Santander Bank UK (Formerly Abbey National) Stealing Money in Organised Overdrafts

Hi ATS's, just wanted to share how UK Bank Santander are personally trying to steal money from me and other people by way of fraud.

I made one earlier post about this on an existing thread on moneysavingexpert about Santander in reply to the discussion which is quoted as follows...

Grrr sorry to see I'm not alone. Santander are nothing short of thieves currently stealing overdraft charges from us and at Christmas. After previously paying overdraft charges to Santander for going overdrawn by a few pounds we've been very careful not to again. However they've still hit us right where it hurts. After being paid at the same time by the same company on the same day for 2 years Santander delayed clearing payment a day which coincided with a direct debit charge that is always paid the same day as this payment. As a result it put us overdrawn and incurred us £60 in overdraft charges. Now this has got us fuming as it's them who delayed things a day for the 1st time ever and put us overdrawn for a day and now they are charging us for it. This to me is nothing short of theft, is there anything we can do about it? I rang santander on the 0845 number which has cost us a lot more just to be hung up on by a very rude woman who was apparantley a manager called Laura Hints. For anyone reading this, to avoid losing more money when ringing santander use one of the 0800 numbers on saynoto0870.com Anyway we both feel physically and mentally drained after all this and of course financially, we're a low income family coming up to Christmas and they are basically charging us money for an error/delay on their part. Surely this isn't legal?

So my question is, is this really legal? As we have always done the past few years we were paid as usual to cover the direct debit on the same day and time, but Santander delayed clearing payment a day which just by coincidence was the day our direct debit is due and the exact same day we get paid. I know they have other underhand tactics like choosing days to charge interest when it will put people a few pounds overdrawn to charge them hefty fee's but this to me seems worse as they are in effect engineering overdrafts and charges caused by themselves and at no fault of their customers.

And then after spending a lot more money ringing trying to get our money back they get rude and hang up on us

So my question to fellow ATS'ers is, is this really legal, has it happened to you, and is there anything at all we can do about it. Christmas has hit us hard financially this year as a family so this has come at a bad time

You need to show up in person and make your demands heard. See what happens.

You could try getting in touch with the financial ombudsman service;

www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk...

reply to post by lifttheveil


That is been going on in almost every bank here in the US, yes you can got personally and complain to a office manager and demand to get your money back.

More often than not you get your money.

My daughter works in a bank and that specific complain drives her crazy because it accounts for most of the costumer services inquiries and that is what she works on at her desk.

If your payment is posted on the due day is valid, if the banks delay payment is not your fault.

BofA love to do that to their customers all the time, then charge them for late fees.

reply to post by lifttheveil

So my question is, is this really legal? As we have always done the past few years we were paid as usual to cover the direct debit on the same day and time...

If you are REALLY P.O. see if there are any on line complaints and perhaps a lawsuit you can join. If not you might wish to start an on-line complaint area with the hopes of a class action suit later (Do you have them in the UK?)

After getting the shaft on our mortgage we found this: Have you been hurt by EMC Mortgage Corporation? You are not alone... We called up the lawyer. Unfortunately it is in another state so we gave her our lawyer's phone number and permission to use our information as evidence. (It might go national)

Normally I hate lawsuits but it the case of banks, I overlook my distaste.

There's only one real answer to this.

Organise to pay as many bills as you can in cash. Withdraw all available funds from the bank as soon as possible.

With so many people doing nothing to act against this kind of treatment it will just continue unless a clear message is sent in a language they understand. No! not spanish but hard currency.

I cleared my abbey national account shortly after they got bought out and after I'd claimed my share money....phew!

Good luck, and Get What's Yours While You Can.

After being screwed many times the same way you did (sometimes my money was refunded) I no longer use banks, 4 years later and still dont use a bank. Wal Marts $3 check cashing fee has saved me more money then using the bank.
Oh and get this.. Wells Fargo.. I get paid from my job with wells fargo checks. So you think I could cash it there??? Yes for a 1% fee!!!! 9 dollars to cash a check drawn at the bank!!! RIP OFF!!!! F%*K the Banks!!!

I had similar problems with Natwest recently. I had a standing order, which I cancelled online. I checked, triple-checked and even quadruple-checked. It did not show on my list of items due to come out of my account, so I thought it was done with. However, when I tried to withdraw money at the start of the next month, I couldn't- surprise, surprise, the money had come out of my account and left me overdrawn. I had to go into the branch and cancel it, it was still shown as due to come out of my account. I queried with her and asked if I could cancel standing orders online, and maybe that was the problem. She informed me I could, but I must have made an error- when I told her I checked literally 4 times if it had gone through she had no answer. They were awfully quick to take £40 from me in charges, though! I did try and protest it, but I had no joy, and seeing as I have a reasonably large pre-arranged overdraft anyway, they pretty much have me by my you know what.

In 2009, I heard about a lot of court cases and legal decisions being made with regards to bank charges.

www.telegraph.co.uk...

This article was pretty much the last I heard of the case- the banks went to the House of Lords' to appeal the verdict that they must repay back billions of charges, and the decision would be revealed late 2009. I didn't really hear much mentioned about it after that, though I did hear some mention that the Lords had ruled in favour of the banks.
I did some surfing, and the best I could find was this article:

www.moneysavingexpert.com...

It does state in it that the Lords basically said the banks can do whatever the hell they like. There is a lot of information there that you may find helpful, though. Good luck, I hope you do better than me!

