If this is not the right place to post this, please do move. I had no idea about this. Santander just goes from bad to worse!!! Nepotism rules. I still say they are not fit to be running the bank - in fact, this just adds to my viewpoint. I cannot post links as I don't have enough posts, but it's in the Guardian online. Santander UK chief Ana Botín takes home £4m in pay and bonuses The article was an eye-opener for me. However, she may be rich, but her arrogance and manners are abysmal.

Hi I am attempting to help a registered disabled relative who was unable to cope when their life took a downward dive and Santander IMO took advantage to rack up the charges and mishandle the account. Eventually I stepped in to help sort out a huge spiralling problem which was occurring in part because Santander had only disclosed their charges when it was too late. There is a lot more to this, but to keep it short, we complained to the FOS who took over a year to reach their decision. They did not find for us over the claim of mishandling of the account which I was very disappointed about, but did find that Santander had ignored written authorities to allow me to handle the correspondence and ignored the provisions of MALG. The FOS also noted the maladministration by Santander of the correspondence etc and their failure to accept the authorisation and instructions to correspond with myself, and the distress caused. The FOS awarded my relative £100 compensation for this and observed that they expected Santander to have regard to the MALG and to be aware and active where it is clear that due to a person's lifelong condition and there being no likelihood of their situation improving, that Santander should effectively consider allowing the debt to be written off. (not quite worded like that - but that's the gist) Acceptance of the decision was binding on both parties. The FOS decision was that the compensation had to be paid to my relative, not offset against the debt. So, because it is not my account and all of this is very distressing for my relative and causes a decline in their ability to cope, we accepted the decision and the compensation was paid. I duly wrote to Santander to ask them to consider allowing the debt to be settled for a nominal sum. Not only did they ignore that letter, we then received exactly the same threatening letters addressed to my relative which the FOS had specifically cited as being against the MALG guidelines and the reason for the compensation. I wrote to complain again, to both the complaints and the recoveries dept, and had to ask my relative to sign yet another letter of authorisation to ensure that there was no misunderstanding and Santander could not say that the old authorisation was no longer binding. I raised a new complaint with the Complaints dept. No response. I wrote to the CEO of Santander. No response. Today, we receive yet another threatening letter, with no reference to the correspondence, new complaint - nothing. If a financial institution has been formally castigated and required to compensate for their maladministration, and failure to acknowledge LOA, yet still continue to do exactly the same as if they were not obliged to be bound by any rules, are they fit to be allowed to manage a bank? I do not know where to go with this. I know I can technically raise yet another complaint with the FOS, but a) that causes huge distress to my relative, b) the relative does not understand that they are not going to be allowed to continue paying £1 per month but will now be hounded by a debt collection agency (as per Santander's threats), c) Santander clearly is not going take a blind bit of notice of the FOS, d) court action is not an option. I have been toying with the idea of attempting an SAR, so that we could see exactly what Santander did hold on the account and how they are handling it. I say "attempt" because it would mean having to get my relative to sign yet another document and explain what I am attempting and why - and that risks causing them to become extremely anxious and stressed again. Does anyone have any other ideas as to what I can do about this.

I was made redundant in January and my partner works part time, we get JSA and HB, We had/have and account with Santander and a credit card, because I got made redundant we signed up to CCCS, we had got all the paper work in and just last week CCCS started sending letters to creditors. This morning my JSA went in and partner pay, Santander removed the over draft as soon as it went in leaving us with nothing How can they do this? We now have no money at all, zero. Our only option is to spend on a credit card throwing us of the DMP with CCCS. What do we do?

