Bank Have "No record of charges"

bottleandahalf

Hi folks. I have written to Santander on behalf of a friend to ask for a record of charges and included the £10 fee.
They have sent a letter back saying they have no record of charges. How can they not have a record, and what should I do next?
Thanks

molerat

How do you know there were any charges made ?

bottleandahalf

He has been getting charged for being overdrawn every month for at least 5 years. £20 a month at least each month.

molerat

Print off the statements and send them then.

If you have evidence of the charges you provide some and then raise a formal complaint. They then have 8 weeks to respond satisfactorily or you proceed to the ombudsman.

bottleandahalf

Cheers. He has most of his original posted statements so will send them. Should I print off the missing statements or just tally the charges from them to the final total?

dunstonh

Why do you need to print off statements? You dont need to tell Santander what he has been charged.

If you are making a financial hardship claim (which it sounds like) then the bank will assess the current financial situation, look at his budget and what debts he is in arrears/defaulted etc and decide a course of action from there. That could involve no refund at all. However, typically, where they do refund, they go back around 6-12 months.

bottleandahalf

Yes it is a financial hardship claim as he opened the account whilst he was working and ran up the £500 overdraft when he was no longer working.
He is now on JSA this past 5 years and is being charged £30 a month for being overdrawn.

bengal-stripe

bottleandahalf wrote: »

He is now on JSA this past 5 years and is being charged £30 a month for being overdrawn.

I don't believe those are 'charges', they are 'fees':

"The fee for using an Arranged Overdraft is £1.00 per day".

Nasqueron

It seems like you might have confused them or asked for the wrong thing.

A £10 DSAR should result in a copy of all the data they have on him - sending £10 and asking for a record of charges could cause a mix-up.

Do note you cannot simply ask for charges back (or you can but you won't get anywhere). You need to make a case for financial hardship where the charges cause a cycle of being unable to pay off the debt causing more charges. Any mention of "unfair" charges will result in the bank simply referring to the 2009 court case win. A hardship case won't get you 5 years or charges back though, at best you might get 6 months or a temporary freeze on future charges and if there is any evidence of luxury spending or living beyond his means (such as meals out, expensive phone or Sky contract, shopping at posh brand stores etc) then he won't get anything.

Remember you need to present a case of him living hand to mouth and keep the bank on his side so don't go in all guns blazing about how they're unfair and scum etc

While you can refer a rejection to the FOS as per above comment, the FOS don't actually have any power here as per the court case, they can only check charges were correctly applied

bottleandahalf

Nasqueron wrote: »

It seems like you might have confused them or asked for the wrong thing.

A £10 DSAR should result in a copy of all the data they have on him - sending £10 and asking for a record of charges could cause a mix-up.

Do note you cannot simply ask for charges back (or you can but you won't get anywhere). You need to make a case for financial hardship where the charges cause a cycle of being unable to pay off the debt causing more charges. Any mention of "unfair" charges will result in the bank simply referring to the 2009 court case win. A hardship case won't get you 5 years or charges back though, at best you might get 6 months or a temporary freeze on future charges and if there is any evidence of luxury spending or living beyond his means (such as meals out, expensive phone or Sky contract, shopping at posh brand stores etc) then he won't get anything.

Remember you need to present a case of him living hand to mouth and keep the bank on his side so don't go in all guns blazing about how they're unfair and scum etc

While you can refer a rejection to the FOS as per above comment, the FOS don't actually have any power here as per the court case, they can only check charges were correctly applied

Hi. Yea, I used the template letter from this forum asking for a copy of all the data, so as to highlight the fees/charges and tally these up and make a case for financial hardship. Not looking for 5 years of charges/fees to be refunded, maybe for the bank to write off overdraft or something that will stop the charges/ fees every month.

dunstonh

maybe for the bank to write off overdraft

That is something that no person has reported on as being an outcome they have had. However, a refund of some charges would go some way to reduce the debt.

or something that will stop the charges/ fees every month.

They may suspend for a period of time but typically its 3-6 months ahead only. Then back to charging again.