santander bank charges

Julia70

Hello there, can anyone help. My recently made unemployed 19 year old is being charged £5 a day in bank charges,, he is 100 arranged overdraft. He has been into the bank today and basically told "tough"! He is a college student and has no income whatsoeve. Can he close his account or would he need to pay it off first? Any advice much appreciated. I am also with santander and am going in to close my account as am disgusted. Thanks.

pmduk

He'll need to pay it off first, together with all charges accrued.

Paul_B.

You mentioned he is in an arranged overdraft. Santander charge £1 per day for an arranged overdraft. An unarranged overdraft is £5 per day which is pretty standard amongst banks now. Some do charge more so they're not the worst offender, as always others charge less but it's still a costly business.

Really it sounds like he needs to get his finances sorted out. Whatever it takes. It's not a good situation to be in. Even worse with the usual caveat of overdrafts is that a bank can call it in at anytime so arranged or not they're just not good borrowing.

It'll be interesting to see where you both move your banking to in light of this given it's pretty standard charging and he has not arranged this borrowing with Santander. Personally I've found santander to be good with their charges if you accidentally go over they refund and their charging information and structure is pretty clear.

*Diva*

Santander charge £1/day capped at 20days for an arranged overdraft, and £5/day for using an unauthorised over draft. Its unfortunate your son is out of work but if he was to close his account and then may have difficaulty gaining a new account as and when he may need one. Why are you disgusted?
Your son needs to learn money management and prioritising spending, this maybe a good little lesson for him at this stage in his life. Have you considered paying it off for him as you are concerned instead of letting it escalate to a point where debt collection may be involved. If you did consider helping him at this stage you could then tell him it is a loan and he would have to "work" to pay his debt off to you hence allowing him to realise a valuable lesson?

YorkshireBoy

Julia70 wrote: »

Hello there, can anyone help. My recently made unemployed 19 year old is being charged £5 a day in bank charges,, he is 100 arranged overdraft. He has been into the bank today and basically told "tough"! He is a college student and has no income whatsoeve. Can he close his account or would he need to pay it off first? Any advice much appreciated. I am also with santander and am going in to close my account as am disgusted. Thanks.

Full post quoted, as many people who don't like the replies they receive often come back and delete it!

So if you bank with Santander you'll be aware of their fees and charges structure? You advised your son to bank with them? If not, you mustn't have dissuaded him (too hard)? He knew the fees and charges were brutal if he breached the T&Cs, and he had it from two angles...the T&Cs he read and agreed to, and from your own warnings?

So, where to go from here...

He needs to find the money from somewhere, and quick. Family member help out? And then, once the account is back in the black (allow for any charges notified/to be notified and not yet charged), he should approach them for some goodwill as Santander are often reported on here to refund first offence fees (or a proportion of them). He should not mention that you're going to close your account, although they won't care if you do...but it may cost him some money!

Some final questions...what was the single transaction that tipped him over the threshold?...a DD for a mobile phone contract, or a debit card transaction?...application of pre-notified charges?...or something else?

pmduk

YorkshireBoy wrote: »

You advised your son to bank with them? If not, you mustn't have dissuaded him (too hard)?

Far be it from me to defend santander, but thinking teenagers listen to parents is, in my opinion, a mistake. Who's to say the parent was even consulted? At that age I was making my own banking decisions (and mistakes!).

YorkshireBoy

pmduk wrote: »

Far be it from me to defend santander, but thinking teenagers listen to parents is, in my opinion, a mistake. Who's to say the parent was even consulted? At that age I was making my own banking decisions (and mistakes!).

We may be from a different generation?

I didn't get any financial advice from my parents about banking (or even about the mortgage I sorted myself at just gone 21), but was still able to spend less than I earned and avoid fees.

However, times have changed in recent years (the "I want it now" issue) so I gave my kids advice about banking...and thankfully they listened.

innovate

A parent closing their account in disgust because their son racked up bank charges is a pretty terrible example to set for your kids, even if they now count as adults.

pmduk

innovate wrote: »

A parent closing their account in disgust because their son racked up bank charges is a pretty terrible example to set for your kids, even if they now count as adults.

Perhaps it should be remembered that other people's overdraft charges are what pays for near-free banking.