Santander still charging interest

crystal_pixie_2

I am in the middle of setting up settlements on each of my debts so I have been going through the statements.

I have a debt that is still with Santander that was defaulted in 2011. However, when I went through the statement I noticed that they were still adding on interest at a whopping £800 a year for a £4,000 debt!

I feel justified in complaining about this as I didn't receive any notification of a new APR or agreement and there is nothing in the old agreement about defaults either.

Is there any guidelines I can quote about applying high interest when a person is in financial difficulty? I noted that I have paid over £2k on interest on this debt.

~Beanie~

Did you ever contact them to ask if the interest could be frozen or reduced? Otherwise they will continue to add interest, what made you think that they wouldn't? Just because a default is applied, doesn't mean that they can't add any more interest unfortunately.

You can try and complain, it won't do any harm and they may agree to refund some of it for you.

crystal_pixie_2

Hi,

I have been in a DMP with Stepchange since 2011 and they agreed to the reduced payments.

Santander are the only creditor I have that hasn't frozen interest. I was under the impression if they have defaulted you that new terms need to sent.

I have heard nothing - plus the statements I receive give me no indication of APR. Surely that is a breach in itself?

nicp60

Hi,

Just because a creditor agrees to reduced payments doesn't mean that they'll stop charging interest and charges.

Also if you default you have broken the original Ts&cs, but that doesn't mean that a different agreement takes effect. The APR will be applied at a standard rate - probably set out in their terms and conditions in your original paperwork. Was this a credit card or a bank account? Unfortunately they're not under any obligation to send you new paperwork, a default notice or any other kind of documentation.

I defaulted with Cahoot (now Santander) and ended up paying several thousand for a £600 overdraft thanks to the charges and interest.