Being Harassed by Santander Bank - Absolutely Disgusted

[NameChanger22]

A few weeks ago I started a thread on here about how Santander Bank kept repeatedly sending the mail of an ex-boyfriend to my address, even though we split up and he moved out 12 years ago, died 2 years ago and I have repeatedly sent mail back to them for 12 years and I have phoned them and made complaints about it twice. He owed them £1,200. He owed everyone money, he owed me a lot more than £1,200.

In the end I went into to my local branch and showed them my council tax bills for the last 6 years proving he hadn’t been living at my address for a long time as all the bills were addressed to me alone and I have the 25% single person discount.

A week ago I got a letter from Santander (addressed to me) saying I was wrong to complain but that they weren’t going to send anymore mail to my address.

Today I got a letter from Santander (addressed to The Personal Representative of the Late [ex boyfriend’s name]). First of all I’m not his representative, so that annoyed me. The letter went on to read:

“At this difficult time, customer care is obviously the main priority and I therefore wanted to advise you that we have referred the above mentioned account to our specialist probate partner, Phillips & Cohen Associates (UK) Ltd.

Until further notice, Phillips & Cohen Associates (UK) Ltd will be responsible for managing this account on our behalf, and where appropriate will take steps to come to an amicable arrangement for the repayment of the outstanding balance from any existing estate.

All future communications should be directed to Phillips & Cohen Associates (UK) Ltd in the first instance ….”

I cannot believe a bank can do this. They said a week ago they would stop sending post to my address and then this. I am extremely worried about this. Can they really get another company to come after me for the debt of a dead ex-boyfriend who hasn’t lived at my address for 12 years. I just don’t understand this at all. Please help and stop me from panicking, especially advise me if you have any real understanding of the law.

Thanks so much.

I suspect some fuckwits at the bank have agreed you won't get contacted but some automated nonsense has forwarded your address to the bailiffs,

No, they've forwarded her ex's last known address to the bailiffs. It's not the same thing.

If the bank has no other address for this person, what do you expect them to do? Write off the debt? Businesses and banks just don't work that way I'm afraid. They have an address down for him and so that's what they'll contact him on.

If bailiffs ever show (highly unlikely) then OP can get bills or a tenancy agreement to prove she lives alone and they'll go away.

This is a whole lot of angst over a non-problem.

I get your anxiety OP. Doing nothing wouldn't sit right with me either because I'd be waiting for the next letter thus causing me stress.

Are you able to phone P&C and ask them to follow up in writing to you that no further action will be taken?

I have been trying to contact his family to get their addresses but nobody has got back to me so far.

Adaline - I have already been to the bank to prove I live alone with copies of bills. They photocopied them. But, they are still sending post to my address and have sent a threatening letter to my address about debt collection.

I am worried because they are still sending post to my address and involving me in it and now involving a third party. Time will tell as to whether I am worrying unnecessarily or not.

This thread is helpful because talking to people about it with others is making me panic less; and because some people have come up with some suggestions about how to solve the problem that I wouldn't have thought of myself. But, it's also not helpful because I now have too many options and I still don't know what I should or should not be doing really. I will go to CAB if I get any more post sent to my address from either Santander or the debt collectors.

Hi there,

I've name changed for this (because MN not always kind to journalists and I use this site personally and have never reported on anything on it) but I'm a consumer / financial journalist and more than happy to get in touch with the Santander press office and give them a kicking / try and sort this for you.

Drop me a PM if you'd like me to try.

On the financial association thing, just a word of caution - did you ever share any bank account with this ex? If so you may still have a financial link on your credit file and his debts could be impacting your credit rating.

I strongly urge you to follow the advice of a PP who said to double check your credit file, and would add that you need to check all three CRAs as they often have different info.

Finally - you are in the right here and Santander have behaved appallingly. Please do raise merry hell with the ombudsman etc.

Also - Step Change have template letters for when someone hassles you for a debt that isn't yours.

I dont get some posts on here. Itd not unreasonable to not want letters arriving for someone else for 12, that's 12, years after they lived there, especially when they've been told numerous times that the person is not contactable at that address. Its nit unreasonable to open the letters if returning them hasn't worked. Even if it was just annoying rather than anxiety inducing its not on so not sure why some people are trying to blame anxiety.

