Santander wont let me have my own damn money

[Fiona N]

I'm assuming that bank payments will become more widely accepted eventually in the UK.

I've told people about the system in Switzerland where people send you a paying-in slip (personal accounts have these not just official bills) and you have the choice of taking cash+slip to a bank or PO or using the information to do an electronic payment. Mostly people just do an internet bank payments once they've got the information.

In the UK people complain about giving people your bank details but haven't these people noticed that exactly the same information (i.e. account name, number and sort code) is given on every cheque.

 

[mark barker]

Personal cheques have the account details on, but cashier cheques (as requested by the OP) don't. They will appear as a withdrawal at the point of issue and the account details will be a clearing account set up by the bank.

I don't have any "plastic" payment methods (only had a cash card for the past 7 or 8 months), and I quite often have arguments with counter staff in the local branch when I want a cashiers cheque. Eventually they back down and give me what I want!

 

[ASC1951]

Bunch of greedy, unhelpful w***ers.

Er, why don't you bank with someone who gives you your very own cheque book to keep at home? Or better still, get your head round online banking?

I use both with Lloyds and have never had a problem.

 

[swee'pea99]

I don't see getting rid of cheques as a progressive move. If I want to buy something on Ebay I have 4 options -

1. Go fetch it and pay cash (only ever done this twice, and one of those involved a 60 mile round trip)

2. PayPal (I don't use it and never wish to)

3. Postal Order (that's assuming the seller will accept it - and then there's the surcharge on top)

4. Cheque.

So basically I'm well and truly stuffed without cheques unless I cave in and sign up to PayPal.

Why? Apart from anything else, it's so easy.

 

[Over The Hill]

Apart from that you're giving the recipient all the info they need to set up direct debits in your name which you then have to spend your own time on cancelling and recovering the money

http://www.telegraph...r-ID-theft.html

Will you not be providing them with the same information if you send them a cheque?

Oh and you will also be sending them a nice signature to copy too on your cheque.

If you send a cheque you have no control over where it actually is paid in and little control over which account it goes in.
If you go in the bank and pay it into the account you have a receipt confirming you paid £x into x account on x date.

Banks have never asked you to not reveal your account number to anyone. It has never been an issue to give out your account number.

If you look at your gas bill it has a paying in slip with their account and sort on it. it goes to millions of homes.

 

[Steve H]

I would bank with someone else. I had real trouble getting other ones to listen, went through the whole rigamarole of ID, form filling and then found out my bank had pressed a button somewhere saying I'm effectively not trustworthy.

Weird thing was I was STILL getting letters off them saying "have a credit card!! Go on, have two!" Up until about 2-3 years back. I personally think credit cards are the most dangerous way to use money, as it isnt yours and you end up in debt. All banks should just issue their members with PAYG top-up cards that work like Visa and allow you to order online without the risks associated with online banking or CCs.

If other banks are saying they don't want you, it is most likely that you have a problem with you credit history. You can use sites like Experian to find out about your credit history. As a one off you can normally do this for free.

Experian link


If some financial institution has flagged you as a credit risk, then it will most likely be detailed in the output you get from this check. If the flag is incorrect / a mistake you can challenge it and get it changed. If the flag is correct, because you've defaulted on loan payments or something, then you'll need to start building up a better history.

If you don't want to bank with a company that makes huge profits for its shareholders, then suggest taking out an account with a mutual or the co-operative. They share profits back with their members.

 

[PBancroft]

I suspect many, many reasons.

 

[ufkacbln]

I do a lot of online shopping electronically, so not entirely averse to such methods. However, don't think I'd ever give my credit or debit card details out or pay money electronically into the bank of a private seller on an auction site, personally. Just don't feel comfortable with it.

This can actually breach your terms - check


As for Santander . My mortgage completed in 2005. I am still being charged interest after they "forgot to cash the cheque" from the endowment company. After multiple letters and complaints went to the Ombudsman and complained.

This was upheld, and we were told to stop payments and for Santander to refund payments for the last four years with interest and a compensation payment. Stopped the payments and were then threatened with repossession after failing to make a payment of £0.16 that the Ombudsman agreed we didn't owe them in the first place.

 

[DTD]

I've got a cash ISA with Santander – they're taking over a big wodge of RBS branches later this year :-(
Banks eh?

 

[PaulB]

We have several endowments with Winterthur in the process of maturing but the hoops they expect you to jump through before they'll give you your entitlement! We waited from an April maturity date last year until November before it was paid but this one's even worse. We received notification, from the same provider who'd messed us about last year and eventually couldn't get out of paying us our due, that the latest policies maturity date would be in October last year. To date, we've not received it. They can't pay into the account they've been taking money from! We have to supply them (again) with photocopies of passports and two utility bills countersigned by a respected member of the community testifying that this is actually us. Even then, they say they can't pay US, they have to pay the bank as it was taken out for our mortgage. Tragically, for them, we no longer have a mortgage so that leaves them stumped about where to pay. They claim to not be able to locate our policy so we have to send them the original copy together with all the ID gubbins. This following us already having done that with the ID. They then tell us we have to inform our mortgage provider to state to them that we no longer have a mortgage and that the outstanding amount should be paid directly to us. What a flamin' joke this always is.

Doubtless, some joyless stuck-in-the-mud letter-of-the-law quoting breath of foul air will be along telling me why I'm in the wrong this time.

 

[ufkacbln]

We have several endowments with Winterthur in the process of maturing but the hoops they expect you to jump through before they'll give you your entitlement! We waited from an April maturity date last year until November before it was paid but this one's even worse. We received notification, from the same provider who'd messed us about last year and eventually couldn't get out of paying us our due, that the latest policies maturity date would be in October last year. To date, we've not received it. They can't pay into the account they've been taking money from! We have to supply them (again) with photocopies of passports and two utility bills countersigned by a respected member of the community testifying that this is actually us. Even then, they say they can't pay US, they have to pay the bank as it was taken out for our mortgage. Tragically, for them, we no longer have a mortgage so that leaves them stumped about where to pay. They claim to not be able to locate our policy so we have to send them the original copy together with all the ID gubbins. This following us already having done that with the ID. They then tell us we have to inform our mortgage provider to state to them that we no longer have a mortgage and that the outstanding amount should be paid directly to us. What a flamin' joke this always is.

Doubtless, some joyless stuck-in-the-mud letter-of-the-law quoting breath of foul air will be along telling me why I'm in the wrong this time.

We found the Ombudsman very helpful, and a very easy experience

Nicest thing isthe thought of the hefty fine Santender gets as part of the deal.

 

[asterix]

We have several endowments with Winterthur in the process of maturing but the hoops they expect you to jump through before they'll give you your entitlement! We waited from an April maturity date last year until November before it was paid but this one's even worse. ,,,

That sounds dreadful. May I ask why you 'chose' Winterthur? They appear to be Swiss and IMO Swiss financial organisations are best avoided. Presumably it was due to the advice of someone expecting commission?

 

[asterix]

Nicest thing isthe thought of the hefty fine Santender gets as part of the deal.

I say, do you mind? I happen to be a shareholder (having once banked with the Post Office)..

 

[darkstar]

Since they took over from Alliance Leicester the company has really changed. I used an account with them to pay household bills for my student house last week, gas, electric etc. I went overdrawn by 40p by mistake, and didn't realise because I rarely checked the account. They sent me no notification I only found out when I logged in 2 weeks later to be met by a £60 charge. I sent a letter of complaint and got a generic response offering me an overdraft, so I closed the account instantly.