Frequently asked questions

The best way to contact cahoot is by secure email from your online banking homepage. Alternatively, you can call us on 0330 678 2811. We’re open 8am-6pm Monday-Friday, and 9am-5pm Saturday (if calling from outside the UK please dial +44 1908 937 222). You'll need to answer some brief security questions to access your account information. 

Cahoot, Sunderland, SR43 4EZ
 

You can read our tips for using your debit/ credit card abroad. If you intend to use your cahoot debit/ credit card abroad please send a secure message to let us know the dates you'll be away and the countries that you'll be visiting. We'll then know that any transactions made are genuine.

You can ask us for a cheque in a different currency. When you do this, we’ll take the money out of your account straight away. And we’ll issue you with a type of paper cheque called a draft.  So when the person getting the cheque pays it into their account, we’ll already have the money to pay it.​

When you ask for a foreign-currency draft we charge you £10. ​

We can provide currency drafts to be drawn in:​

• Euros​
• US dollars​
• Canadian dollars​
• Swiss francs.​

You can ask us to cancel a cheque or draft once it’s been issued. If we do this, we'll charge you £25. If the person you’re paying hasn’t paid in the cheque after 6 months, we may cancel it.​

Once a cheque is cancelled, it takes at least 5 working days for us to credit the funds back to your account. Changes in exchange rates may mean you may get back less than you originally paid.​

More options​

Paying by cheque can mean costs and timings you don’t want. So you may like to pay a different way. An international transfer or CHAPS payment are 2 of your options.​

If a cheque’s in a foreign currency you may be able pay it into your account with us. But this can mean costs and timings you don’t want. So you may like to ask the person giving you money to get it to you a different way. This could be something like an international transfer.​

Here's how to pay a foreign-currency cheque or draft into your account with us:​

• On the back of the cheque, sign your name and write the sort code and account number you want it paid into. ​
• Once you're happy, send it to: cahoot, Payments Team, PO BOX 13220, Foreign Cheques, Harlow, Essex, CM20 9UF.​

Be sure to keep a copy of the cheque or draft in case you need it later. Please also note, it’s not down to us if cheques go missing in the post. Think about using recorded delivery for your cheque, or keeping proof of postage.​

Once we have your foreign-currency cheque or draft, we'll try to clear it either by:​

• Collection – You’ll only get the money in your account once the bank paying it has the cheque or draft and sent us the money.  It’s down to the cheque, banks and countries involved, but this usually takes 2-8 weeks. ​
• Negotiation – You’ll usually get the money in your account around 6 working days after we have the cheque.​

Which way will my cheque go through?​

We can’t always say how your cheque will go through.​

• If it’s for less than £5,000 it may go through by negotiation or collection.​
• If it’s for more than £5,000, or in a different currency to the country it was issued in, or from a country that only accepts collection, it’ll go through collection. For example, a USD $20,000 cheque from a US bank, or a USD $1,000 cheque from a Canadian Bank, would each go through collection.​

Either way, your cheque may take longer if we need to do security checks.​

For an update, call us on 0330 678 2811.​

Either way, it may take longer for your cheque to go through if we need to do security checks. We'll convert the money from your cheque into pounds. We'll use our standard exchange rate on the date the money's paid into y our account. ​

How much will it cost me to pay in my foreign-currency cheque or draft?​

We charge you £10 to pay in a foreign-currency cheque. If it goes through by collection, the other banks we work with may also charge us ‘correspondent charges’ for processing it. We’ll take these off the final amount that goes into your account.​

We can’t tell you what these charges will be. Because we don’t set them and won’t know what they are until we're asked to pay them for you. They can be high, and sometimes include a fraction of the cheque’s value.​

Stuff you need to know​

It could be we get a foreign-currency cheque that we can’t put through. If this happens, we'll return it to you as soon as possible, telling you what the problem is. It could be that the correspondent charges are higher than your cheque’s value.​

