Not upheld: alleged system error and transaction processing failure complaint against Santander UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mrs T complained that Santander's online system displayed an error message when she attempted to transfer £5,000 to her ISA on 13 January 2026, causing her to make a duplicate transfer that resulted in £10,000 being credited instead of £5,000. She requested that Santander reset her ISA subscription allowance, which had been fully consumed by the erroneous deposit. Santander declined, citing system logs showing both transfers as successful and the absence of evidence of a technical failure. The ombudsman upheld Santander's position, finding the system logs to be reliable evidence that both transfers were processed successfully and determining that Santander was not obligated to block the second authorised transfer.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman applied the balance of probabilities test, finding Santander's system logs to be reliable evidence that both transfers were successfully processed. The logs showed no indication of transaction failure, and no evidence was provided to suggest the logs were recording inaccurately. Mrs T's lack of a screenshot meant the only evidence of what occurred was Santander's system records. The ombudsman concluded Santander should not have been expected to block the second transfer, as the firm would not have been aware of Mrs T's intention to deposit only £5,000 and was merely acting on her authorised instruction.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website