Santander has lost my money

crowles58958

Hi im new to this forum so if this dosent end up where it should please accept my apologise.

i applied for personal independence in October 2013 for a medical condition i have and at the time we banked with Santander.

In January this year 2015 we received a letter from the dwp to say that my claim was successful and a payment of £3,511.39 is going to be paid into our bank account on the 22/01/2015 this is because the claim was backdated.

However we changed bank account last year we now bank with Barclays and we informed the dwp of this in April 2014 so they could update their records.

When we reaised the payment had not hit our bank account we got intouch with the dwp who confirmed eventially that they had paid it into our closed Santander bank account.

they told us that the money should automatically be returned back to them via the bank. on 17th of feb i called the dwp to see if they had had the money returned back to them and they havent and told me unless they have it returned back to them they will not reissue the payment into my new account. we visited the branch where we had our old santander account which was in stockport and spoke to the manager to see if she could assist us and that was a complete waste of time she wasant intrested at all and told us that the dwp would have to put a trace on the money as they sent it. on the 26/03/2014 yesterday we received a copy of the trace ( by the way the dwp was very reluctant in sending) and it shows it leaving their account and hitting the santander account. so off we went to santander bank in stockport and they cannot find the money they said as the account was closed any money should have been returned to the sender. Acording to the dwp they have still not received it back and we are going around in circles. can anyone please help with any advice. i have sent a letter to dwp threatening legal action. this money is not a winfall from the lottery this is what i have been medically assessed for and fully entitled to. please can someone help us or advise us on what to do next as the dwp have sent it and it looks like santander have lost it wich i find hard to belieive in this day & age.Thank you all

Careful_ly

Did you use the switching service to change banks?


If you did then Santander should send the money to Barclays for you.
http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/banking/2013/09/you-can-now-switch-bank-in-seven-days-time-to-ditch-and-switch

grumbler

crowles58958 wrote: »

Hi im new to this forum so if this dosent end up where it should please accept my apologise.

i applied for personal independence in October 2013 for a medical condition i have and at the time we banked with Santander.

In January this year 2015 we received a letter from the dwp to say that my claim was successful and a payment of £3,511.39 is going to be paid into our bank account on the 22/01/2015 this is because the claim was backdated.

However we changed bank account last year we now bank with Barclays and we informed the dwp of this in April 2014 so they could update their records.

When we reaised the payment had not hit our bank account we got intouch with the dwp who confirmed eventially that they had paid it into our closed Santander bank account.

they told us that the money should automatically be returned back to them via the bank. on 17th of feb i called the dwp to see if they had had the money returned back to them and they havent and told me unless they have it returned back to them they will not reissue the payment into my new account.

Well, if you informed them about the change and they !!!!ed up, then they owe you and have to pay.
It's their problem, not yours, to trace and recover the wrong payment if it doesn't bonce back automatically.

we visited the branch where we had our old santander account which was in stockport and spoke to the manager to see if she could assist us and that was a complete waste of time she wasant intrested at all and told us that the dwp would have to put a trace on the money as they sent it.

Absolutely.

on the 26/03/2014 yesterday we received a copy of the trace ( by the way the dwp was very reluctant in sending) and it shows it leaving their account and hitting the santander account. so off we went to santander bank in stockport and they cannot find the money they said as the account was closed any money should have been returned to the sender. Acording to the dwp they have still not received it back and we are going around in circles. can anyone please help with any advice. i have sent a letter to dwp threatening legal action.

This was a right thing to do. Next step is Small Claims Court.
It's worth getting a confirmation from Santander that the account was closed and passing it to DWP.

Careful_ly wrote: »

Did you use the switching service to change banks?

If you did then Santander should send the money to Barclays for you.

For 13 months only. It's not 100% clear from the OP that the switch was less than 13 months ago, although this seems to be the case.

If it really was switched using the switching service and less then 13 months ago, complain formally to Santander, then, if needed, to FOS.

tripled

It seems it could be Santander still has it, or they could have sent it back and the DWP haven't noticed it. Write a letter of complaint to Santader. They should respond either admitting they still have the money or being able to confirm when it was returned. If the response isn't satisfactory, escalate it to the ombudsman. Once they've determined what's happened to the money, then you know who to claim it off

Archi_Bald

grumbler wrote: »

For 13 months only. It's not 100% clear from the OP that the switch was less than 13 months ago, although this seems to be the case.

If it really was switched using the switching service and less then 13 months ago, complain formally to Santander, then, if needed, to FOS.

It's 36 months now. Though I don't know whether this also applies to switches that were made before this extension came into force earlier this year.
http://www.paymentscouncil.org.uk/switch_service/faqs/

agrinnall

grumbler wrote: »

This was a right thing to do. Next step is Small Claims Court.
It's worth getting a confirmation from Santander that the account was closed and passing it to DWP.

While I agree with the sentiment I'm not sure that it will be possible to sue DWP for financial loss - won't they have Crown Immunity? (PS I haven't read the article, so if it disagrees with what I think so be it ).

jonesMUFCforever

I would make a formal complaint to Santander only to get them to look into the matter properly and find out what they did with it.
They could have returned it and the DWP have messed up or it could still be in a Santander suspense account or they may have reissued the account number and somebody else has got your money.
Going into the branch will achieve nothing - if you do not have the leaflet about how to complain have a look at their website.

Vortigern

There's a post on the credit cards board by a chap from the FOS

Perhaps he could offer advice?

Ask the Ombudsman

missile

Hm.... what a sorry tale. I hope you get the money to which you are entitled asap.

xHannahx

It normally from experience takes about 10 days from when it was sent to bounce back. My guess is it will be sitting in a suspense account at the DWP. The DWP isn't the most efficient organisation around.