UK Bank Complaint Forum www.banks.grone.co.uk Review

I recently recieved a letter from one of my credit card providers,santander,telling me that they had not recieved a payment for my cards` august account,due on sept 15th,and I would be liable to a penalty of £12.As I had a busy time at the end of august,I thought that I may have forgotten to send the cheque,£163 was outstanding on the balance,however,upon further investigation,I discovered that I had indeed posted a cheque for this sum on 2 sept.A check of my bank statement revealed that the cheque had been paid on 10 sept,and a quick phone call to the bank confirmed this,I then telephoned santander.The operator told me that they had not recieved the money until 15 sept,so I informed her that my bank had paid santander on 10 sept,to which she replied that the problem was cheques,and how troublesome they could be,but agreed to refund the £12 penalty charge,although she told me that I would have to pay a minimum payment of £31 this month,despite my protestations that my account was now fully in credit.She also suggested that I pay by debit card over the phone in future and gave me a number to do so.I was away for a couple of weeks after this,but upon my return I phoned this number to make the payment.After being shuffled between various departments at santander,I finally spoke to someone who told me that it was not possible to pay by any debit card other than one for a santander current account.I then asked her to confirm what my balance was and was told that I was in fact £7 in credit so no payment was required! I also recieved a letter from santander apologising for a delay in clearing cheques,and that they would refund any charges and interest that had resulted from this,and also,ominously,that they would correct any information given to credit reference agencies that had also resulted from this.I had in fact tried to use my santander card on two occasions during sept,but on both occasions the card had been refused,no problem to me as I have other means of payment,but it does speak volumes about how santander does business.My santander card has a limit of £3400,yet not paying £163 made them cancel my card and send horrible things to a credit reference agency about me.I would recommend that people avoid doing business with this institution,they look like shysters to me.The old Abbey was a wonderful british institution,santander obviously has ruined it and it no longer has any of the characteristics of what was a much loved national treasure.Thank god they now trade under their own name ,so everyone can see what they really are!