Unknowingly changed my Bank Type

James_baines

Hi all my name is James Baines,

I am a long time follower and supporter of MSE from the sidelines but this is my first "proper" interaction, for which I feel compelled to make!

I am not the best with money, I suppose you could class me as an Ostrich when it comes to my bank account, if I get charged by my bank (Santander) for something then fine I just pay it and never argue, my reasoning is it probably wouldn't get me anywhere even if I tried to argue or even understand!

THIS HAS NOW CHANGED!

I have decided to take control and have argued charges on my account going back 1 year, totalling over £1,000!

I as far as I was concerned 2 years ago took out an overdraft on my account, £2,500 and the terms of this overdraft were as follows;

50p per day capped at £5 (10 days)

and I also got a whole loads of other benefits, breakdown, travel insurance etc, this account was called a Reward Account.

I have just found out that my account was changed WITHOUT my knowledge about a year ago to n Everyday Curent Account, with this my new charges were as follows;

£1 per day capped at £31 (31 days)
£25 per month for overdraft

All my rewards are gone as well!

Know looking back at my account when this happened these increase charges caused me to go overdrawn and incurred a raft of additional charges.

I have been charged well over £1,000 and I was never even given the option of a new account or even told my agreement with them changed, even though they dispute this after a lengthy chat to "Customer Service", If I knew this was the knew agreement I would of simply moved banks!

I have been offered £150 back as a good will gesture but still owe them £100 in fees I have no idea where they came from!

I have told them no to give me the £150 as I want to get further advice, so;

What can I do know?
Who should I speak to?
Is there a precedence I can refer to?

Many thanks in advance and if you need more info please just ask I will see get it for you

James

pmduk

You admit yourself to taking the ostrich approach to your banking, I suspect the most likely solution is that you ignored the notification from your bank that the account had changed as a result of the Reward account being abolished.

Had you raised an enquiry after receiving the first statement of the new charges you would be in a much better position to argue. Having continued to user the account for 15 months I'm sure Santander will argue that you've accepted the changes.

You can make a formal complaint to Santander then escalate it to the Financial Ombudsman if thebank reject it or after 8 weeks

James_baines

pmduk wrote: »

You admit yourself to taking the ostrich approach to your banking, I suspect the most likely solution is that you ignored the notification from your bank that the account had changed as a result of the Reward account being abolished.

Had you raised an enquiry after receiving the first statement of the new charges you would be in a much better position to argue. Having continued to user the account for 15 months I'm sure Santander will argue that you've accepted the changes.

Its a valid point however my ostrich like tendencies were as follows;

Goes to check account at atm expecting there to be £50 and there is only £20 available... doesn't argue the point.
Sees a charge on account of £25 for unauthorised charges.... does not want to argue with a bank

I assure you know that if I received a notification from by bank that they were changing things then I would of changed it... I've been into my bank countless times and they never mentioned anything to either?

colsten

If your name is actually James Baines, you should start again by registering with a different nickname. It is not a good idea to use your real name on public forums.

Sorry, I have nothing encouraging to say about your claim as it is not credible that you were not told about the T&C changes and the renaming of your account.

As a long time follower of MSE, you also shouldn't have missed this: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/banking/2013/07/santander-scraps-packaged-accounts-check-if-you-should-ditch-and-switch. Unless you were ostriching.

pmduk

And what about the statements. I assume that they have the account type as a header?

meer53

Banks always send notification of any changes in t & c's, usually giving you plenty of notice. They wouldn't mention anything to you in the branch as they would have assumed you had received their communications about the changes.

Your ostrich tendencies have caused your problems, not Santander.

What can you do now ? Change banks if you don't like their charges and stay within your agreed limit at your new bank so the same doesn't happen again. I would accept the £150 if i were you, it seems fair. If you've been charged over £1000 in charges then it must have been going on for some time, it would have been better if you'd complained the first time you saw a charge.

pmduk

Addiitionally, I believe banks are required to notify you of interest rates etc annually so you would have received a further communication from them with that.