do go next

redlooney

Looking for advice please - I had an Alliance & Leicester Premier Direct account some years ago and after getting married, created a joint account with my wife via the Halifax
At that time, I had an agreed £500 overdraft facility and owed £150 in that account.
After setting up the joint account, I moved my salary from the A&L account and left it alone ie I didnt use it for any further withdrawals, direct debits or standing orders etc for well over a year
Last October, I subsequently received an official looking letter, opened it and found that Santander were chasing me for over £700 for fees and charges they had applied to the account
I contacted them by phone straightaway and was advised they had rung my housephone and also written letters re the account during the last 12 months.
I explained that we dont use the housephone and that I'd disregarded letters from Santander, as I thought they were flyers (my fault, I know now)
Sorry for rambling - my update is thus - I agreed to pay 3 amounts of £50 on the first of the month for the last 3 months and they waived approx £100 of the charges applied, which still left £500 outstanding.
When I last spoke to them in October, I asked if someone with the authority to discuss the amount of charges applied could
contact me, which has never happened.
Today I have received a default notice advising that I have 28 days to pay the oustanding £503 owing on the account.
I have rung them again and been advised that, as the account is now in default, they are not prepared to discuss the amount of fees/charges they have applied to the unused account and that I have 28 days to find the money
Does anyone know where I should turn next, as I thought the days of banks levering such charges had gone and I say that because I never used the account for anything and yet gthey are trying to charge me £700 for that privilege.
Sorry for length of post but I'm trying to give as much info as I can
Thanks for any help

antrobus

redlooney wrote: »

.. I had an Alliance & Leicester Premier Direct account some years ago... I had an agreed £500 overdraft facility and owed £150 in that account. After setting up the joint account, I moved my salary from the A&L account and left it alone ie I didnt use it for any further withdrawals, direct debits or standing orders etc for well over a year...

What did you think was going to happen about the £150 that you owed the former A&L bank?

redlooney

antrobus wrote: »

What did you think was going to happen about the £150 that you owed the former A&L bank?

It was on my "to do" list tbh and I accept that I have to pay some penance but, if my maths is about right, even charging me 8% interest doesnt amount to anywhere near £700, does it ?
I've now paid back the £150 I owed them re the overdraft - its the size of the fees and charges I'm disputing.
Ive tried reasoning with the bank over the phone and have said that I would be willing to meet them halfway ie pay £250, but they wont even entertain the idea and are sticking with the 28 days and full monies owed.
I'm hoping someone will direct me to a mediator/ombudsman or is it worth my while trying to write to somewhere in the bank hierarchy, to see if someone can be reasonable in all this ?

noh

Pay what you owe and take it as a lesson learnt never to ignore a debt they won't go away and will usually get bigger.

You have racked up overdraft fees and probably underfunding fees.
The charges are what you agreed to.

antrobus

redlooney wrote: »

...
I'm hoping someone will direct me to a mediator/ombudsman or is it worth my while trying to write to somewhere in the bank hierarchy, to see if someone can be reasonable in all this ?

You will be wanting http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

innovate

antrobus wrote: »

You will be wanting http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

You can only go to the FOS if your formal complaint with Santander has not been resolved within 8 weeks from raising the complaint. Doesn't look as if the OP has raised a formal complaint. And tbh, I am not sure what the complaint would be about.

dalesrider

innovate wrote: »

You can only go to the FOS if your formal complaint with Santander has not been resolved. Doesn't look as if the OP has raised a formal complaint. And tbh, I am not sure what the complaint would be about.

Quite given the OP actually owed £150 and had removed the means of payment to the account.
Has ignored letters and admits that they also do not answer the phone.

OP says on to do list, yet still ignored letters.....

And now is looking for a way out.

Given that fee's are £1 a day (max £20 a month ) within o/d and then £5 (max £100 20 days) once exceded o/d.
Max charges £150 a month.

This has been going on a long time... So it looks more like on the too ignore list to the bank.

ses6jwg

You've done the classic "bury your head in the sand" and now it's coming back to bite.

I would reccomend calling the collections department and seeing if you can arrange a payment plan for what you owe.

redlooney

Can I say thanks to Innovate and Antrobus for their posts - I can see that you are trying to assist a fellow poster - much appreciated.
To the others, I apologise - I thought this was a forum where members could post enquiries with a view to hoping that someone would know of an avenue to continue matters to resolve such a financial problem that I havent faced before.
Clearly, I was mistaken and you have no idea how happy I am that your lives are perfect.
May they remain so and that you have no need to try and engage others with any problems.

noh

The way to resolve the matter is to pay what you owe.
You agreed to the charges when you entered into the contract and now for some reason you don't want pay what you agreed to.

pmduk

redlooney wrote: »

s it worth my while trying to write to somewhere in the bank hierarchy, to see if someone can be reasonable in all this ?

perhaps it's you being unreasonable? Nobody would accuse me of being a Santander fan, but what more could any bank have done? They've written to you, phoned you, but you chose to ignore them.

I suspect part of the problem may be that a while ago Santander appeared to start enforcing a lot of the charges and contract terms in A&L accounts more rigorously. In particular an underfunding fee if you didn't pay the minimum into the account each month.

On occasions I have felt it would have been fairer for Santander to have warned customers of the change in approach, this wouldn't have worked for you, because you'd have ignored the letter telling you, Neither did you give the bank a phone number on which they could contact you.

I wouldn't hold out much hope with the ombudsman, they exist to help being being treated unfairly from the bank. That's not the same as people who don't like the charges they've accrued.

redlooney wrote: »

I thought this was a forum where members could post enquiries with a view to hoping that someone would know of an avenue to continue matters to resolve such a financial problem that I havent faced before.

Many people have attempted to assist you by explaining you're unlikely to receive much leniency from Santander. I suspect you only wanted to read posts telling you how to avoid the bill you've accrued.

Many of us on this forum, myself included, have had money problems in the past. The initial step to climb out of this mess is by accepting your own responsibility in it. It's nobody's job to control your money but your own.

Whatever happens I hope you learn from it, unfortunately it may be an expensive lesson. Best to make them an offer of a repayment plan and then stick to it.