MSE News: Santander to charge for 'free' business accounts

cottager

Just wanted to wish everyone luck with their appeals -- go get 'em

We had several savings accounts with Abbey National that was, but closed them down with Santander some while ago and wouldn't go back. Our mortgage was also originally with Abbey National so came under Santander latterly, but it's now paid off so we're shot of them there too. Unfortunately, although it's not our main business a/c which is at NatWest, we have an ex-A&L account which of course is now Santander: it's used purely for banking business cash before TF it through to the main a/c, as A&L made no charge for this up to a monthly limit, and even if the limit was exceeded the cost per £100 was substantially lower than at NatWest. Since taking it over, Santander has already reduced the limit by £1000 per month (which in some months means we now exceed it) and at the same time upped the excess charge per £100 (though it's still a little less than NatWest).

I'm just wondering how long it may be before they get around to either (a) scrapping the free cash banking altogether, or (b) imposing a monthly account charge as you ex-Abbey account-holders are facing, or (c) both, as their ultimate aim could be standardisation.

I don't believe the A&L account ever had a 'free forever' promise, but will be watching developments on this thread with interest. Good luck!

cheapread

Hi, I am a long standing Abbey/Santander small BIZ account holder and I was baffled by the letter yesterday - and I wrote a strong letter of complaint to my local Santander Business Manager in Bristol - I await the result -
I am totally in favour of a concerted and organised response to this blatant cheat. I have it in writing that it was 'free forever' within the constraints of a certain amount of transactions. It is yet another example of a banking system totally out of control. The FSA, soon to be disbanded and coming back the next day under a different guise should be thoroughly ashamed of itself, Barclays and the BOE Mervyn King etc. As customers we need to put down our marker and formulate some plan to have a judicial review - when it says ' free forever' it should mean that, within the agreed limits. I have little time for the contributors on this board who say 'oh well' and suggest moving to another institution, you are suffering from 'ground down' syndrome and I am not going to give up that lightly. I am all ears.... the clever people on here who are posting with knowledge of legal processes etc. please respond and lets get something going NOW before Santander capitalizes on inertia and despondency. After I've posted this, I am off to the Banking Ombudsman site to protest as vehemently as I can.

cashisking1

deleted by user

cheapread

CashKing1 - Superb posting - I will do likewise...

cheapread

Magpie Cottage - well done - I will do likewise, I have already emailed my local branch and requested they forward the complaint to Foale, but I will now post a letter directly to him. I understand (rightly/wrongly)that we must complain firstly to him, to give SANTANDER the right to reply/rescind before referring the complaint to the FSA.

cheapread

Hi xxxx,
you might remember I called to see you recently about my account and I was very pleased with your business-like manner and information etc.

I am extremely disappointed to receive a hustle letter from Santander’s MD Business Banking Robin Foale today, saying from now on I would
be paying £7.50 monthly for the privilege of the bank looking after a positive balance of typically £4k and investing it wherever it chooses.
I know I can move it to a deposit account etc. and mitigate this cost but that is not the point.
When I opened this account, the plaudits were that I would have FREE BUSINESS BANKING for the lifetime of the account.
Now I’ve just spoken to a Santander rep. and I’ve been informed that this advertising promise means nothing, ‘as long as we give you 30 days notice
we can change the terms and conditions including an account charge’.
In other words Santander was not as good as it’s word – it’s called a LIE.
It just shows that Santander can cheat and lie as good as Barclays any day.
If you happen to pass Mr. Foale in the corridors of power, would you pass on the sentiment that his capital idea doesn’t do much good
for Santander’s erstwhile reputation for being just a bit different from the rest.. and the word does get around..
In any other business it is called cheating.

Regards,

xxxx Director.

HoofeHearted

As mentioned earlier, the business I help to run has free banking with the Co-Op. This is because we are a member of the Federation of Small Businesses.
Take a look at
http://www.fsb.org.uk/business-banking
and
http://www.co-operativebank.co.uk/fsb

DruidDonagh

HoofeHearted wrote: »

As mentioned earlier, the business I help to run has free banking with the Co-Op. This is because we are a member of the Federation of Small Businesses.

That means that the 'free' banking is only for FSB members. The FSB asks a £30 joining fee and an annual memberships fee of £170.

So in my opinion, it does not matter where you go, there is always a catch. As the proverb goes: There is no such thing a a free lunch.

FSB wrote:

Cost of Membership £ 200
Figure shown is for full membership for one year and includes a one-off £30 joining fee

Paulgonnabedebtfree

magpiecottage wrote: »

If you do not get a satisfactory answer from Santander within 8 weeks (and I think the only satisfactory answer will be for it to back down) then you can go to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

.

For me personally there is another option that would be acceptable to me. When I took this account out (over 10 years ago), the monthly cheque limit before charging was 50. The maximum number of incoming paper transactions per month (multiple cheques counting as one transaction) was 10. A rollback to the original limits would not be unacceptable to me under a "variation of T & Cs". If it comes to it, I will bring this up with either Santander or the ombudsman. I don't suppose that showing the ombudsman I am more reasonable than Santander will count for anything but it will get a mention anyway.

50Twuncle

Typical Spanish move - after spending the morning stealing our cod - they spend their lunchtime drinking Riohja - then have a few hours of siesta - before trying to con us hard working brits out of our meagre savings - by illegally changing the fixed T&C of our bank accounts.

I recommend that we all pull our funds out of this joke of a spanish bank....