Santander closing my account through THEIR ERROR

cmpdlee

Greetings. Long time reader and first time poster here.

As you may have noticed from the title, Santander have decided to close my account due to an error they made more than four years ago.

A bit of background first - I defaulted on £100 in my Santander account back in 2010 which was settled after around 3 months.
I have been using this account regularly (as my bank account) since the balance was settled.

About a month ago I decided to check my credit file with all 3 CRAs. Callcredit and Equifax files have no information on file for the period since the default was settled. Experians record is far worse, showing the account as defaulted and not settled since the default date (i.e. over 4 years in debt).

Since looking at these files I contacted Santander to ask why they had not been reporting accurate info to the CRAs, and to ask them to correct it.

Today they got back to me with a phone call to tell me that the account was flagged for closure after the default was settled which failed for some reason. I was not informed of this so continued to use the account back in 2010. According to Santander, the result of this is some unspecified "error" which means my account must be closed in 60 days time. They also refuse to report credit information between the settled date and today to the CRAs, which is a massive loss as I need all the help I can get with my credit files.

It seems as if Santander have left me with no option, and I have no choice in the matter. What can I do? I don't really care that much about staying with Santander, I just want them to send accurate records to the CRAs! It'd also be nice to avoid the inconvenience of switching bank accounts.

Appologies for the length of this post!

Thrugelmir

Santander intended to close your account. So no error on their part. Move on I would suggest.

john1002

Unfortunately not a lot you can do if Santander decide they want to close your account, but what you must do is raise a complaint with santander to report correct information to Experian, as you say the other two CRA are fine and then complain to the ICO, follow the clean up sticky to see how to do this.

I would also think about complaining to the FCA but through a system error or some other reason you slipped through the net as your account should have closed in 2010.

You say accurate records but from 2010 you should not have had an account so the record is correct.

See how you get on with the complaints.

john

thebritishbloke

john1002 wrote: »

You say accurate records but from 2010 you should not have had an account so the record is correct.

Technically not correct, as they allowed the account to be operated for 4 years.

That being said, having green dots for a current account isn't really going to help improve your report at all. 2 more years and your default will drop off anyway

PaulW922

As indicated above - they can close your account any time they like, subject to the notice period in the contract. However what they have had about marking your file as 'settled' is rubbish. It will however probably take 60 days to get it sorted out if you lodge a complaint.

Four years of better ratings may mean you can get a bank account elsewhere..

hullds73

If what you say here "A bit of background first - I defaulted on £100 in my Santander account back in 2010 which was settled after around 3 months. I have been using this account regularly (as my bank account) since the balance was settled." is correct, then i would personally say this is incorrect on the banks behalf, your account should not be regarded as defaulted all this time, however if you was 4 months (3 late payments plus another one) that forces a default on a back account, but like you said about the CRA's having contrasting information, that is Santander's banking error and presumably you have made a formal complaint, if you haven't i would advise you do, if you have your next option is FOS (Finical Ombudsman Service) However i would hold your hopes despite them saying they do their best they made an error on my bank (which i have posted titled: "Halifax Buffer £10, Ombudsman decision made, but incorrect") Hope you get this sorted!

cmpdlee

OP here, complained to the ombudsman about 2 weeks ago, received a call from Santander yesterday to say "Here's another £130 on top of the £40 we've already given you, we're removing the default and telling the CRAs you've been in credit for the past 4 years".

True to their word, the default is gone (at least with callcredit) and I have lots of green dots.

Gained £270 out of this whole mess :rotfl:!

niblettr

nice one :beer: