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

timkim

Have sent a complaint to Santander today, and printed out some of the pages from the links (thanks!) ready to send to the FSA.

I also came across a customer letter dated June 2009 about the change of name to Santander, signed by Antonio Horta-Osorio, the Chief Executive. In a paragraph headed "What does this change mean to you?" he promises: "Rest assured, there will be no changes to your accounts and you will not be required to take any action."

I hope he had his fingers crossed.

opinions4u

timkim wrote: »

Have sent a complaint to Santander today, and printed out some of the pages from the links (thanks!) ready to send to the FSA.

I also came across a customer letter dated June 2009 about the change of name to Santander, signed by Antonio Horta-Osorio, the Chief Executive. In a paragraph headed "What does this change mean to you?" he promises: "Rest assured, there will be no changes to your accounts and you will not be required to take any action."

I hope he had his fingers crossed.

I'm sure the Chief Executive of Lloyds Banking Group isn't particularly fussed either way these days.

heathcote123

Susievintage wrote: »

"230,000 Santander business customers with free current accounts will soon be hit with a monthly charge..."

My god. It's like the banks actually plan in advance to really !!!! people off. Do they ever stop to wonder why everyone seems to hate them so much?

It wouldn't be so bad if their response was something like: "Sorry, but we can't afford to do this any more, times have changed, and we were stupid to use the word forever'"

But no, some PR wonderbrain comes out and tells everyone how lucky they are to be being charged for it now.

I dont have an account with them, by bank charges me about £30 a month, but this would really !!!! me off in principle, they just treat everyone like idiots.

Susievintage

I think writing to our own MPs is a good idea - I am lucky in that mine is excellent and will actually look into any concerns raised with him, but even poorer MPs have to keep a record of communications from constituents, and their replies.

I'll let you know what I hear from mine.

cashisking1

deleted by user

tim441

these are the rules for writing to your MP!


If you are one of my constituents, please ensure that you have included your full name and postal address in your e-mail. If you have not, please resend your message with that information as I cannot reply without it and this will also help me to reply more promptly.

Please note, there is a strict Parliamentary rule within the House of Commons that MPs may only act upon the substance of communication from their own constituents.

If you are unsure and need to find your MP please go to http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/

jonplackett

I've just started a business account with Santander, along with another account at Barclays and one with Metro Bank.

So far, Santander have been head and shoulders better than any of the others- they started the account quicker than Metro bank (who claim they do theirs in a day, but took 4). Santander did theirs on the day. Barclays took 5 weeks! I also got a call from the branch manager, who gave me his mobile number to chat to him and has been very responsive.

If you want to call barclays, expect an hour on the phone and an idiot when you ge through. Santander answer usually in a few minutes- and it's a british call centre, as apposed to barclays who have no clue at all (I've closed the barclays account by the way)

All told, I am happy to pay a fee for a far, far better service.

I know it's all good to bash the banks, and I hate most of them as much as the next man (looking at you again barclays) but I have nothing but good things to say about Santander.

Until First Direct launch a Business account, I'm staying put.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

Not much really. Had my letter today acknowledging my complaint. The letter contrained details of how to compare their offer with those of other banks - something that misses the point by such a wide margin, I'm glad none of them play for my local football team. It also had a "how to contact the ombudsman" booklet. I phoned the ombudsman office and they gave me a reference number even though I've yet to formalise the complaint with them.
Plan of action? Wait a couple of weeks in case Santander back down and then write to them asking for a letter of deadlock I suppose.

Cornwall2000

Hi, I will be trying to place complaints once I find a non-0845 number that I can call.

Meanwhile I have opened an HSBC Business Direct account which will be fine for my needs if the keep it free. Telephone banking has a non-0845 number available as well.

When I was in branch today dropping off some bank statements I saw a leaflet for £50 referral fee for introducing a new customer. Annoying as my girlfriend already has the account so we could have got the fee!

Anyway try to get a friend to recommend you and you can share the £50.
I am sure you can find someone on here, or I would be willing to do it for half of the £50. Bear in mind that tax (VAT, income tax, corporation tax as applicable) will be payable on the £50 income which is given to the referrer unless an invoice is supplied by the referred company/person, and VAT may still be due anyway.

The referral form is in branch or you can download a PDF here
HSBC Referral
you will have to have received the referral and mention it when you apply though. (so not online I suppose).
Roger

Cornwall2000

rrobbo wrote: »

Just had a call from Santander to discuss the letter about bank account changes (not actually received it yet). The girl asked me what I was likely to do and I said I would look around and if there was a better deal then I'd move (when I opened the A&L account the other option was the COOP and I'd look at them).

Because I often have a reasonable credit in the account she did point out that there were some new business accounts that might be of interest. One account pays 1.5% for instant access if you keep a balance of over £5k and another pays 2% if you don't make any withdrawals for a year (just 0.1% on entire balance for any month that has a withdrawal). This compares with what I think is 0.25% in the standard current account. I have a couple of fixed term bonds that have reasonable rates (3.4% and 3.8%) but I've struggled to find anything worthwhile for instant access (and opening new business accounts can be a pain in the neck), so this is quite positive for my particular situation.

If you average £20k in the current account over the year you should get £300 (£240 after Corporation Tax) in the 1.5% account, rather than the £100 (£80 after tax) in the existing current account. This makes me £160 better off for little effort, which offsets the £90 charge. For me it now looks as though it might actually be better to stay put for the time being.

Or you could take the money out (Director's Loan Account) and invest it where you like. I think you could easily beat 2%.