Up to 7 years after you’ve put in a foreign-currency cheque, we can return it to you. In this case, or if we see it’s fraud, we may take back the money we paid into your account. If exchange rates have changed, the amount we take from your account could differ from what went in. ​

You might ask the person who wants to pay you by cheque, to do so another way. An international transfer is quicker and cheaper. And there’s less chance it’ll be returned once it’s gone through.​

Be wary of fraud​

Sometimes fraudsters send our customers foreign-currency cheques, and ask that they transfer the money back to them. With this scam, once the fraudster gets the transfer, their cheque bounces. Leaving our customer out of pocket.​

Our Security Team is ready, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to help protect you instantly. Please tell us if:​

• you get a cheque for more than the value of any goods or services you’re selling​
• the buyer asks you to return or forward any overpayment once the cheque’s cleared​
• the cheque clears, but the buyer then asks for the money to be returned​
• an online contact asks you to cash a foreign-currency cheque and forward them the money.

It's a free service that lets you switch your current account from one participating bank or building society to another. It's been designed to be simple, reliable and hassle free and is backed by the Current Account Switch Guarantee. 

What if another bank or building society does not offer the Current Account Switcher Service?

If you open a new account with another bank or building society which does not offer the Current Account Switch Service ('the Switch Service') you can still switch your account, although the switch is not guaranteed under the Current Account Switch Service. 

• Your new bank or building society will request a list of mandates from us within 2 working days of receiving your authorisation to switch
• We will provide a list of mandates to your new bank or building society within 5 working days of receiving the request. If we are unable to service this request, we will inform your new bank or building society as to why we cannot comply within 2 working days. For example, we have not received a signed authorisation form; we cannot find the customer on our records; there are no mandates on the account or it is a savings account and not a current account
• Your new bank or building society will set up payment mandates within 5 working days of receiving the mandate list from us
• We will cancel your payment mandates and if you have chosen to close your account with us, we will close your account and transfer any positive balance to your new bank on the date specified in your authorisation form. If there is a circumstance which prevents the closure of your account, we will inform you promptly
• We will not charge for this service.

How do I make a complaint about my switch?

If you're not happy with the switching service we're providing, please refer to the 'what happens if I make a complaint' FAQ which provides details of how we deal with complaints and your right to make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. 

From 6 April 2016, all interest payments received will be paid gross, even if this is for interest accrued before this date. 

Banks and building societies will still be required to take tax from any compensation interest paid. For further information please refer to the HMRC website 

If you’re a TPP providing account information or payment initiation services and want to read more about how to use/access our APIs, you can find the technical specifications on our developer portal. (When you follow this link you’ll see Santander UK plc’s developer portal as cahoot is a division of Santander UK plc.)

Find out more about making a new payment.

With cahoot each individual receives a Personal Savings Allowance based on their tax status, which they will use against their equal share of the interest. If you hold joint accounts with other providers you'll need to check this with them. 

If we hold information about you, you can request a copy of it and to have any inaccuracies corrected where necessary. Please call us on 0330 678 2811. We’re open 8am-6pm Monday-Friday, and 9am-5pm Saturday (if calling from outside the UK please dial +44 1908 937 222).

To find out more about your information rights visit the website of the Information Commissioner.

The new Account Summary makes it simple for you to complete a tax return. It details the interest paid and tax deducted for any savings and current accounts you hold with cahoot. 

The Account Summary is automatically available to you in online banking within e-Documents on the left hand side. A secure message will be sent to notify you when it’s available to view. 

A Tax Deduction Certificate is also available on request by calling us on 0330 678 2811 or you can call us on 0800 9 173 489 (freephone). We’re open 8am-6pm Monday-Friday, and 9am-5pm Saturday (if calling from outside the UK please dial +44 1908 937 222).

We may have asked you to complete a Change of Details form after opening a new account.

This is because, some details from your application do not match those we have for you as an existing customer. We need you to provide us with some details and ID, so that we can send you new Online, Mobile or Telephone Banking details.

If you have any, you’ll be able to use your existing details to see your new product, after you send the information we need.