The story (which I may of mentioned before) is that I got my overdraft a few years back as that xmas was an expensive one. it was £300 and I planned to pay it back at least £50 a month until it was cleared. When I only had £100 left to pay it just kept giving me an error saying I couldnt reduce the limit. When speaking to them I was told some rubbish and that I could not reduce my overdraft anymore until Feb 2012 (the 16th or something like that) Next month they are introducing their £1 a day charge up to 20 days for every day you are in your overdraft. No way do I want to pay that (if im desperate I may as well take out a payday loan as its cheaper). I tried to reduce my overdraft earlier and guess what?? "We are sorry but this amount exceeds the allowable limit available on this account at this time." Pathetic. Even though (in their words) they claim that I couldnt reduce it until this month.... I still cant reduce it now. Is there a way to make them accept repayment of the overdraft? and secondly is there any bank that I can switch over to that will take my overdraft off santander's hands? thanks

Hi Guys, hopefully someone can offer me some advice regarding getting a default removed from my credit file, which has been registered against as a result of santander (who underwrote to AVIVA) not paying a PPI policy which they should have been paying. So, in Dec 08 , I had suffered an injury at work (pro lapsed disc in the l2 l3 region, trapping the sciatic nerve) this not only rendered me unable to work , and possibly requiring a very risky operation , but it happened during a probationary period of a new job, which I ultimately could not go back to as my contract was terminated . Therefore I notified abbey of my situation and asked that my PPI be activated given my circumstance so that I could service my unsecured personal loan. I was notified of abbey that I would need to deal with AVIVA as that is whom the policy is with. I duly notified AVIVA , and they requested documents pertaining to the said reason I was unable to work,. they were duly provided with documents from both the local neurosurgeon and my local GP . This covered a certain IIRC 4 week period and I was to continue sending them updates of my situation, I duly did this , and the next certificate I sent them was form the GP stating I would be unable work, this ran until August 6th, I assumed that this would be all that was required and they would continue to pay my PPI until such time . This of course did not happen. Jan, Feb , March, April, May June, July all show late payments were registered against me on my credit report (I only know this now) , and finally they ABBEY / SANTANDER sent me a letter stating that the last certificate expired on August the 9th 2009. I then started to receive various letters (all whilst living alone and in a lot of pain) from santander requesting settlement of arrears (which as mentioned previously AVIVA were running up by not paying my PPI). On the 6th of July 2009 despite me explaining that is was AVIVA that were meant to be paying SANTANDER via my PPI, they issued a default against me , and also it shows late payments on aforementioned dates. Finally PPI was paid in August of 2009 by AVIVA to SANTANDER, and a new request was sent for payment to continue or a new certificate to state my ability to work or not by SANTANDER. The next letter / certificate to be sent to AVIVA was a doctors certificate stating i would be unable to work until further notice, AVIVA choose to disregard this , and notify SANTANDER that the PPI was cancelled (I dont have the letter from AVIVA, but it is logged on their system regarding reciept of said doctors certificate being received). Finally on the 28th September 2009 SANTANDER/AVIVA sent me a letter stating as we have not recieved a further certificate , we have cancelled your PPI on your secured loan and calculated a final payment amount of 25.06 for August 2nd to August 8th 2009. So basically, as I am now trying to attain a mortgage and don't want to apply whilst this is on my credit report, I have contacted both AVIVA and SANTANDER and asked them , how when under an active PPI policy 1. did their insurers fail to pay & 2.record late payments & 3. Register a default All of the above happening during a period the insurers were accepting they would pay but did not Furthermore, how can they not accept a Doctors certificate stating until further notice. oh and btw by this point I was on pretty heavy medication for the pain, and did not bother chasing this, hence why I am now doing it , incidentally I am still paying this loan off (no record of that on credit file) to their debt agency wescott. I know thats a lot to take in , so I am happy to answer whatever questions you would like, or clarify anything I have maybe overlooked .. **note I got a letter today from SANTANDER stating that they refund my PPI , but as I had got more PPI settlements than I had paid , I was not due a refund, even though I was only asking them to get the default of my account , jeez! I look forward to any help / advice offered.

Hi there I have checked my credit report, and under an old Santander account that I defaulted on on 27 March 2008 I have found the following information: Equifax say that the account was closed on 27 March 2008 with a balance of £0. However Callcredit say the account is still under "Default" status, with a balance of £1,036, and the accountholder status "Gone-away". So a few questions: 1. Is this account still enforceable as it is more than 3/4 years since a payment was made onto it? 2, What does the status "Gone-away" mean? 3. Will they actively try to enforce it in future? I haven't had any letters from them for years about it. I'm worried because this account will stay on my file until 2014 and dont want them changing the status to "Closed" at this time to make it stay on for another 6. Cheers

Hi guys Do we have any updated contacts for Santander such as the CEO or who would be the head honcho to copy in on a major complaint? The persons who should be dealing with complaints are totally ignoring all comms and I want to make one last attempt to get a professional and lawfully required response before I go back to the Ombudsman for another ruling - last one was in our favour - Santander have ignored the basis for the decision. I'd rather not keep having to do this as I'm acting on behalf of someone else - so I'm doing my very best - and will be seen to have done my very best - to make every effort and some more - to resolve the problems.

