Credit Card Overpayment refund

woodworm107

Hi,

I have inadvertently made payments to my Debenhams (Santander) credit card which has resulted int he card being significantly in credit.
When I called Debenhams (Santander) they told me they would pay the credit balance back to me but it would take 20 days. When I challenged that they said it was 'the law'.
Of course, here we are more than 20 days later and that repayment has not appeared.
Does anyone know if there is a financial regulation that says the credit card issuer can hold on to my credit card positive balance for 20 days, because I have searched the web for information on it and have found nothing?
Thanks in advance, Rob

wealdroam

Woodworm, try the credit card board.

There probably isn't a regulation stating that they have to work at full speed to correct any mistakes you have made.

arcon5

How much are we talking here?

Do you have any bills you can pay with your credit card then keep the cash you would have otherwise used? (Depending on q1)

woodworm107

The card is not used at all. The last time it was used was September 2011 and really the card could be closed off. I only keep it open in case Debenhams have some bargain where paying for it using the Debenhams credit card might the cost down even more.
And we're talking about the card being several thousand pounds. So naturally I want this returned asap. I get the feeling that Santander are giving me the runaround, and the 20 day nonsense was just another example of that.
While I appreciate the mistake was mine, Santander need to proactively return the cash to me, its not theirs to retain.
I think its time to get the Finance Ombudsman involved and get some weight behind the request for a refund.

wealdroam

Have you exhausted Santander's complaints process?

I think you need to do that, and they have eight weeks to resolve it, before involving the ombudsman.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

System

Just close your account and then they have to refund you

woodworm107

Goater78, you know, thats got to be the simplest solution. Next job on the list

browneyedbazzi

Even if you close the account it may be worth writing to Santander and making a complaint about how they have dealt with your account. Partly because complaints are recorded and reported so it'll contribute to warning others off Santander and prevent them from being messed around, and partly because when they get things wrong like this they often cough up a bit of cash to apologise for how shockingly bad they are at treating customers decently....if they do it'll make up for some of the interest you've missed out on