We need you to:

1. Fill in and return a Change of Details form to the address listed below. 
2. Photocopy one item of ID from list 1 and one from list 2, from the list of ID we can accept. Please provide clear black and white photocopies, and don’t send us originals. 
3. When you send these to us, include a copy of the email you received, or write your account number and sort code on each document.

Please send us your completed change of details form and photocopied ID documents back to us at: 

Santander cahoot Operations
Sunderland
SR43 4FX

You need Adobe Acrobat to view and print PDF documents that appear on this website. To download this program for free visit the Adobe website. You'll also find useful tools and resources on the Adobe website if you want to read PDF documents with a screen reader. 

To re-activate a dormant account, we need two forms of identification that must not be from the same company. We can accept: recent credit card statements (but not store card statements), bank or building society statements and utility bills (such as gas, electricity). Take a look at our full list of acceptable identification.

At cahoot it is important to us that we continue to improve our services and products and provide you with the service you expect. We want to know when things don’t go well so we have the opportunity to put them right for you and potentially other customers.

How to contact us

The best way to contact us is over the phone so that we can talk to you in person and take action to resolve the issue for you.

You can call us on 0330 678 2811 or you can call us on 0800 9 173 489 (freephone). 

If you would prefer, you can contact us using one of these other methods. It is important that you provide us with a daytime contact number so we can call you to discuss the matter with you if we need to:

Send us a secure message via ‘contact us’ from your personal homepage at cahoot.com

Alternatively, you can write to us at:
Cahoot, Sunderland, SR43 4EZ
 

Our promise

We will do everything we can to resolve your concern promptly and fairly. Our commitment is that we will listen to you, we will contact you if we require more information to investigate the issue you have raised and where we have made a mistake we will put things right for you.

If we can resolve your complaint within 3 business days following the day we received it, we’ll send you confirmation of this and we’ll let you know about the Financial Ombudsman Service at this time.

Timescales

Complaints relating to payments in or out of your account:

These include complaints about making or receiving payments on your Current Account, Credit Card or Instant Savings account.

• We'll send you our final response as soon as we've completed our investigation.  We have 15 days to resolve these complaints.
• If there are exceptional circumstances we may take longer than 15 days to investigate your complaint, however, we'll resolve all payment complaints within 35 days. We'll write to you to let you know if we need longer than 15 days, we'll also send you details about how to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman if you'd prefer not to wait for us to finish our investigation.

All other complaints:

• Although we have 56 days to resolve your complaint, we'll send you our final response as soon as we've completed our investigation.
• We'll also keep you informed in writing along the way so you'll know when to expect to hear from us.
• If we haven't been able to finalise our investigation by 56 days we'll send you a letter letting you know and what steps you can take.  These will include letting you know you can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service if you'd prefer not to wait until we've completed our investigation.

Following our response

If you do not agree with our resolution once we have completed our investigation then you can choose to come back to us using any of the contact routes above.

Alternatively, you can choose to go to:

The Financial Ombudsman Service

If you don’t agree with our resolution of your complaint and you’d like to take it further, you can ask the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) to look into it. This is a free, independent and impartial service that helps resolve disputes.

Although you can refer your complaint to the FOS at any time, they’ll ask for our permission to investigate complaints where:

• You haven’t complained to us first, to give us the chance to put things right
• You have complained to us, but we haven’t given you our Final Response yet and we’re still within our timescales.

We’ll send you the full details of our decision in our final response, including your right to refer your complaint to the FOS. If you do so, it should be within 6 months of the date on our final response.

Web: www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk
Phone: 0800 0 234 567 (free from UK landlines and mobiles)
Post: Financial Ombudsman Service,
Exchange Tower, London E14 9SR

EU Online Dispute Resolution (ODR)

If you purchased your product or service with us online and you live in the EU, you can submit your complaint to the FOS via the European Commission's Online Dispute Resolution platform.

