Account froze

bricky36

Hello,

My santander account has been frozen, and they wont tell my why.
I had not used the account for about three years, then I decided to start paying some money, to save for a holiday.
So I went down my local branch to make sure it was still open, and it was. So I changed address on account (as I have moved since I last used it) and paid £100 no problem.
Followed by a £50 and a £90 within 2 weeks.
Week later I went into branch to withdraw, and said account has been froze due to something that happened 3 and half years ago, but could not tell me what.
Was given number to call (now livid as this was holiday money and was going in a few days).
They told me that they could not tell, and I would have to wait for them to contact me. Still waiting a month later and nothing.
What and I do? I need the money.
How long can they freeze account (savings).

Thanks for any help (unlike santander)

InsideInsurance

Have you called again rather than just waiting?

Register a formal complaint with them or if your not confident to do that yourself you can talk to the FOS who will write to them on your behalf. They then have 8 weeks to respond to the complaint, if they dont then you can ask the FOS to investigate the complaint

bricky36

I have spoke to them a few times, they always say the same thing, "just wait for us to contact you".

Think your right, time to ring FOS.


Thanks

Macca83_2

Fraud perhaps? No transactions on an account for 3 years and then all of a sudden the address is changed and money is cycled through the account. Perhaps the account was made dormant and marked for closure and they don't know how to reverse it. Maybe there was a prohibitive indicator put on the account when the account was with the alliance & leceister but having moved the account to the santander platform nobody can find out who and why the indicator was put on.

Who knows. Put in a complaint and follow it through

fastforward_2

In a similar situation here. My wife has had an account with RBS/Santander for 8 years without ever going overdrawn. She had to return to Canada due to being told her mother had a terminal illness. She had enough money in the account to cover the cost of the flight home but it would've meant that we could not meet the bills, without exceeding the agreed overdraft. A wire transfer for £1500 was arranged but at the time of her flight, due to an error on the other end, had not been processed. My wifes mother died the day before she travelled and knowing that the bills had to be paid she left her card so I could withdraw cash and pay the bills + buy food, when the transfer was completed. The transfer went through last Friday and the first thing I did was to top up the mobile phone, the transaction was declined which I just put down to a glitch in the system and on the way to work I used the debit card to withdraw £300 as a part payment towards the bills and living expenses for the time she was away. In the evening I tried paying the council tax online and this was also refused, when trying to log into the account to make sure everything was ok I could not view any transactions, using the online chat I was told the account had been frozen and would have to call a number. Obviously it is not worth me phoning as it is not my account (although I run it for my wife to make sure it is always kept in a healthy state) but it is also impossible for my wife to contact them as her sister will not allow her to make calls to the UK from her phone. The freeze on the account cannot be due to unusual transactions as last year she was, sadly, in a similar situation when her father died and a larger wire transfer of £2000 was paid into the account. The position we are now in is that she will actually be stuck at the airport when she arrives back on 26/09 as we do not have the funds to pay for the train fare. No prior warning was ever giving about the freezing of the account so how can banks just do this.

thatsean

With all due respect. giving prior warning that an account is about to be frozen would be fairly pointless in the reduction of actual fraud. Can your wife not make a phone call to the personal banking in the UK to discuss?

MABLE

I had someone pay a large amount into my Internet account owned by Santander and had been fraudently been transferred there. It ran into thousands but the bank were happy for the amount to stay until an investigation had been carried out. Also the account was never frozen.

Now bearing in mind the above situation I would have expected them to froze the account. Obviously they know I am a pillar of society!

dalesrider

fastforward wrote: »

first thing I did was to top up the mobile phone, the transaction was declined which I just put down to a glitch in the system and on the way to work I used the debit card to withdraw £300 as a part payment towards the bills and living expenses for the time she was away. In the evening I tried paying the council tax online and this was also refused,

but it is also impossible for my wife to contact them as her sister will not allow her to make calls to the UK from her phone.

The freeze on the account cannot be due to unusual transactions

No prior warning was ever giving about the freezing of the account so how can banks just do this.

Mobile phone top ups = Fraudsters most used option. The fact you then managed to take cash, would mean they have blocked CNP (card holder not present) transaction. Which again would be why the council tax not to go through.

Can your wife not logon and do a chat with them. Again Canada is a country that has plenty of phones, so not being able to call is just a cop out excuse.
How is your wife in contact with you?

I would guess you have hit a security check. pretty sure from experiance santander use automated calls to listed mobile/home no to clear these.

If it is a security check, then you don't get any warning. It is also something that the FSA require ALL card providers to have in place to protect customers accounts.

fastforward_2

Hi Dalesrider thanks for your reply, you're right Canada is a country with a lot of phones but the locations my wife is at are in the wilderness (Bay D'espoir NL & Leading Tickles NL, even google street maps don't cover it) she is at the mercy of her sister as to where she goes and when she goes and is not allowed to use her phone to call anyone. How do I contact her, I phone her at her sisters but am limited to the length of time I can talk as her sister says she's not allowed to be on the phone for more than 5 mins. I did logon with her account but the only chat I got was 'the account is on temporary hold and phone this number' regardles of explaining it was impossible to phone. She returns on Thursday so hopefully it will be cleared then.

dalesrider

Fair play.

I bet your Mrs is glad her sister is in such a remote place, if thats the way she treats family in such situations.

One reason joint accounts are a better option. Even if just one party has a card and the other destroys theirs to stop any use.

maninthestreet

Leading Tickles???