Santander Being treat disustingly

SingmetoSleep

I have a problem with Santander who are my main bank and also my business bank. I feel i have been treat disgustingly as a customer by them and want some advice how i proceed.

I took out a loan with Alliance and Leicester in May 2006. The initial loan was taken out for £12,000, interest at 5.404% over 4 years totalling £1370.40 with repayments set at £327.97. At the time i was asked if i wanted to take out PPI insurance but i declined as i have been a contractor/consultant since 2001 and would not have qualified to claim had i been out of work or between contracts.

Around 2009 i found out that Alliance and Leicester had added PPI to my repayments and loan agreement, so i contacted them to get this cancelled and any payments i had made reimbursed.

Alliance and Leicester at the time agreed to do this but would not reimburse the monies to me direct, but rather off the loan amount, which i didn't agree with at the time, but in the end had no other choice in the matter.

The account at this time was then transferred to Santander (Abbey National) who started to send me letters saying they had taken over the account and i owed x amount still + the PPI which should by then have been removed. I argued with them that i wasn't paying PPI as i had agreement with Alliance and Leicester to have this removed. Santander have confirmed they are aware of the agreement with Alliance & Leicester and have also sent me copies of letters that were sent to me at the time from them.

At the time I spent hours and hours with Santander (abbey) trying to get this resolved constantly being told that the matter should get resolved but it never did.

In June 2010 Santander stopped taking payments from my account, i assumed that due to the amount i had paid off and the amount i was owed through PPI, that the account was now clear. I didnt hear anything else from them, i continued to bank with them and last year i also opened a business account.

This year January 2013 i received a letter from Santander saying i owed £7,200.00 and that the account had been passed to Moorcroft debt recovery. I can only assume that as i had as mentioned in December applied for a Business Bank account with Santander that something must have triggered on your systems. I contacted Moorcroft to say that i couldn't possibly owe that amount and could they send me a statement. I received a statement from them showing a figure outstanding of nearly £7200.00. I got back in touch with them and said that it was wrong, the statement clearly showed i had paid over £10,000 and it didn't include the PPI i was owed. This then starting a chain of me contacting Santander for hours in a day trying to get this resolved, me saying i had statement proof i didn't owe this amount, Santander staff agreeing with what i was saying, then constantly i'd get a letter or someone else contacting me saying i did owe this amount. At this time i was being threatened by Moorcroft saying that if i didn't make payments they would send debt collectors and start court proceedings. At this point with the stress and duress i felt under i made a token gesture of paying £700 to show i was serious about getting this matter cleared up.

Since January i have possibly spent over 100+ hours on the phone trying to get this resolved with Santander. I have taken days off work at great cost to me, the amount of stress and anger i've felt has been disgraceful. I have been lied to by staff at Santander promising on 3 times at least that they were starting a new PPI process only to contact them a month or so later to be told by another staff member there was nothing on the system. I have had people promising that the matter would be resolved, they understood that i was right based on the facts i'd given them (a Miss Keeley Moore in complaints) only to be sent a letter apologising, including a cheque for being messed around for £210...... but sorry i still did owe £6,500 (£7,200 - £700 i'd sent to Moorcroft). I have been told a number of times that their systems show differing amounts, one system shows i borrowed £14,129.00 hmmm when i pressed on this it turns out i had to tell their staff member that this was wrong and they'd added the PPI amount on there!!!!!!

At this time i also noticed on my credit file there was a default applied against this loan in 2010 by Santander, which i couldn't believe seeing as it was Santander who messed up.

I've gone round and round in circles with this, i've had staff pass me from pillar to post, being rude, hanging up on me, promising they'd do things but never ultimately treating me like a respected customer.

I had a statement sent to me from Santander on request showing how much i'd paid off the loan, when i try to talk to Santander about the statement which proves i dont owe the amount they say they cant see the statement on their systems.

The statement clearly shows the amount i borrowed was £12,000, interest as shown also on the statement was £1370.40 (5.404% 4 year term)

Up to the date i have paid:

£327.97 x 22 = £7215.34
£137.81 x 10 = £2,757.62
Paid to Moorcroft = £700
Total Paid = £10,672.96

There are some charges for letters on there at £25 each but these were deducted from my bank account. In this period there were 4 returned direct debits of £327.97

£327.97 x 4 = £1,311.88

if i deduct that amount from what was paid:

£10,672.96 - £1,311.88 = £9361.08

Therefore:

£12,000 loan amount
+ £1,370.40 interest
- £9,361.08 amount paid back to date

This means i owe £4,009.32, which i have constantly told Santander i will pay off but they constantly keep coming back to me saying i still owe £6,500.

