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

Cornwall2000

imcat wrote: »

3. Charging £6 per month just to have the ability to make a payment overseas (whether you need it or not)

This last charge was very sneaky. They sent out a vague message 6 months ago saying that you if you have a limit above £0 for overseas transactions you will automatically get charge £6 a month. And to change the limit, unlike all the other payment limits set up on the account which can be modified on line, you have to write to them to have it removed. Very underhand.

I was asked when applying (today) whether I needed to send money abroad ever and said no, glad I did! I assume he would have mentioned the monthly fee. (I actually do send payments occassionally but use xetrade and I'm fairly sure it's service would be as good as/cheaper than HSBCs)

nxdmsandkaskdjaqd

squowse wrote: »

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

I was unable to get the link to work, could you please check?

Cornwall2000

nxdmsandkaskdjaqd wrote: »

I was unable to get the link to work, could you please check?

It works for me (although it didn't before my last edit).
Try googling "hsbc business referral" it comes up at the top.

Susievintage

I don't mean to be awkward about this, but please can we not hijack this thread with other matters, such as bank referral deals? It's just that several of us are in communication with MPs, the Ombudsman, the FSA, the Bank of England and so on, and we're telling them all to look at this thread, so it would be best to keep it to the topic of Santander charges. (Please do start another thread about referral deals - you'll get plenty of takers!)

Many thanks.

emulsionking

Could this be another Misselling debacle?

biznizman

Sorry can I ask a stupid question.
My accountant has informed me that these charges wont matter as they are tax dedutable. So the only person who looses out is HMRC is this not correct.
I am pleased about the harges to be honest as the guy that called me said I would get a business manager and aess to the post office. As an ex abbey customer i didnt have this before.

opinions4u

biznizman wrote: »

Sorry can I ask a stupid question.
My accountant has informed me that these charges wont matter as they are tax dedutable. So the only person who looses out is HMRC is this not correct.

It doesn't give you the full £90 a year back though. Only the tax that would have been charged on it.

So HMRC are worse off.

Small businesses are worse off.

Santander are better off.

JuicyJesus

emulsionking wrote: »

Could this be another Misselling debacle?

No. The mis-selling complaints cover money people have already paid out. As it is, those subject to these changes have paid nothing yet, and they are free to switch to another, more competitive bank at their own convenience.

I have little time for Santander but they have acted perfectly legally here. More to the point, if you intend to leave them because they won't make a loss off your custom any more, they will probably be quite happy.

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.

Even if they had put it as above, people would still have sh*t the bed over it. Instead of "blah blah free banking forever mis-sold" it would be "blah blah can't afford it bonuses overdraft charges", and MSE would still have put a news article up claiming that Santander were maliciously and deliberately asphyxiating British business (with a fee of less than a tenner a month).

And, regardless of what adverts from many years ago may have said, they still have the legal right to change terms given proper notice. Fairly sure I'm in the minority here, but if this were directly applicable to me then yes, I'd be a bit miffed, but no, I would not be stamping my feet and emailing my MP because I thought a long-deceased advert entitled me to cost a business money until I croak.

DruidDonagh

JuicyJesus has a point here.

Having said that, it stands to reason that when Santander bought Abby and the other banks, you must have received new T&Cs which supersede the original T&Cs which came with your contract. Those do give Santander the legal right to change them. It is to bad that fees are just a part of the T&Cs All of you should read trough them. If you don't have them, you can find them online:
santander.co.uk/businessbanking-changes
go to Terms and Conditions
go to Terms and Conditions for accounts opened before 24th October 2011
(newbie cannot post links)
these are the T&Cs you all should have
Go to page 18 section 16
This reads as follows:
16 Changes to your Account
Summary: This section explains that we can change
the Conditions that apply to your account, the reasons
why we can make changes and how we will tell you
about any changes.
16.1 We can change these Conditions and the Specific Conditions:
a) to conform with or anticipate any changes in law,
Codes of Practice or recommendations of the
Financial Services Authority or any other appropriate
regulatory authority;
b) to provide for the introduction of new or improved
systems, methods of operation, services or facilities;
c) to take account of a decision by a Court, Ombudsman,
Regulator or similar body;
d) to reflect general banking practice;
e) to make them clearer or more favourable to you;
f) to ensure that our business is run prudently;
g) to rectify any mistake that might be discovered in due
course; or
h) for any valid reason not stated in these Conditions.

Take a good look at the highlighted parts (b, d and h).

Also take a look at:
16.2 If we change the Conditions, we will give you:
a) at least 2 months personal notice of any change to
a Condition or fee that relates to any withdrawal or
payment service on your account; or
b) at least 30 days personal notice of a change to any
other Condition or fee that is to your disadvantage and
your account is a Payment Account; or.
c) a reasonable period of notice of a change to any other
Condition or fee that is to your disadvantage and your
account is not a Payment Account.
And take note of section C

Like I said, when Santander bought Abby and the other banks, they should have posted the T&Cs which I have shown you here. And my guess is they have.

SO relax, sit down, have a cup of tea and talk about it. Reasonably.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

opinions4u wrote: »

It doesn't give you the full £90 a year back though. Only the tax that would have been charged on it.

So HMRC are worse off.

Small businesses are worse off.

Santander are better off.

HMRC are not necessarily worse off as Santander, in theory, should pay tax on the extra income from charging people. However, HMRC would probably be worse off in reality though as large companies like that employ people to whittle that tax bill down.