Hi all, First post here, nice to meet you all. I bought a brand new car in 2003 for 13k, I laid down 4k for a deposit which left 9k. On top of that charge I somehow paid £1463.52 in HP charges? I have sent the initial letter to G.E Money which is now santander, I didn't receive the response I was hoping for. "Thank you for your letter dated 27th February 2012, regarding Payment Protection Insurance (PPI). We have investigated your complaint fully and enclosed our complaints leaflet, which explains our procedure for doing this. After checking our records, I can confirm that I have been unable to locate any credit protection insurance or payment protection insurance (PPI) sold by us, for the agreement." Any ideas what to do next? I have the agreement in hand. Many thanks Chris

Hello All, I have a unsecured loan with Santander that was passed to Moorcroft quite a while back. I have found out recently that Santander is still adding interest to this account. I thought that once my account was passed to a dca then all interest is stopped. Can osmeone enlighten me please Regards Golfillini

basically abbey charged me about £400 in total for direct debits going over my balance each time at a ridiculous £60!!! it started with a small one, £35 for going £5 over on a debit payment. I missed this, i was just a teenager with a part time job and a phone bill so i didnt check my bills often. I received a further £60 (total of £35 for over balance and £25 for not saying my direct debit) This hug amount finevs my part time work meant that without realizing i was not able to pay the next one, now we are at £150 i am a student with a small earning and i really struggle. Here however is the worst bit. I removed everything from this account just my phone bill was left and i was due to move it when - not understanding the confusing breakdown letters, i went in store to ask ho wmuch i need in my account to stop all charges if i remove my direct debit. I was advised £60 would be enough. Content that this mad sense as i was being charged £60 a time and now cancelling my phone bill i paid this amount to make my balance £0. Two months later, being cautious i check what i thought was a dormant account as there is a £120 charge!!! No letters, I have ben away at uni so i hadnt checked my statement but no red post to warn me or my mother who always does if anything suspicious comes. Heartbroken, i pay it, but i do not earn this kind of money in 4 months and really struggle to get through uni! I am furrious and contact them my phone and writing to no use, i involved the FOS and the result is that the do not charge me the outstanding £25 - WHAT OUTSTANDING £25!? I am so upset and just cannot think how to go about solving this mess I have tried for such a long time to claim back my money with tearful phone calls letters and contacting the FOS but everything takes so long as is so confusing i cant keep up whilst at university. If i knew i was doing the right thing i would be faster but i am shooting in the dark I desperate to get even some of this money back - please please help me with some guidance. Thank you so much in advance Amber Rose

Any advice on how I can urgently speak to someone at Santandar in “Abbey for Intermediaries” about my application to port my mortgage? I originally applied last year via a mortgage broker and had an offer in Oct 2011 for a house that fell through. I reapplied on a new house straight away for smaller loan and lower LTV but was declined before Xmas 2011 due to the new credit search they took out. There was an issue with my credit file (an incorrectly registered default of £49) which I have managed to get removed (with CAG's brilliant help). I am now waiting and waiting to find out if they’ll reconsider my case but the trouble is that the 3month period Santandar gave me to port my loan (so that I can get my hefty early repayment charge of £8k back) is up on 19 FEB! My mortgage broker has since gone on maternity leave and although her administrator is chasing them I need to speak to someone who knows what’s going on so because I literally cant afford to let time run out on the porting clock. I’ve tried the exisitng customer helpline and Customer Services but they all refuse to speak to me and tell me to speak to my broker. Any ideas where to go next? xMariax

Hi Can anyone help me? I was under the impression that there was a limit in place to how much a bank can charge you in any one day and in a month is this correct? and does it also cover buisness banking? I was charged last week £380 in one day for the return of a few direct debits..... which hurts real bad

