Low offer of Bank Charges from Santander

Stevepm

Hi,
Can someone help?

I wrote to Santander after looking at the bank charges on my bank account when I was self employed. It was a business account and I was struggling financially. I was living on a day to day basis and when possible had to deposit cash to cover cheques on my account. At one point or one day, I deposited £20 cash to cover a DD going out. The bank statement for that day listed my DD payment, then marked it as unpaid due to lack of funds, put a charge of £25 on my account straight away and then listed me depositing £20 cash but my account was now overdrawn by £25 due to charges and increased it by £25 for the next two days. I wrote listing all the charges which totaled about £540 for various charges over 3 years. They have offered me £96 for to cover three £32 charges. They say that the hardship rule does not apply to business accounts even though I was self employed. Does this apply only to Santander or across all banks? Should I accept the offer or go to the Financial ombudsman? Thanks

dunstonh

The bank statement for that day listed my DD payment, then marked it as unpaid due to lack of funds, put a charge of £25 on my account straight away and then listed me depositing £20 cash but my account was now overdrawn by £25 due to charges and increased it by £25 for the next two days.

Most banks (but not all) require you to have the funds in the previous working day. A few will allow up to a certain time on the same day.

hey say that the hardship rule does not apply to business accounts even though I was self employed. Does this apply only to Santander or across all banks? Should I accept the offer or go to the Financial ombudsman? Thanks

The ombudsman has no ability to get the bank to refund a penny. It just has to treat your fairly. A business account is different to a personal account. To be honest, a £96 refund on £540 of charges over a 3 year period seems very reasonable.