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'm almost certain you can access (for a fee) wills online. I know someone who had to do this and I think it was quite easy to do. If so, you'll be able to trace the executor from there. Forward all unopened bills to them to sort out. If the estate is liable for this bill it will be paid from that.
Contact Santander with the name of the executor and reiterate you are not the executor and have no financial connection. As PPs have advised, Stepchange/Citizen's advice. Or Moneysavingexpert may have template letters.
Contact the ombudsman to make a complaint.
Contact the debt collector and advise them any further contact you will contact the ombudsman.

I honestly don't know why you haven't provided a copy of the death certificate if you aren't going to ignore the mail !

The financial ombudsman service will refer you back to Santander but as you are a non customer, you don't get financial ombudsman's rights

There is no dpa breach & if they have sold the debt to a 3rd party, they'll have nothing more to do with it

@ny20005

Why would the op have a copy of the death certificate?

I honestly don't know why you haven't provided a copy of the death certificate if you aren't going to ignore the mail

Why would the OP, who is neither the executor of the will, or a family member/next of kin, have a copy of a death certificate for an ex boyfriend who she split up with 12 years ago?!

There is a breach of DPA/GDPR as the OP has repeatedly told them they are holding her details incorrectly and they have failed to correct this. It's not up to the OP to prove a negative (i.e. That he doesn't live there and she is not responsible) - Santander need to prove the opposite if they want to pursue it.

@VanGoghsDog

She was told on the previous thread that obtaining a copy of the death certificate & taking it to branch was the only way to stop this mail

@Userplusnumbers

The bank are writing to their customer at the address he gave them. They are not breaching anyone's details & are not going to change address on the day so of some random person 🙄

She has 2 choices, get the death certificate or bin every letter that comes in for him

@ny20005

I've not seen a previous thread. But it's not the only way, but it is the best way to get the debt collector to believe he is dead. But, she has said she has no contact with his family and they've been split for twelve years, so she would not have the death certificate.

The next of kin need to deal with this. They can provide the death cert. The op needs to give them what info she has even if it's only the name. The debt collector can search the probate registry themselves and check if a will was lodged.

But they don't just take people's word for it that someone has died, they need some proper official evidence. But not from the op, it's nothing to do with her.

I note, btw, that all the email and website links etc given up thread were for the corporate bank. Unless this was a business account it's the retail bank the op needs to be in contact with.

It's not a data protection breach.

Anyone can apply for a copy of a death certificate & she's the one who wants the mail to stop so it's up to her to prove he's passed away

She'll take no notice of all the good advice given & start a new thread in another few weeks 🙄

The bank must believe that he is dead now which is why they wrote:

"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 …"

They know he is dead. They just want someone (anyone) to pay his debts. It won't be me. Why should it be?

I agree, they do accept he is dead, hence to use of the probate partner.

They just want someone (anyone) to pay his debts. It won't be me. Why should it be?

It shouldn't and it won't. You've been told this about a hundred times.

Tell them you are not his representative and have nothing to do with his estate, give them his sister's name. That's it.
I expect once you've done that, now that S'der are no longer involved with their general incompetence, they will leave you alone.

Thanks VanGoghsDog. I really hope that is the case and they leave me alone now.

They know he is dead. They just want someone (anyone) to pay his debts. It won't be me. Why should it be?

They don't expect you to pay his debts!

They are doing their job, which is to see if they can get his debts paid off. Your address is his last known address so that's where they're writing to. You also got yourself involved by going into the bank, which was totally unnecessary.

They can't do anything to you or your money. So if you get any letters, ignore them. Get a copy of your mortgage or tenancy or council tax bill and keep it handy in case a bailiff shows and you can then prove you live there alone.

There is honestly no need to be so worried! The fact that you lived together x years ago has nothing to do with what's happening now. It doesn't mean you're implicated or involved in any way.

Had any one mentioned that these debts were statu barred 6 years ago. They can’t chase anyone for the money after 12 years

They are not necessarily statute barred, we don't know that, You can't just ignore a debt for 6 years and then it magically becomes barred, or we would all just stop paying our debts, wouldn't we?

The steps are:

"What does statute barred mean?
A debt will be deemed statute barred after a set period of time (defined by the type of debt, most commonly 6 years) if the following takes place:

The creditor has not already taken court action
No payments have been made in relation to the debt within the set time period
No acknowledgement has been made by the borrower to the lender that they owe them money within the set time period"

We have not got information on whether any of the above happened, so we cannot just go around telling someone that debts are statute barred, for all we know he went in the week before he died and paid off a tenner. Or he acknowledged the debt three years ago - etc.

The fact that S'der seem not to have taken court action in the 12 years suggests that the debt was acknowledged and maybe some was paid, or the account was simply still in use and the debt has only been outstanding for the two years since he died (as the account is no longer in use).
All banks have very tight procedures to prevent statute barring so it's pretty unlikely this would have happened.

Of course, if nothing else happens they become barred in a min of 4 years since he died 2 years ago.

It's a bit remiss of the estate executors or administrators not to have tidied this up with probate but if all the statements were going to his old address they possibly had no clue that the account existed.

www.checkmyfile.com/articles/2913/dealing-with-debt/does-statute-barred-mean-my-debt-is-written-off.htm

My point exactly Elizabeth.

I’m I’ll rephrase then given the person who owes this has been dead for two years. Another 4 years of sticking these letters in the bin and the debt will most definitely be statu barred. So stop getting your knickers in a twist over nothing OP bin the letters and this will just go away. You do not need to be producing death certificates and all that shit. Just ignore it

And you can indeed just ignore a debt for 6 years and it because statu barred. Many many people do

And you can indeed just ignore a debt for 6 years and it because statu barred. Many many people do

Except that the bank would very likely start court proceedings before the 6 years is up, and they have standard procedures to do so to prevent statute barring.

I’m I’ll rephrase then given the person who owes this has been dead for two years. Another 4 years of sticking these letters in the bin and the debt will most definitely be statu barred.

As I said.

Not for under £2000 they don’t typically, worth a try if you’re like dead for example

Not for under £2000 they don’t typically, worth a try if you’re like dead for example

I have no idea what point you are trying to make.

You told the Op the debts would be statute barred and you don;t know that. For all we know the guy was using the account up until the day before his death, he just hadn't changed his address with them (I have one account I've never changed my address on, I don't use and it's not in debt I keep meaning to get it sorted but it got lost in my house move and I've not got around to it yet). There might not even have been a debt until his death, we simply don't know.

So, yes, they may get statute barred in 4 years, or not if the estate can be contacted and accepts the debt or shows that it has no funds to pay it.

But none of this is anything to do with the OP - it's not her debt. She won't have to pay it no matter what.

Which banks are still decent??? That is the question I'd like to know.

First Direct.

VanGoghsDog - you’re the one making a dogs breakfast of it. It probably is statu barred, after such a long time the bank are chancing their arm clearly and there you are wanting to send a strong message that there is indeed a cat in hells chance that after 12 years this debt is still persuadable when it clearly is nothing more than scare tactics

Not your debt, not your worry (although I’m sure you’ll still worry). Even if they sent debt collectors you just show them your council tax bill and they can’t do anything.

I’m so sorry your going through this.