We have been connected financially in some ways in the past. I don't want to go into detail here about it. I will try and check my credit file. I have no idea how to do this, and I think it will make me worry more. What good will it do?

I can't believe I can be held accountable for somebody else's debt. This is ludicrous to me.

Someone upthread said:

Also, if you were not married at the time of his death or taking out the loan in his name only, you're not responsible.

Is this true? We were never married, we lived together less than 2 years. I never even knew about his debt/overdraft. I've never had anything to do with his Santander account.

I have had similar problems in the past lasting for years with Natwest, so it isnt just Santander I really don't believe there are many decent banks tbh.

Namechanger, try Clearscore to check your credit rating, it's on the web or there is an app for iOS and Android. It is completely free forever (although they do try and push financial products). You only need to confirm some details and you will see your credit history and if you have any financial connections with anyone else. I hope this will set your mind to rest a little

Please do not worry you are 100% not liable for this debt. You were/are not married, and don't share any children (not that this could usually affect the living parent anyway), or assets and certainly cannot be considered his next of kin or anything similar. Probate has to be dealt with within a certain (short-ish) timeframe of death anyway, so the fact they are still trying to sort this out years later is ridiculous. My mum's ex partner died leaving a shit load of debt (addressed to her home), they had a child together and he was on a joint mortgage with her. She didn't have to pay a penny of his debt. Do you know who was executor of the will? They should have dealt with all his debts/assets at the time of death or soon after. I can not stress enough though that you are not liable to pay a thing, so do not worry about that. Its awful to be put under this sort of stress though and continue to receive post addressed to the deceased years after he's passed. I can imagine this must be really traumatic and brings up alot of grief and pain everytime. Any more post in his name return to sender, and any post addressed to you, you should keep a copy of for your own records, but I'd be hesitant to even honour them with a response. If you do know who executed the will, it may be worth contacting them to make them aware of this outstanding debt that hasn't been dealt with, but in all honestly I think the bank will end up having to write this off. Trying to chase (a relatively small sum in the banking world) money from someone who died even a year ago is ridiculous. Sorry you're going through this OP

Owlish - I have just joined Clearscore. It's very easy to navigate. I have a good credit score, above average and the only thing I can do to improve it is get a credit card (I'm never going to). I don't need to have a good credit score anyway, I don't need credit.

It doesn't show any other name or connections to others on my credit report. Could that change in the future if the bank or debt collectors decide to add a name to it in the future? I would guess they are not allowed to do this.

I think his sister was the executor of the will (guessing), but she hasn't got back to me yet.

'I cant believe I can be held accountable for somebody else's debt. This is ludicrous to me.' - OP listen to what people are telling you!!

YOU are NOT responsible for this debt.

STOP opening post that IS NOT addressed to you. RETURN ALL POST TO SENDER.
NOT KNOWN AT THIS ADDRESS.

Any debt collection agency/Bailiff has to prove the debt it owed by the person who owes it. You don't owe it. It isn't your responsibility to prove that you don't.

The bank didn't believe me that he moved out 12 years ago, or that he died. They told me I had to prove it. So I proved it. Then they forward the problem to a third party. You can see why I might be pissed off and worried about this bank?

I am not sure Phillips & Cohen are that reputable. I've just been reading online reviews of them - 1 out of 5 star ratings and lots of complaints made against them.

Of course they're not going to get good reviews - they're a debt collection agency! However I'm dealing with them at work on a probate matter and they've been fine to deal with.

Just ring them to explain the situation or return all post to them. Do you have any contact details for his family other than Facebook?

Of course they're not going to get good reviews - they're a debt collection agency! However I'm dealing with them at work on a probate matter and they've been fine to deal with.

I did think that too.

I will wait until they write to me/my address first. I don't want to contact them unless I have to.

I only have Facebook contact with the deceased's sister, no address. His family was very small.

All those who are saying report to FCA are barking up the wrong tree. It’s financial ombudsman service you need (FOS), and you can use this option only if you’ve made a complaint which they’ve resolved, and you disagree with the outcome for.
I would still call santander on Monday and ask for their exec complaints team - Nathan Bostock May not read your email personally but exec complaints are handled by a specialist team in my experience. I would also say if they don’t conpletely resolve this for you within 3 days you’ll be contacting Martin Lewis & Daily Mail to highlight their utter incompetence.

