Santander wanting money to retrive my old load details

djpalmer32

I had a loan with Cahoot (now part of Santander), which I paid off over five years ago. I've just rang Santander and was told that they couldn't find my loan detail on either of my recent addresses, most likley due to age of loan.

I was then given an address, in Bradford, for a team who do the searches on old loans and was told I would need to send a cheque for £1!!!! :mad: This was supposedly for a credit search. What is even more ridiculous is that they expect people to still be using cheques, beacause I certainly don't. When I asked how I was supposed to pay this charge without a cheque book the operator said 'ask someone who still does have a cheque book'! He even told me I couldn't send a £1 coin in the post. :mad::mad:

Please could someone tell me if this is legal? Particularly as I've just done a similar process for an even older Lombard direct loan and no mention of a charge was made.

(I'm so glad I've just closed my Santander current account)

Your very frustrated

David

-taff

read this, especially the bit about 'check your policy'
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/reclaim/ppi-loan-insurance

Angry_Cat

djpalmer32 wrote: »

I had a loan with Cahoot (now part of Santander), which I paid off over five years ago. I've just rang Santander and was told that they couldn't find my loan detail on either of my recent addresses, most likley due to age of loan.

I was then given an address, in Bradford, for a team who do the searches on old loans and was told I would need to send a cheque for £1!!!! :mad: This was supposedly for a credit search. What is even more ridiculous is that they expect people to still be using cheques, beacause I certainly don't. When I asked how I was supposed to pay this charge without a cheque book the operator said 'ask someone who still does have a cheque book'! He even told me I couldn't send a £1 coin in the post. :mad::mad:

Please could someone tell me if this is legal? Particularly as I've just done a similar process for an even older Lombard direct loan and no mention of a charge was made.

(I'm so glad I've just closed my Santander current account)

Your very frustrated

David

The £1 charge would be for a copy of your credit agreement.

In response to your question is this legal.. Is it legal to charge £1 for a copy of a credit agreement, the answer is yes

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1974/39/section/77

77 Duty to give information to debtor under fixed-sum credit agreement.

(1)The creditor under a regulated agreement for fixed-sum credit, within the prescribed period after receiving a request in writing to that effect from the debtor and payment of a fee of £1, shall give the debtor a copy of the executed agreement (if any) and of any other document referred to in it, together with a statement signed by or on behalf of the creditor showing, according to the information to which it is practicable for him to refer,—

If they insist on the fee and you don't have a cheque book, you could always pay your local Post Office a visit and get a £1 postal order.

dunstonh

I will just add that the £1 method only works with current debts. Once repaid, if you try that method, the next letter you get is that they are under no obligation to send you the agreement as the debt is repaid.

For closed loans, you need the £10 method to do a data subject access request. However, even then you are not guaranteed to get the agreement copy as that information could be long gone. Plus, even if it shows you had PPI, it wont support your complaint in any way. You will still need your reasons for complaint.

[Deleted User]

Just to add that the OP can use a Postal Order to pay for the SAR, he doesn't need a cheque book.