The unclosable bank account (Santander / Abbey)

teriy

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone could help me with my "unclosable bank account" issue. Here is the full (rather boring) story:

About 15 years ago, when I was still a teenager, I decided to close an Abbey National instant savings account that my mum had opened for me a couple of years earlier.

When I visited my local Abbey branch to close the account (which only had a few pounds in it), I was fobbed off on three different occasions; first asking for more identification (my pay-in book, cash card and passport apparently weren't enough), then when I returned to be told quite rudely that they were "too busy", and on another day...I can't even remember the exact reason they gave me.

Anyway, as this was my first experience with closing a bank account, and as it seemed to be quite a lot of hassle, I eventually just forgot about it and the account remained open.

A couple of years later they sent me a new cash card by post, which I duly cut up and sent back to them requesting my account to be closed. I didn't receive a reply and naively assumed that they had actually fulfilled my request.

After another couple of years, however, the same thing happened again. This time I sent back the card by recorded post and asked them to confirm the account closure in writing. Again I received no reply, but thought "they must have closed it this time!".

That was until after yet another couple of years, when I received a letter telling me about how my Abbey account would now become a Santander account... I replied again in writing saying that I'd previously requested the account to be closed, remaking this request. Again no reply.

I later received a new cash card from Santander, which I immediately cut up and sent back to them, asking my account to be closed, blah blah, etc. And the above sequence was then repeated again a couple of years later.

After just forgetting about it again, I recently received a letter from Santander informing me of some changes to the T&C on "my account", and I decided that this time I would finally close this damn account for once and for all...

Once again I posted back the last card they sent me, requesting my account to be closed (this time quoting some terms from the the account T&Cs that I found on the internet). A couple of weeks later I finally got a reply from them...asking me to sign the form they sent me, as my signature was required for the account to be closed. I duly did this and today received another letter from them, expecting it to be confirmation of the account closure, but no... They are now requesting Photo ID and a proof of address because the account is apparently "dormant".

I have absolutely no intention of sending them my passport or driving license to close an account (with £2 in it) that they have effectively refused to close for the last 15 years and which I haven't once used in all that time.

To cut a long story short (if anyone's still reading this :P), I'm interested to know if anyone else has had a similar experience with this or other banks, and what are a person's rights in the UK when it comes to closing a bank account?

Thank for any help.

mgdavid

they cannot just close it with a balance in it; you should have used one of the cards to withdraw the available funds. With a zero balance they would get the message.

teriy

You can't withdraw £2 with a cash card... When I initially attempted to close the account (all those years ago) they wouldn't let me withdraw such a small amount over the counter.

I have closed several bank accounts just by writing to the bank and asking them to close it, with any remaining balance being refunded by cheque.

Do Santander have a policy of making it as difficult as possible for people to close bank accounts with them? (if so, perhaps they inherited it from Abbey National). Even after I recently sent them the signature they requested, they then came up with "oh, now we need more ID from you". What a joke...

dalesrider

Take the letter into branch with ID and close it there....

With a dormant acc it is normal procedure to request further ID if the signature does not match (guess after 15 years there is a diffrence) or the book cannot be produced.

bryanb

I regularly tell Ulster bank to close my pathfinder account which has zero balance, they regularly refuse unless I am willing to jump through their hoops. We've compromised - they keep sending statements and I keep binning them.

jonesMUFCforever

Sounds like the account has become dormant.
To close it take ID and address confirmation to a branch.

ses6jwg

If it's dormant you have no choice to visit a branch with ID.

Take proof of ownership such as one of the most recent letters you've had bearing the account number and your passport and they should remove the dormancy and close it there and then at the counter.

xylophone

If it's dormant you have no choice to visit a branch with ID.

Some while ago I was in a queue at a BS behind a lady who had come into the branch to close an account with a tiny amount of money in it.

As far as we earwiggers could ascertain, the account had become dormant and the account holder had moved house...

Clearly there were procedures to go through and Head Office to contact - as the queue stretched to the door, one long suffering wag suggested that we should have a whip round for the money and pay the lady off ourselves....:rotfl:

BusinessIsBusiness

Sounds a bit rubbish that abbey simply did nothing. To be fair you cant blame Santander for that. When sending the account closure request -were you sending this to the correct address for such a request, or just the address on the letter when receiving correspondence? At a guess that would explain why there was such a delay receiving an acknowledgement weeks after sending the request. It would have to be internally forwarded to the correct dept to work on the request. if just sending an unrelated request to the address on the letter it can take weeks to go to the right place. There are half a dozen head offices around the uk dealing wuth different things.

I sent a request to close an old account to the specified address online and they closed it within 48hrs. I received a letter within a couple of days confirming this also.c

Now its being processed they have to obtain Id as the sig obviously won't match the records on a dormant acct. If you go in branch they could just do the request there and then. You shouldn't let a bad experience with staff in the old abbey branch put you off going in. It is basically a completly new bank, for better or worse.

Foggster

My mum took over the Treasuers job on a small club account about 18 months ago. The previous signatories were not longer available to switch the account to the new signatories.

The signatories have been in to Santander (nearest branch 25 miles away) on 3 separate occasions with various forms of ID and they have been unable to close this account.

We are at a total loss on what to do. They seem to have done half a job because the other signatories have been removed from the account but the new ones havent been added. Santander have got themselves into such a muddle. In theory - no one can touch this account!

innovate

Everybody turning in circles should just file a written complaint with Santander. If they don't get the issue resolved to their satisfaction within 8 weeks from filing the complaint, they can take the case to the FOS.