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

janusdesign

well the letter from Santander has arrived...

We wrote to you recently advising of our intention to move your existing Business Current Account to our new award winning fixed monthly fee account.

Following feedback from some of our customers. We understand that the benefits of our new current account may not be appropriate for some of our customers at this point in time and therefore you may wish to stay on your current fee free banking product.

If you would like to take advantage of the new account, please do not hesitate to contact us and we will do the rest for you.

In the meantime, I would like to assure you that we will not be making these changes to your existing Free Banking product and that you can continue to bank with us as you do today.

Yours Sincerely,

Darren Clarke
Head of Business Banking, Santander UK

the letter also includes a table comparing the two accounts - fee paying has Post Office access, Dedicated Relationship Manager and fee free does not; 0.25% credit balance interest compared to 0.01% (i'd forgotten until re-reading all the welcome stuff that credit interest was as much as feature as being fee-free); 5.5% interest on authorised overdrawn balances compared to 6.4%; and unlimited deposit and withdrawal of cheques as opposed to 100 each for the fee-free account.

MKBS

Many thanks to those who've championed our cause. For my part, my comments got forwarded to Michael Fallon, Minister for Business, Innovation and Skills.

I wasn't among the first to receive the original letter from Santander, but today I've received their climbdown:

"We wrote to you recently advising of our intention to move your existing Business Current Account to our new award winning fixed monthly fee account.

Following feedback from some of our customers, we understand that the benefits of our new current account may not be appropriate for some customers at this point in time and therefore you may wish to stay on your current fee free banking product.

We have always been committed to providing excellent value for all our customers and to improving your overall banking experience. Our new Business Current Account is still available to you and includes these additional benefits:

Access to 10,500 Post Office branches

Dedicated Relationship Manager

Interest on all credit balances 0.25% (instead of 0.01%)

Interest rate payable on authorised overdrawn balances 5.5% (instead of 6.4%)

Unlimited cheque deposits/withdrawals (instead of 100 of each per month)

If you would like to take advantage blah, blah, blah.

In the meantime, I would like to reassure you that we will not be making these changes to your existing Free Banking product and that you can continue to bank with us as you do today."

yebaws

What sort of id**ts make these decisions & how much are they paid? Anybody with half a brain could have told Santander that they would loose nearly all of their customers on free banking if they started charging (there are after all similar alternatives). But no, they had to threaten to do it just to find out and in the process alienate any of their customers who still felt that they were a respectable company.... Who was it who said...."sc**w the banks before the sc**w you"?...

Out of interest, did anybody get a response from the Ombudsman? I just had my complaint returned today saying that they couldn't proceed because I hadn't signed it (oops..). But interested to know for the future. My guess is that STD will close the free account to new business (maybe they already have?) and wait till account holder numbers dwindle (and maybe the competition start charging) before they have another go at axing it...

Banks have been wanting to get rid of free banking (business and personal) for years, but as long as somebody keeps the free offering (and they will because they will mop up all of the customers) it will never happen unless somebody regulates against it (which the FSA would like to do by the sound of it)..

jd-Ballymoney

I got a letter this morning from Santander to say i can now keep my Free business account. Looks like they have been forced to backtrack!

Paulgonnabedebtfree

I hadn't been following this story recently. I had already obtained a number from the ombudsman's office for when I wanted to activate my complaint. Of late, I've been focussing on a half decent, much needed holiday and working my nuts off.
So it came as a pleasant surprise a few minutes ago when I got in from work and opened my letter of surrender from Santander. Because I've had my focus elsewhere, I was actually expecting it to be the 60 day notice letter to start charging.
THE POWER OF THE INTERNET.
Without the internet they probably would have got away with it. Do you remember those dark days when ordinary people were c*apped on from a great height and didn't know where to seek help - if they realised they had been c*apped on in the first place?
I note in the letter that they state, ".at this time.....". Well OK, if they want to save face that's fine by me.
Bunch of bankers.

Paulgonnabedebtfree

MakeitgoRIGHT wrote: »

I expect that free banking will only be available to those existing customers that can argue the terms and conditions. Any new customers will be excluded, of course, and have to pay the going rate from Santander.

And there will be an offering of a feature package to tempt out of the free corner, those that might be willing to pay for extra features. Fair enough. That is how it should have been.

Agreed that if they want to tempt someone away from "free forever" they have the right to do so. However, they have stuffed themselves. Who the hell will allow themselves to leave free forever for another Santander deal that could be altered on a whim?
They have shown themselves to be scurrilous sharks and I for one would not give them the chance to get money from me.
Ironically, I'm not opposed in principle to the general principle of paying a reasonable fee for business banking. However, I do require a reasonable level of competence and integrity.

bundly

MKBS wrote: »

Today I've received their climbdown:

"We wrote to you recently advising of our intention to move your existing Business Current Account to our new award winning fixed monthly fee account.... In the meantime, I would like to reassure you that we will not be making these changes to your existing Free Banking product and that you can continue to bank with us as you do today."

I also received this letter today and to tell the truth I did not quite understand it, but you say it is a climbdown.

Well, today I ALSO received the chequebook and paying in book for the new HBSC business account that I have only just opened to replace the Santander one (cos HSBC don't charge) so now I am in a quandary -- what should I do? Go ahead and transfer all my bill payments over, and spend time learning a new interface for my inline banking, or stick with Santander?

Any advice?

bundly

yebaws wrote: »

Anybody with half a brain could have told Santander that they would loose nearly all of their customers on free banking if they started charging (there are after all similar alternatives). But no, they had to threaten to do it just to find out and in the process alienate any of their customers

Question: how much money has it cost Santander in paperwork and man-hours to introduce charges for business accounts, then climbdown and reverse that decision?

Anyone care to guess? The postage alone must have been astronomical!

BusinessIsBusiness

__________

Paulgonnabedebtfree

bundly wrote: »

I also received this letter today and to tell the truth I did not quite understand it, but you say it is a climbdown.

Well, today I ALSO received the chequebook and paying in book for the new HBSC business account that I have only just opened to replace the Santander one (cos HSBC don't charge) so now I am in a quandary -- what should I do? Go ahead and transfer all my bill payments over, and spend time learning a new interface for my inline banking, or stick with Santander?

Any advice?

Well I have two business accounts for one business. Santander caused it several years ago because they wouldn't supply references for bank transfers - effectively meaning that I had to guess which customer had paid me. So now all BACS transfers go to my free Co-op business account (FSB membership required for the "free" bit) and Santander get all the cheques - the expensive transactions. They can only blame themselves really.
Maybe use both accounts? One for day to day running and maybe the other to save for your tax bill? At least by keeping them both live, if one of the banks messes you about in the future, you can make a choice without having to start a new account.