I'm sure it's just a stupid box-ticking admin thing; in order to write off the debt, the company (Santander) likely has to prove they've gone to "reasonable lengths" to recover it (they likely have shareholders and auditors to justify to). So they have passed it to the debt recovery people who have forwarded it to the last known address as the final step in the process. You can ignore the letters (as they are not addressed to you anyway) until the debt recovery company has fulfilled their obligation to chase (it might be a set time, or a set number of letters they have to send), or you can call them, explain the situation, and they will make a note and pass it back to Santander.

It's all just bureaucracy. It's a pain in the arse for everyone, but that's the world we live in.

You've been told many times over that you're not legally liable for this debt. If you won't accept this from MNers then maybe go to CAB and get them to reassure you.

@NameChanger22

I can completely understand your frustration and worry over this. You have returned previous letters, not addressed to you, to sender. Nothing changed. So you opened a letter and went into branch to show you live alone, hoping the mail would stop. It didn't, you are still getting letters sent to your address albeit not addressed to you. You've opened one of them, only to see that not only did the mail not stop, it's now been passed to a debt collector. Those who work in the industry see this as standard, not harrassment, just annoying. Return the unopened letter - end of.

But that hasn't worked before, so understandably you're worried where this will all lead. Add into the fact this is an ex who was abusive to you, and it's obviously raking over emotions you just don't want to deal with, all over again.

From the bank's point of view, they are just doing what they do, day in, day out. Send automated letters to last known addresses chasing debts, passing it on to collectors at the appropriate stage, no big problem, right? But it is, for this person and many others. It is not unreasonable of the OP to have expected the mail to her address to have stopped, especially as this issue is 12 years old. She shouldn't need to be bank savvy on how it all works, when it's been nothing to do with her.

OP, I'd got to CAB and get real, face to face advice and support. All the best.

NRTWT but I would be sending Santander and any other company that you have received letters from a letter saying what you have already told them and if they send anymore letters that you will charge them an hourly rate to answer the letters then start billing them.

Thanks Shawshank - I love your name. Absolutely in the top 5 films ever made.

You have understood this completely and been able to see it from my point of view. Thanks for summarising it for some of the others who weren't able to read the whole thread or didn't get it.

I am easily stressed/triggered. I understand this is my problem and I will deal try and deal with it.

Sincerely, thanks for your help.

Step Change have template letters for when someone hassles you for a debt that isn't yours.

Noone is chasing her for a debt that isn't hers. Not at all.

They are chasing the representative of the customer (which makes it sound as if they accept he is deceased) at the last known address of their customer, in the hope that someone at that address will pass the letter to that representative and that the estate will either pay the debt and or prove it cannot, at which point it will be written off.

Getting letters for other people for years is annoying but we've all had it. I get about two texts a week from Lloyds telling me my account is overdrawn, but I've never had a Lloyds account, so someone who does put in the wrong phone number. Nothing I can do about it, I just delete them. I don't get concerned that they are asking me to pay someone else's overdraft.

I do not trust Santander Bank and therefore I cannot trust employees of Santander Bank. Please don’t take this personally, but you may not be giving me impartial advice.

A) no, you don't get to choose who posts
B) I don't work in retail banking and have no information on how that side works
C) I've only been there a few months
D) I've never worked in any bank before
E) I am a Santander customer and have been for years and I think they are shit, I've raised more complaints about them than any bank (and I have lots of different banks) and had them settled in my favour, so I'm hardly going to be 'on their side'
F) I've not said anything different to many other posters, and I've offered to find you the right email address which I could easily do today by logging into my work account and looking in the address book. But I won't, don't worry.

I would write to the CEO of Santander. Google and you will get their email address. Explain events clearly, adding about the stress and inconvenience they have caused you.
Tell them you have tried to resolve this with their staff but have got nowhere.

Tell them you plan to now refer to the FOS.
Then refer it to the FOS.
The CEO will sort it because they won’t want to risk the level of incompetence you have experienced to go public so will go into damage control.