Santander are the biggest bunch of con artists out there, they should be publicly outside for their fraudulent business operations.

For me I had a current account which I only used for my fuel expenses around £150 a month. I moved job and no long was eligible for fuel expenses so I left the account alone with about £3 in credit.

This about a year ago.

I recently went to my personal bank Barclays to process a loan, it came back that I had some adverse credit history.... I couldn't believe it because I have never had any of my debt go bad before so I was totally dumb founded.

I paid Equifax £2 for my credit report and low and behold there was Santander with me missing 6 payments and owing them £130....

I contacted Santander and it turns out that there was a cheque put through the account taking me £11 overdrawn 6 months ago... But I hadn't put any cheques through the account for at least a year.....

It turns out that they (Santander) had held a cheque for a period of 5 months and decided to process it at a point when there was no money in the account.

No I had moved house and didn't think to update Santander because it's an old account that I was no longer using so if Santander had attempted to contact me by post they would have been unable to do so... but they did have my mobile number... they could have contacted me about this...

It turns out that out of the £130 that they say I owe £121 of it was bank charges.... What's more is I now have a bad credit mark on my credit file because of their swindle...

For all that read this STAY AWAY from Santander... they are nothing more than fraudsters whom can scam you and get away with it.

If you have an account with them... move your account and close the account down so they can't touch you.

I will never use Santander or any company that is an offshoot of ever again!!



Korg.

In this time and age, banks are the gods, they have taken hold of the working man and woman and profiting very highly while doing so, is not restrictions and as anybody can see from the market crash is never going to be oversight, because most of the big wits end up working for the government in high offices like the Federal bank and the Treasury department and this time around we even have a big Bank of American man as the vice president of the US.

What can the people do when this people get to make laws against us and keep themselves from been scrutinized.

Many people can go around without having the need for a bank, but when you have bills, a mortgage, car payments only the very rich can pay cash, those that don't bank oversea.

Most of us can not go around with the money we make in our pockets because it will be inviting crime, some can do it.

We have been taken hostage by big banks and that is what we have allowed them to do.

Originally posted by marg6043
We have been taken hostage by big banks and that is what we have allowed them to do.

Allowed?? I don't think we had a choice.

For me I am being robbed by the company I work for, the bank they pay money into, and the government....

The only choices I have in that is which company I work for and believe me, even though I am being robbed by my company it's a stable job... which is more than most can say.

The system has been set up to prevent any of us moving forward. The tax credit system, the utilities and the banks are all set up to prevent the little people from growing too big for our boots.

Democracy is dead... Our system is more like communism.

Korg.

Originally posted by jetflock
You need to show up in person and make your demands heard. See what happens.

I would start here. Knowing the financial industry through experience, I must say that someone standing in front of the customer service desk, in front of the other employees, managers and customers is more likely to have something accomplished than someone hundreds of miles away on the phone.

I just went through a similar situation with the posting department at my bank.
After my deposit was complete, my balance should have been $1000 (numbers approx)
I then went directly from the bank out to dinner and paid with my debit card. ($100)
Well prior to my deposit my balance was only $99.
To my surprise my balance had decreased by $136 the next morning, because the posting department decided to post the debit transaction from 6pm to my acct prior to posting my cash deposit at 5pm.
Their reason: debit transactions are posted first.
Their real reason: try and sneak in as many $36 overdraft charges as possible and hopefully someone will be dumb enough not to question it.
I questioned it over the phone, nothing done about it.
I went to my local branch and spoke with the same girl who has been handling my banking for 10 years, result $36 credit to my acct, along with some $10 gift cards for holiday season.
I recommend going to the actual location, and being as polite and graceful as possible explaining your situation.

Originally posted by Lost in america
After being screwed many times the same way you did (sometimes my money was refunded) I no longer use banks, 4 years later and still dont use a bank. Wal Marts $3 check cashing fee has saved me more money then using the bank.
Oh and get this.. Wells Fargo.. I get paid from my job with wells fargo checks. So you think I could cash it there??? Yes for a 1% fee!!!! 9 dollars to cash a check drawn at the bank!!! RIP OFF!!!! F%*K the Banks!!!

edit on 9-12-2010 by Lost in america because: (no reason given)

I run a business, and we pay payroll through Wells Fargo. They did the same to our employees, except it was a 5 dollar charge. The reason, which is logical from a business perspective, is that a non customer cashing a check takes up space that a real customer would be using. The easy solution they provided was to open a free checking account. some of my peeps did this, the rest gave them the finger.

I have a wells fargo account, but am treated like royalty because of the amount of money my business (i don't own it, i just manage it) makes for them via deposits, as well as being the folks who handle all our credit card transactions (the bulk of our business is credit card). When i walk into the bank, they refer to me as "Mr. Lastname", even though my personal account with them is always at zero. I will withdraw my entire paycheck every payday, and deposit exact change for CC purhcases that i make online.

I have considered just using reloadable cards, but there is no cost with my checking. Zero.

For all intents and purposes, i don't bank. i just use it as a tool. I deal with them on my terms, when i feel like it, at no cost to me whatsoever. As long as that is the deal i am getting...

But it requires that i pay all bills in cash. And i have the added risk of carrying and keeping a fairly large sum of money at some times. But i am bigger than most people i meet, and act as a pretty good deterrant.