Santander are hiking their charges again for arranged overdrafts, this includes old A&L account took over by them. From 16th March 2012 the fee increases from 50p a day to £1.00 a day The daily cap which they have already changed from 10 to 20 remains the same. So for old A&L current account holder like myself the cost of using the arranged overdraft for more then 10 days a months has gone up from £5 (50p a day, capped at 10 days) with A&L to £10 (50p a day capped at 20 days) since Santander took it over, now going up double again to £20 (£1 a day capped at 20 days) Day light robbery but then everybody has to contribute towards all the PPI claims. Time for a new bank I think. Loyalty is a thing of the past, had been with A&L before it was even a floated bank, but since these Santander highway robbery consultants have took over, time to put my money somewhere else and not in the fat cats pockets.

Hello there, Just after a bit of advice if anyone can help please. I sent my first letter to Santander trying to reclaim my bank charges back 6 years - that was £800 of charges. They have only refunded £135 and then next months charges of £50. They also sent me a letter saying I could complain to Central Complints about the decision and enclosed an Ombudsman leaflet. Could anyone help with a second letter template at all please as I would like to see if I can get a little more from them. Thanks JJ

Are you a Santander Preferred Current Account customer, have you read the small print, if not you might be surprised to know that if you should fail to pay in £1,000 in a month, you will be charged £2 and the same every time you fail to pay that amount in. So Preferred Current Account customer, don't plan on going sick unless your employer pays full sick pay or you have insurance. That is on top of the £20 a month you are already paying for a wrath of services you will probably never ever use. Have a look at your current account, do you really need a premium one? it's costing you £240 per year.

Just had my statement . At the end of a loan, so had £53.25 balance. This was cleared after 14 days by the next direct debit. Santander charged me £0.95 interest. Whilst I know it’s not a lot I calculate this as an interest rate of 45% !! Santander say no its actually 17.94% But still higher than the 16.61% stated on my last statement. Must be illegal charging a rate higher than specified and I have not received any notification of a higher rate. How do they justify a 45% rate anyway !! Can they really do this ?

Hello, Here is the story I was wondering if you guys could help me? I recently opened a new account with Santander around a month ago. I made a purchase 3 weeks ago online 2 purchases, 1 for 700 euros 1 for 400 euros. I had around 2,100GBP in my account, other payments was also made. Went into the 02 shop bought a Iphone the was around 459 that I purchased my balance after this was around 763GBP. That took me overdrawn a few days later, as 2 payments went out of the account 3 weeks later it took me overdrawn for around 200GBP how ever I paid this within 24 hours, yet today they said that they are downgrading my account from a normal VISA account to a cash card account. Fully explained the issue to the bank they won't listen! Its not my fault they took 3 weeks to process payments, i was also waiting for payments from someone else to come into my account they ended up getting backdated. Are they even allowed to do this? I'm 17 currently. This was the banks fault, I manage my money very good and I paid the money quite fast they won't even help me

Now debt free myself, i am trying to help a friend out who is in debt. He has many debts so i said i'll try and tackle them one at a time. Below is the reply to a CCA request from Santander for the first. Any views on if it is enforceable would be kindly appreciated. I maybe wrong but i cannot see a 'right to cancel box' and it was signed at home. There is then about 8 pages of terms and conditions which i can upload if needed. Thanks in advance. Higgs

Has anyone heard of this happening to others since the transition of Abbey over to Santander? I set up an online 'Easy ISA' with Abbey back in 2006/2007 and used to manage it online via a passcode. I remember going into an AN branch one day back in 2008 and they couldn't find this account on their system, I was told because it was an online account only. I was reassured when I went home and logged in to my online banking, that I could still see the ISA. A couple of years passed and the name obviously changed to Santander, bringing about a new online banking system/interface. I forgot the log in details and didn't try and log in until recently. I requested new passcodes etc from the same branch (who still couldn't locate the ISA on their system) and now I've been able to log in again, I am horrified(!) to see no evidence of this ISA or any of my other account details prior to two years ago. I've logged this with their customer service ISA department, who wrote back to say they haven't been able to find it. I know it was there, with about 7k in it!! Even if they had provided acknowledgement that this ISA was once open, (with nothing in it even) I would be reassured...but they are saying they can't find it at all. I feel like I'm going mad, but I'm quite intelligent(!) and know I had some money in there. I've now logged this with the FOS but what else can I do?! I'm gutted! Stacey

