Santander card DD failed to colllect after current account switch

Alexland

Hello credit card experts,

I recently switched a current account from Santander to Nationwide using the normal CASS process which has always worked for me in the past and the switch day was the day after a Santander CC payment was taken via DD from the old account. The next month the direct debit which I expected last week had not collected from the new Nationwide current account. I called Santander on Friday as I noticed the missing transaction and made payment manually and setup a new DD as they said there was none showing as active. Looking at the statement now as a PDF file (usually use mobile app) it seems there was no mention of a DD collection.

They have over the weekend charged me £12 late payment fee and today said because the payment was a couple of days late it might show up on my credit file. I pointed out this failure to switch the DD was a fault between Santander and Nationwide and so I shouldn't be penalised or have my credit file impacted. They disagreed and argued that because of the exact timing of the current account switch relative to their payment dates the DD wouldn't have switched and because this is 'a self managed account' it was my duty to check their credit card statement PDF to see there was no DD active.

Santander offered me a goodwill payment but refused to accept they had made any mistake or correct any impact to my credit file so I asked to make a formal complaint which they told me they would decline in writing and I would have to take it to the ombudsman.

Am I missing something - shouldn't a CASS current account DD switch just work and if it fails shouldn't they make it right?

They had nearly a month to setup the new DD on their side after the switch but just dropped it.

Thanks,

Alex

The_Fat_Controller

Conversely, you could and should have checked all DDs had been set up correctly and any expected payments taken.

molerat

Am I missing something - shouldn't a CASS current account DD switch just work and if it fails shouldn't they make it right?

You complain to the new bank.

https://www.which.co.uk/money/banking/switching-your-bank/how-to-switch-your-bank-account-a3xmb4z4z97t

The new bank will take care of moving all your payments going out (eg direct debits and standing orders) and those coming in (eg your salary) to your new account.

The new bank must refund you for any charges incurred as a result of a direct debit or standing order not having been successfully transferred to the new account.

https://www.currentaccountswitch.co.uk/helpandsupport/Pages/Help.aspx

My Direct Debit hasn’t moved across after I’ve switched. What do I do?

• If you're missing a Direct Debit and your switch is complete, contact your new bank. Remember all payments are covered by the Current Account Switch Guarantee and any charges or interest incurred on your old or new account as a result of the error will be refunded.

It is up to the new bank to correct all mistakes, if your credit file is affected it is up to the new bank to negotiate with Santander to get any marker removed.  All complaints and ombudsman escalations are on the new bank.

Alexland

The_Fat_Controller said:

Conversely, you could and should have checked all DDs had been set up correctly and any expected payments taken.

Well I was doing both. The Santander CC DD was/is showing as active on the new Nationwide current account (they even know the last collection date from the previous account) and I did wait for it to be collected and let them know within a couple of days when it seemed to have failed. I had no reason to suspect the DD would fail to collect. Admittedly I didn't check the PDF of the CC statement in detail as I had no idea Santander would consider the CC to have no active DD.

Alexland

molerat said:

You complain to the new bank.

Thanks yes I'm on hold to speak to someone at Nationwide now. It took an hour to get to speak to Santander on Friday and a further 30mins this morning after seeing the penalty applied. I'm not even after compensation for my time just for them to work out what happened and put me back into the position I would have been if the current account switch had worked. I've done so many switches over the years and this is the first that has gone wrong but it puts me off doing them in future.

Update: Nationwide agent tried telling me that the DD had switched correctly and I should progress with Santander on why they haven't collected payment but then I reminded them of the CASS guarantee mentioned above and after checking with their supervisor they offered to log a complaint for them to investigate with Santander. I asked them to ensure that the penalty was refunded, my 0% offer and credit file were not impacted and payments worked going forwards.

Alexland

To santander's credit someone called me back today and said they had found a problem where if you switch bank accounts just before a new CC statement is generated it does incorrectly drop the DD so they apologised, will refund the penalty and confirmed there will be no impact to my credit file or 0% offer. They are even giving me an extra £40 for the hassle and bringing it to their attention. They had listened to the recording and agreed to last person I spoke to didn't handle the complaint properly.