I wrote to them recently to say that the statement that i attached clearly showed i only owed that amount and that i would pay it off in once payment to clear the matter up once and for all.

I got a reply back today from a James Glendenning, Senior Customer Resolution Manager stating that he remains satisfied i still owe £6,500 and that he would not reply to any further correspondance. He also added he would like to offer my £50 for the way i had been poorly treat. There was no mention of my statement or how they keep coming to this agreement when, when i speak to their staff on the phone they always agree i'm in the right.

I am at my wits end with this matter, its stressed me out so much, i dont know where to turn now. I do not owe £6,500, the statement proves it, but the ignorance and arrogance of Santander means it has reached a stalemate and i'm now worried that i'll have debt collectors banging on my door.

Can anyone advise where i go with this next?

Thanks

Tixy

If they have given you their final response and you are unhappy with it then you may want to consider taking your complaint to the financial ombudsman service.

However on this point

£12,000 loan amount
+ £1,370.40 interest
- £9,361.08 amount paid back to date

This means i owe £4,009.32,

£4900.32 would be the amount outstanding if all payments had been made on time and the loan fully paid off after 48 months, so by May 2010.

Obviously as there is an outstanding amount still owed now then interest you would be charged overall would be considerably more than the original calculation of £1370.

They should of course be able to send you a full transaction history to show how the outstanding balance is made up. Have you tried sending a formal subject access request?

On this

when i speak to their staff on the phone they always agree i'm in the right.

Once you have reached a complaint stage there is very little point trying to resolve anything like this by phone call. The people you will be speaking to are very unlikely to have the full information available to them.

sacha1dog

I've had dealings with Santanderr exe toy on an unrelated matter. Kewley Moore was totally unhelpful despite her promises.

In the end I complained to the financial ombudsman, which was very easy. The problem was soon solved.

Thrugelmir

I would go for a face to face meeting. Go armed with all your correspondence and financial records.

thomasdown

I feel for you I really do. I say it again time after time. Santander are a terrible bank, fine until something goes wrong. Don't take it personally, as others have suggested time to move the matter to the FOS.

Good luck

jonesMUFCforever

Thrugelmir wrote: »

I would go for a face to face meeting. Go armed with all your correspondence and financial records.

I disagree - put it in writing but please OP put it in writing concisely - one page or it might end up in the bin.
The last paragraph should state that you intend to go to ombudsman if you don't get an acceptable solution.

As the amount is in dispute Moorcroft should send the file back to Santander.

One final thing you say that you paid over £10k in repayments - but the loan was for £12k + interest - never mind the PPI you will owe them a substantial sum.

Thrugelmir

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

I disagree - put it in writing but please OP put it in writing concisely - one page or it might end up in the bin.

I've always taken the direct approach in both personal and business life. Far far easier to put someone on the spot in their own backyard.
Dealing with faceless numpties on the telephone is a complete waste of time. Unfortunately a by product of the internet age.

SingmetoSleep

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

I disagree - put it in writing but please OP put it in writing concisely - one page or it might end up in the bin.
The last paragraph should state that you intend to go to ombudsman if you don't get an acceptable solution.

As the amount is in dispute Moorcroft should send the file back to Santander.

One final thing you say that you paid over £10k in repayments - but the loan was for £12k + interest - never mind the PPI you will owe them a substantial sum.

I've offered to pay the outstanding balance i believe i owe in one payment but they wont accept it as settling the debt.

Based on everyones advice on here i have downloaded the financial ombudsmen form and filled it in, i'll be attaching the statement and letters etc to back up my claim.

I only hope no-one else has to go through what i've gone through with them.

I will of course be closing my accounts and moving to another bank.

Thanks everyone

Nice_Weather_For_Ducks

Not much help to this thread, but Santander are are terrible bank, customer service is horrific at best!!

ponbeam

This sounds like a very unusual case.
Put it all in an email (text removed by MSE Forum Team) and it will get dealt with by Santanders executive complaints team.

Brock_and_Roll

It is well known within the industry that Santander's IT systems consisted of several different crocks of s***e gaffer taped together. Basically the Bank went on rapid buying spree hoovering up UK acquisitions dut did not pay too much attention at the the time to IT systems......

As for having a business account with them.......I would rather pull my own teeth out. If you dont like using the big clearers, there other options available out there for SME's such as well-reputed Swedish bank that I wont name but has 140 odd branches and offers "old school" business banking i.e. you know your manager personally!