Problem with loan settlement with Santander

[steveg123]

Hi

 

I could do with some advice. I'll try to keep this as straight forward as possible.

 

Ok, I had a personal loan with Santander over 36 monthly payments.

 

It was due to be settled in December this year, however I decided that I was going to settle it early at the end of March (2013).

 

On the 11/03/2013

I called Santander for a settlement figure - I was quoted £2061.38

(I only called here to get an idea of what the settlement figure was, I don't get paid until the end of the month)

 

On the 31/03/2013

I called Santander and explained that I would like to settle my loan early,

the nice lady on the phone said she would get me a settlement figure,

put me on hold for a short while, on her return she told me that the settlement figure would be £1828.60

- asked me if I would like to pay now, I said I would,

she asked how I would be paying, I replied "with my Debit Card" - she then took my card details.

 

Now, she did say after this "not to cancel my direct debit just yet"

- to this I argued that "why would I need to keep my direct debit open? I have just settled the account!".

 

To this she replied "yes, your right sir, feel free to cancel the direct debit whenever you like" - Thanks good bye.

£1828.60 was subsequently taken from my account.

The end.... or so I thought.

 

On the 18/04/2013

I recieved a (rather nasty) letter from Santander saying that they are unable to close the account as I have not made all the payments and I still owe £232.78.

I have 14 days to pay the amount or the £1828.60 would be refunded to my account,

minus what payments should have been taken and the loan would carry on as normal.

 

Thinking there must be a mistake I went down to my local branch the next day (19/04/2013) to try to find out what was going on.

I was taken into the back of the branch with a member of staff and we tried to get to the bottom of what was going on,

 

the member of staff was on the phone for around half an hour and the upshot of the conversation was the reason that I still owed the £232.78

was because my direct debit had failed on the 01/03/2013

 

- I disputed this as I got paid the day before and I had received no correspondence from anyone about any failed direct debits.

they were adamant that this was the cause and that was pretty much conversation over.

The girl on the phone asked me if I would like to open up a complaint - "YEP!"

 

I then went to my local Halifax and asked them about any failed direct debits for the beginning of March, as I suspected there was none.

I was provided with a printed statement of my account clearly showing the loan direct debit being taken on the 01/03/2013.

 

Back to Santander.

I spoke with the member of staff I had been dealing with earlier, showed her the statement from the Halifax, she took photocopies, then said she would sort it for me.

She had someone to see but would phone Santander back up for me that afternoon. Great! everything's sorted.

She then took my mobile number saying she would give me a ring later that day.

 

Nothing...

 

Bearing in mind here that Friday 19/03/2013 I was on a days annual leave from work and I spent the entire morning sorting this mess out.

 

Today (23/03/2013), you know when you get that feeling that "something's not right"

- I gave Santander a call. Sure enough, apparently my complaint had been rejected and I still owe them £232.78

 

I tried to explain that I had taken proof of the direct debit to the branch, however now, it wasn't 01/03/2013 direct debit that had failed

it was the one on the 01/04/2013 that had failed... Even though I had settled the account the day before.

 

I tried to explain that I had called for a settlement figure, Santander had given me a settlement figure, I paid said settlement figure in full.

 

She was having none of it.

Refused to listen to any of my previous phone calls saying that she did not have the facility (which I highly doubt)

and now I hadn't made a "settlement payment" I had simply made a "card payment". The conversation then descended into argument.

 

"If you don't like it you can take it up with the financial ombudsman" - so I did and the forms are in the post.

 

Basically, whats happened is someone had ballsed up with my settlement figure. They wont admit it and want the rest of the monies.

 

I was all set to pay them the two thousand, when they gave me the 1800 figure I thought bonus, another payment must have gone on since I last called.

As I had 200 quid spare I then treated myself to a few bits. Plus I've wasted half a days holiday already sorting this mess out.

 

Thanks for reading all that.

 

Do I have a leg to stand on here or should I just stump up the 232 quid?

 

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks

 

Steve.