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

JuicyJesus

DJMilly wrote: »

Surely this is a classic case of Mis-selling? The Financial Services Authority should IMO investigate!

No. Mis-selling applies at point of sale, not to events that happen 8 years down the line.

Mis-selling would also require that you have paid an up-front cost and been charged. So far, nobody has. You can easily escape Santander's charges by moving to another bank before they start to apply. Those who were mis-sold PPI have been paying for it ever since.

cashisking1

deleted by user

yebaws

Susievintage wrote: »

Sounds definitive to me.

so did "free banking forever...."

For me it doesn't matter what the T&C's say. An institution that is responsible for looking after peoples money should be one that is trustworthy and if the say "free banking forever", and add a lot of customers to their books on the back of it, they should be held to account. The legal experts don't seem to be optimistic that we have a case against them, which makes me very depressed. What on earth is our legal system for if it can't make a sensible judgement in such a straightforward case? Banks seem to be paying out a fortune for miss-selling various products at the moment. If charging people for an account that was billed as "free forever" is not miss-selling then what on earth is?

Victor_Mildrew

M.P. replied today. Standard letter. Complain to Santander etc etc .He has no Authority etc etc:(

JuicyJesus

The legal experts don't seem to be optimistic that we have a case against them, which makes me very depressed. What on earth is our legal system for if it can't make a sensible judgement in such a straightforward case?

Because the legal system follows the law, and as far as I can see Santander have not broken the law. If anything, a "sensible" judgement would be one which follows existing law and takes account of the contracts signed (the T&Cs), not necessarily one which would benefit impacted Santander customers.

The making of a "common-sense", fairness based judgement would be up to the Financial Ombudsman Service, who do not have to follow the law to the letter and instead can go on what they feel would be right for a particular customer and set of circumstances. But they are just as likely to throw any complaints out saying that Santander were just exercising proper commercial judgement which they cannot interfere with.

janusdesign

I was just going through my Abbey National Business "Welcome to direct business banking" manual from 2002 (when I opened my first account)...

a couple of things to mention..

it makes no mention of 'free banking forever' at all... actually can't find either free banking or forever anywhere - though if memory serves they were mentioned in the literature at some point - and certainly were on the links provided by others previously.

secondly, on page 10, it states the following:-

Charges - business bank account only

Any charges on your account will be in line with the tariff agreed when you opened the account.

err... the tariff was 'free banking forever'. :mad:

Yes one can just let 'em screw one and split.
However, if you let this slide, watch out for the next corporate bully 'wallop'.

it's alright trying to quote case law, but will this ever see the inside of a court? No.

if Santander were in a monopoly position re: free business banking and then imposed fees, they'd be in a weaker position - but they aren't in both cases.

they gave me free banking for ten years and now they want to charge me - I say thanks for the free banking and i'll move on... luckily, there are alternatives out there.

we're in the middle of a recession, most are struggling to keep their heads above water... i'm not really inclined to stop focussing on what I should be focused on, and chase a lost cause to try to save my accounts with them.

yes I agree that 'forever' should mean just that... but there is a learning curve to be had here - just as you should never trust a hosting company that offers "unlimited" anything (it won't be).. now, never trust a bank that offers something free forever.

bundly

OK so are we all moving our current accounts to HSBC?

I've had ten years free with Abbey and not happy to pay £90 a year because I keep about £1,000 in the account at all times. money that Santander can invest and gain interest on.

JuicyJesus

bundly wrote: »

OK so are we all moving our current accounts to HSBC?

I've had ten years free with Abbey and not happy to pay £90 a year because I keep about £1,000 in the account at all times. money that Santander can invest and gain interest on.

Problem is any profit from your £1000 is probably offset by the losses from people who have Santander business accounts and just use them to pay in cash free of charge and then transfer to another account elsewhere. Of which there are several in this thread alone.

Susievintage

Hello everyone

As the person who launched this thread, I'm delighted to read all your input. There are obviously several points of view:

1. It's not legal, and we're going to challenge it - by complaining to Santander, the FOS, the FSA, our MPs, "Moneybox", etc.

2. We're not sure whether it's legal or not, but it's not worth making a fuss.

3. It's entirely legal, and only to be expected in these tough times for all businesses, including banks.

All positions are of course valid (until we get a definitive answer on the legal interpretation), and reiterating them is not getting us anywhere. My aim in posting originally was to draw it to people's attention, and to find out if I was the only one affected - both aims now achieved. Personally, I have passed on the link to this thread to my MP and to Vince Cable, and it would be more helpful if it didn't go round in circles: "I think it's outrageous!" "Well, I think you're naive!" "Well, I think it's outrageous!"

If you have the time and the inclination, I think it's worth complaining, as weight of numbers will only help. But if you don't, and just want to move on to another bank, then of course that's fine too - although personally I don't know where to start looking for a reliable alternative, if it turns out that any agreement you sign with any bank can be varied by them at any time!

DruidDonagh

There is one downside on the complaints. It is not just bad for Santander, but also for the environment. It is a waste of paper, unless recycled paper is used, or paper from sustainable forests. I do prefer no paper at all. So please if you feel the understandable urge to complain, type an email or phone them. I would even ask for a reply by email.

Having said that.

JuicyJesus wrote: »

Bear in mind that it is entirely possible that the FOS may consider Santander's actions to constitute a legitimate act of their commercial judgement. In which case all these complaints will go nowhere.

If that is the case, than the FOS will simply dismiss the complaint and you are none the wiser. It will also mean that the FOS will not charge Santander. The best bet will be the FSA. And to be honest, I doubt that it will stand in court as it is a legal act according to the T&C.

And please do remember that Santander is a different entity from abby and the other banks they took over. And it also stands to reason that therefore Santander is in no way obliged to keep those promises.

Things like "free forever" or "free for life" is no more or less than marketing speech.