Abbey/Santander : Unpaid DD charge £35

[Onslowette]

Hi, Just wanted some advice.

My other half has just received this months Santander statement. He had an unpaid DDM on 21st Dec and they have charged £35 - well they will be on 4th Feb. Outrageous amount of money! Is it worth appealing about the level of charge? Am a bit out of date ont he whole bank charges thing & seem to be getting myself more & more confused!

Many thanks!

[phoenix11]

Hi Onslowette

 

Unless you can show that they've done something specifically wrong, then the charge can still stand since the Supreme Court ruling.

 

Did the DD remain unpaid or was it represented and then cleared as funds were in the account?

 

How soon after 21 Dec were more funds put into the account?

 

For example, I have been told this week by my local branch of another bank that, if a DD is due on xxx day and there are wages or other BACS payment paid in on the same day which will cover the DD (assuming the account was too low the day before) then the banks have to honour that DD and if they levy charges, you can argue for them to be returned.

 

They said that this was a recent change as technically as long as the funds were in the bank account before "say 3pm", then the bank are supposed to honour the DD payment.

 

So, if the money was in the account the same day but later, then you should be able to argue for the charge to be dropped.

 

Failing that, just try arguing it anyway and seeing if they'll agree to waive it this time around. If you have any hardship, raise that too.

[Onslowette]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply.

Money went into the account the following day and they paid the DDM the day after. Its just that £35 seems very excessive. He's going to call them and see if he can do anything as he never normally has any charges on this account.....or at least see if they can change the date of when they are going to take the charges as it will leave us short on money this month. I will update this thread when he's spoken to them.

Thanks again!

[leah_milner]

I've had similar problems with Santander. I put up a huge fuss and they waived the charge.