would this be considered unfair bank charges?

[lawless]

Hi people of Lb,

I used to bank with santander, I made the account when I was about 15 years old, and for some reason I always had an overdraft of £10, I could not withdraw it from cash machines but it would work if I tried to purchase something or in a shop.

To my knowledge being 15 years old I should not have been allowed this overdraft as I was not old enough to sign a legally binding contract?

So I used this bank and this overdraft service for a couple years, I turned 17 left school and couldnt find a job, and stopped receiving money from my father that i used to get for getting good grades as i left school. So i stopped using the bank account as I knew no money would be entering it until I found work.

eventually when I expect to receive some money I put my card into the atm type in my pin, check my balence and I am minused by £140, and the £70-ish
I thought I was going to have got soaked up.

irresponsibly I just chopped up the card and forgot about it, until today when I receive a letter telling me I now owe them £2316.34!

All this from an £12 charge?

Do I have to pay back the £2316?

Is what they are doing legal atall?

I am 20 now and this is really worrying me now that I have started work and have a family to provide for.

if I made the account when I was 15 and didnt sign any documentaion after I made it agreeing to this overdraft, does that mean these charges are void cause I did not agree to it?

I spoke to the bank and asked them to send me proof that I owe this debt and agreed to the charges and the overdraft but they said they cannot send that information to me? But as a goodwill jesture they will take £100 off, which is just a joke! Lol

any advice would be appreciated.

thanks in advanced!

[FlamingParrot]

Re: would this be considered unfair bank charges?

Hi and welcome!

That sounds absolutely outrageous! :scared: :scared: :scared:

They have an obligation to provide you with info regarding the terms and conditions of your account, including the overdraft (if any). I assume you did tell them how old you were when you opened the account, :noidea: presumably it was a basic account without a real overdraft facility, just £10 you could dip into on the odd occasion.

You could send them the letter below as well as a SAR which is a request for statements and all historical data, that should show how they arrived at the figure. This is current account/overdraft information request letter:

Dear Sirs,

Ref: Account number [ENTER NUMBER HERE]

Under the provisions of The Consumer Credit (EU Directive) Regulations 2010 and c.39 (s.74 (A&B) (VA)) CCA(1974) I wish to formally request a copy of the original overdraft agreement and relevant paperwork that you should be sending me annually, for the above account.

As I held what can only be regarded as an 'Agreed Overdraft', which has now reverted to an 'Unauthorised Overdraft' then the lending becomes regulated in line with c.39 Part VA (s.74) (s.1(b)) CCA1974 meaning the normal rules and CCA(1974) protection applies to this account.

You should be providing me with an annual reminder regards the overdraft, as well as copies of the original agreement made and an annual renewal form that contains the relevant prescribed terms that are clearly outlined in s.74(A)2 (a,b,c,d,e). I highlight this provision for your convenience:

s.74A(2) The current account agreement must include the following information at the time it is made:

(a)the rate of interest charged on the amount by which an account-holder overdraws on the current account or exceeds the pre-arranged overdraft limit,

(b)any conditions applicable to that rate,

(c)any reference rate on which that rate is based,

(d)information on any changes to the rate of interest (including the periods that the rate applies and any conditions or procedure applicable to changing that rate), and

(e)any other charges payable by the debtor under the agreement (and the conditions under which those charges may be varied).

I would like to direct your attention to s.74(B)(2) which reads:

s.74B(2) The matters referred to in subsection (1) are:

(a)the fact that the current account is overdrawn or the overdraft limit has been exceeded,

(b)the amount of that overdraft or excess,

(c)the rate of interest charged on it, and

(d)any other charges payable by the debtor in relation to it (including any penalties and any interest on those charges).

Therefore in line with the above, please could you send me the information I am entitled to receive annually. I await your response with the requested information.

Yours faithfully,

[FlamingParrot]

Re: would this be considered unfair bank charges?

Below is the SAR letter, which you'd send to obtain all your statements and details of transactions, charges, etc. It should be sent recorded delivery so you can go to the Royal Mail site and track when it was signed for. You also have to attach a cheque or PO for £10 which is the statutory maximum fee for a SAR. They should respond in 40 days, but Santander can be obstructive, I sent a SAR a couple of years ago, they sent me only 6 months worth of statements. :mad2: Eventually I managed to get them to send me the full 6 years, if you have any problems you know who to ask. :grin:

There may have been a fraudulent transaction on your account, a friend of mine had that experience with Santander a few years ago. The SAR should provide you with a full set of statements so you can see what's going on.

Once you get the full picture, I'd say a complaint to the FOS would be in order, but the FOS will expect you to have contacted the bank and raised any issues with the bank before going to them. :thumb:

Dear Sirs


Ref: [ENTER ACCOUNT NUMBER]

Subject Access Request - S.7 Data Protection Act 1998

Under the Data Protection Act 1984 and 1998, and including the right of subject access under these acts, I hereby request that you supply me with any and all historical data in your possession which, in any way appertains to me, including (but not exhaustively) a copy of the original signed executed agreement; statements of account; duplicate statements and/or printouts of all account transactions; all internal and external correspondence sent or received by you including memos, logs, notes, screen prints and transcripts; notes of manual interventions such as telephone attendants' notes, copies of stored telephone conversations, internal and external emails; any other information held on all types of media in any relevant filing system. If you have disclosed any information to a third party (with or without my express permission), will you please include details of this in your reply, along with notes of any legal action passed or pending (to include a true copy of default notices, court orders and the like).

If you store any of the older records on microfiche, please be aware that the Information Commissioner deems this to be a relevant filing system under the Act. As such, any microfiche data must be sent to me in fully legible and comprehensible form.

Where any information that you provide includes any charges, for example returned payments, late payment fees, and so forth, would you please advise your breakdown of actual costs (liquidated damages) incurred for each charge, and the Term or Condition on which you rely upon to claim such a charge. I also require that you forward, within the above mentioned time scale, a true copy of the Terms and Conditions that were in force at the time my account was opened, and any subsequent amendments to those Terms and Conditions.

Additionally, where there has been any event in my account history over this period which has required manual intervention by any member of your staff, or any other person, I require disclosure of any indication or notes which have either caused or resulted in that manual intervention, or other evidence of that manual intervention in relation to my business with you. If you are unable to supply this data because there has been no such manual intervention, then please be so kind as to confirm this in your response.

I enclose the statutory maximum fee of £10.00 to access ALL data held by you about myself. You have 40 days in which to comply with this request.

Yours faithfully,