While you’re free to use this route, we recommend you contact the FOS directly using the details above, as this will save you time. Their website also has an online form: http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumer/complaints.htm

You can access the ODR platform at http://ec.europa.eu/odr and you’ll need to quote our ODR mailbox: ODRreferral@santander.co.uk
If you'd like to know more, our 'How to complain' leaflet details how we deal with complaints promptly and fairly. 

You can send us a secure message from the online banking 'Help & contact us' tab or you can call us on 0330 678 2811. We’re open 8am-6pm Monday-Friday, and 9am-5pm Saturday (if calling from outside the UK please dial +44 1908 937 222).

Alternatively, you can write to us at: Cahoot, Sunderland, SR43 4EZ. You'll need to return any cards or cheque books held on the account. These should be cut in half for security purposes.  

Any Direct Debit mandates (used to pay bills) arranged on the account, should be cancelled prior to closure of the account. Please allow 14 days for the closure to take effect. 

If you’ve been affected by your travel provider going into administration, and have paid using your credit or debit card, you can use our travel company liquidation form to raise a claim. 

We’ll normally refund your account within 45 working days from the date we receive your claim. If we receive a large number of claims it may take us a little longer. Please complete our claim form and enclose your supporting documentation, as we need this to submit your claim.

Guidance for completing our online claim form

This form must only be used for payments made on your cahoot debit or credit card. If you’ve also made payments using a debit or credit card from another provider, you’ll need to speak to them directly. 

The claim form

• The form has editable fields, which means you can type in your information before you print it off.
• If completing the form by hand, please use black ink.
• Please complete all fields as fully as possible, to reduce delays in processing your claim.
• If you need to provide more information, please use a separate piece of paper.
• Please only submit the payments made with the same card on one form. If you’ve used more than one cahoot card to make payments, please complete a separate form for each card.

Supporting documentation

• When sending supporting documentation, please keep the originals for your own records. 
• Please avoid stapling your documents together or attaching them to the claim form.

Returning your form

Please post your form, along with any documentation to:
Card Disputes, Sunderland, SR43 4GL

Fraud awareness

Criminals will use a company going into liquidation as a cover story to try and scam you out of your money. 
It’s important that you keep your personal, security and card information safe and secure as criminals may target your accounts. They may contact you pretending to be cahoot, the police or another organisation and use this information to convince you they’re genuine. Take Five to check that you’re speaking to a genuine person by calling us directly using the number on our website before discussing any details about your account, card or claim.

Criminals will sometimes use a tactic called ‘spoofing’ where they make it look as if their telephone number, email or text is from your bank (or other organisation) – they can even make them appear in the same thread alongside genuine messages. They may ask you to make a payment or share your security details, such as Online Banking passwords or One Time Passcodes (OTPs). These must never be shared with anyone even if they say they’re from cahoot.

Petrol stations with self-service fuel pumps will now check that you have the funds to pay for your fuel before you fill up.  

What’s changed? 

Previously a £1 pre-authorisation was taken from your account to confirm that your debit or credit card was valid before you began to fill up. The exact cost of the fuel would then appear on your account, typically one or two days after the transaction.

Under new industry requirements, self-service pumps will now temporarily reserve up to £130 (some retailers may ask for a lower amount) on your account before you begin filling up. There’s no charge to use pay at pump.

The new pay at pump process is being rolled out across petrol stations and supermarket service stations across the UK and is already used in most petrol stations across Europe.

The pre-authorisation card check only happens when you pay by card at the pay-at-pump service. If you don’t want to buy petrol in this way, you can just fill up and pay at the till.

How does it work?

Step 1
When you insert or tap your cahoot debit or credit card at a self-service pump, it will check you have enough money in your account to cover your fuel cost.

Step 2
On receipt of this check and, depending on the funds available in your account, we’ll either accept the full amount or suggest a lower amount. This means the pump will automatically cut out once you reach the approved amount or before if you dispense less than the approved amount.

Step 3
As soon as you’ve finished filling up, the fuel pump will tell us how much petrol you bought. The correct amount will be posted to the account straight away, so you should see an accurate balance on your account once you’ve finished filling up and paid the correct amount.