Dear All, I would really appreciate some advice.... Last year I won my claim for miss-sold PPI against Santander, who paid out compensation. However, although I would like to use this money to pay off the rest of my loan I can't - because Santander is still charging me £50 PPI a month on my loan and any final payment figure includes this! I have made numerous calls to the bank, been passed to numerous different departments, and STILL no joy. It has been almost four months since I won my case, yet I am no further forward in getting them to actually cancel the PPI they have already agreed was miss-sold! One Santander call centre worker told me that they had NO RECORD of any PPI problems... Perhaps I should just stick a second claim in - I bet they'd find the records then.... Please, can anyone suggest a way forward - phone calls to Santander just don't work. Thanks!

Does anyone know the current limit for Faster Payments by this bank?

I CCA'd Abbey in August 2007 regarding a default from 2006. Abbey didn't reply. They confirmed in 2008 that they cannot provide a default notice as one does not exist. The default is made up entirely of bank charges, would it be possible to sue them under COBS or BCOBS?

I've had a long running complaint with Santander now since November. I was involved in a car accident in October and lost a lot of work as a result, which meant I was struggling. I wrote to them and asked for assistance, despite several letters I received no response to my letters, however I received an increasing number of threatening letters from them, and eventually my account was defaulted in February. Anyway, I'm dealing with that, prior to my accident my accounts were in credit, however a couple of missed payments lead to over £600 in charges between November and February. I initially wrote and asked if these could be refunded. If the missed payments had gone out I would have been £5 and £14 in the red. Anyway, I was told that no refund would be offered. I also wrote to them asking for the default to be removed as I had attempted to contact them throughout the process that lead up to the default registering and this complaint is still bouncing back and forward, every time they bring up the request for the charges to be repaid and refuse to deal with the fact that they are incompetent. Anyway, today I have just received a letter from them... thanking me for a telephone call on the 9th August 2011 regarding my recent complaint. Now I know for a fact that I never made that call! Again they go on to bring up the charges, and how they can't refund them. I am writing back, expressing my deep concern regarding this alleged telephone call and asking for further details along with any recording that might have been made. Details of what was discussed, etc. Is there anything else I can throw at them? On this particular point?

Hi Can anyone help? I have recieved my credit report and it shows that Santnader (alliance & Leicester) have defaulted me on an amount of £300 which was a overdraft but in all the bank charges scenario they did not refund the full fees back. I am therfore being asked to pay this amount off. In 2009 I think they refunded some of them due to hardship but did not refund the full amount. I am on a debt management plan and pay them approx £3.00 off each month. However, the balance is now at £400 so it appears that they are charging me interest on this which will appear that I will never pay this off. I have written to them on numerous occassions they wont refund the remaining amount, they wont remove the default even though this amount included bank charges which according to the informaion commissioners report is unlawful. I just want them to write it off. Do I need to go the ombundsman then at least that will cost Santander the £200 which will give me satisfaction. I will never be in a postition to be able to pay this off so I am unsure why they are charghing me interest. I also asked payplan to propose to them that I pay full settlement of 25% which they refused. Please can some one help I just want it to go away and move on with my life. Will the ombudsman be bale to overide them

I have had my account with santander for over 4 years now and 2 years ago transferred to thier travel reward account and from the day I opened my account with them have always had a cheque book I have had no problems untill now I kept asking where my new cheque book was as I have not received it and had run out of cheques only to be told they had put a block on my account stating that I was not to have a new cheque book ,I have run my account properly money going in ,hardly use my overdraft but never overdrawn over my overdraft limit,all of which was confirmed by the person at Santander but they said it was there head office whom blocked it and that there was nothing they could do being disabled I rely on my cheque book to pay some bills can they just do this or what rights do I have to sort this out or can they just remove use of cheque book facility from my account any advice gratefully received thanks.