Santander Business Account Forced Changes (Again!)

chevrons2

Having been forced to make a U-turn last year on bank charges for their business customers, Santander have now decided (with immediate effect) to stop providing cheque books to business customers and to no longer honour cheques written by their business customers after 31st May. I had a letter from them today explaining that if they don't hear from me, they will assume that I accept these changes but if I didn't want to accept them, it would be no problem except that it would mean closing my account!
This changes is near the end of a double-sided A4 sheet of changes, so I wonder if some people may not have noticed it.
I do not intend to accept these changes or close my account.

ses6jwg

stop providing cheque books to business customers?

Can you please post the actual wording of the document as this sounds like complete and utter bull crap.

magpiecottage

I actually wrote a cheque on my business account a week ago.

It was the first one since July 2010. My cheque books are so old they say "Abbey", not "Santander" on them.

At one cheque every 2½ years, even if it cost them £5 a pop it would take them 275 years cover the FOS fee (which is £550 from Monday).

If I am still trading in the year 2268 I'll refund the fee to them - if I can find my cheque book.

JuicyJesus

Not that they'd get charged an FOS fee, mind you, given it's a legitimate commercial decision.

JuicyJesus

chevrons2 wrote: »

I do not intend to accept these changes or close my account.

Which is a pity since those are the only two choices you have.

greyteam1959

ses6jwg wrote: »

stop providing cheque books to business customers?

Can you please post the actual wording of the document as this sounds like complete and utter bull crap.

Yes it is utter crap......this is how silly rumours get perpetuated !!!
Actual wording....it applies to certain SAVING ACCOUNTS not business CURRENT ACCOUNTS
Sorry cant post the actual wording

BusinessIsBusiness

So is it a savings account or current account?

Btw the u turn last year only impacted a portion of the business current accounts and even then only certain entities impacted. Were you even contacted regarding this?

If not the two are completely irrelevant.

The bank has a backbook of over 100 different business banking products from as far back as the giro days.

Not many banks offer savings accounts with chequebook facilities anymore..

martinman3

mervyn11 wrote: »

Yes it is utter crap......this is how silly rumours get perpetuated !!!
Actual wording....it applies to certain SAVING ACCOUNTS not business CURRENT ACCOUNTS
Sorry cant post the actual wording

No.. it isn't. The OP didn't specify whether it was business savings or current accounts.

It is talking about business savings accounts with chequebooks but the leaflet, which incidentally was sent with the statement for a Business Bank account, does not specify which business savings accounts they mean. After calling them, someone told me that it does not apply to the Business Reserve account.

chevrons2

mervyn11 wrote: »

Yes it is utter crap......this is how silly rumours get perpetuated !!!
Actual wording....it applies to certain SAVING ACCOUNTS not business CURRENT ACCOUNTS
Sorry cant post the actual wording

Hi. It was me that started this thread. I've only just had a chance to look at the replies and I'm just about to go out, so I will post the exact wording later tonight.
In the meantime:
The notification is headed: "Important Changes to Terms and Conditions for Santander Business Current Accounts and Business Savings Accounts".
So, while what they are doing may be 'utter crap', thanks mervyn11, the information that I am passing on here, is not.
I will post the relevant paragraphs later

matttye

chevrons2 wrote: »

Hi. It was me that started this thread. I've only just had a chance to look at the replies and I'm just about to go out, so I will post the exact wording later tonight.
In the meantime:
The notification is headed: "Important Changes to Terms and Conditions for Santander Business Current Accounts and Business Savings Accounts".
So, while what they are doing may be 'utter crap', thanks mervyn11, the information that I am passing on here, is not.
I will post the relevant paragraphs later

It would be helpful if you could post a scanned image of the entire letter (sans any personal information) so we can see the context in which that part of the letter appears.

chevrons2

matttye wrote: »

It would be helpful if you could post a scanned image of the entire letter (sans any personal information) so we can see the context in which that part of the letter appears.

I'm not sure how to do that. I've scanned both sides onto my desktop, but can't see how to get them on here.