Santander blocked my account--need help

Archi_Bald

I tend to agree with FireWyrm. Particularly since no self-respecting (!) money launderer wouldn't by now have worked out that banks are checking up on them, and consequently they have in the main found all sorts of ways to bypass the busy bodies at the banks.

AML legislation is just a convenient excuse now for some bank employees who feel a lot more more important than they every will be.

Horseunderwater

The AML law also effects Amazon sellers/Ebay sellers & Paypal users & it is the EU who introduced it.

Lith

Not surprised they 'blocked; ya account fella... there is a 5k limit... you should of transfer half over a set time... not ALL IN ONE LUMP SUM.. you've now been red flagged for that.

colsten

Lith wrote: »

.. there is a 5k limit...

Have you got more information on that 5k limit please? I have checked the Santander website and can't find anything. I have a £7.8K bill coming how, how should I pay that?

agrinnall

colsten wrote: »

Have you got more information on that 5k limit please? I have checked the Santander website and can't find anything. I have a £7.8K bill coming how, how should I pay that?

It's just Lith spouting as usual, the reason you can't find such a limit is because it doesn't exist. Santander may hold up a payment for additional checks on a first transaction, or first large transaction, or really for any reason that they want, but that doesn't mean they'd block your account.

Faith177

kissmoney wrote: »

So Santander doing this is legal? They can block my account without reason(I think at least a letter to inform me they SUSPECT money laundering on my account)? This sounds not right. Any idea how long this will take?

By law they are not allowed to "Tip Off" anyone they suspect of money laudering or risk being prosocuted themselves

meer53

FireWyrm wrote: »

That is the job of the police, not a private commercial institution. Since when did banks become the final arbiter of how and when you spend your money? This anti-money laundering rubbish has now gone entirely too far and unless people speak up and voice their general anger at outragous and impertinent questions, nothing will ever change. Meanwhile, our freedoms are eroded one 'anti-this' or 'anti-that' at a time.

Since the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 came into effect and the banks decided they'd rather ask a few questions than risk being accused, and possibly charged, with aiding possible money laundering.

Thousands of transactions are allowed through each day without question, their questions are neither outrageous or impertinent. No amount of people voicing their general anger will change anything about this situation.

colsten

meer53 wrote: »

No amount of people voicing their general anger will change anything about this situation.

That's what Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette said, too. Look what happened to them.

BMN

agrinnall wrote: »

It's just Lith spouting as usual, the reason you can't find such a limit is because it doesn't exist. Santander may hold up a payment for additional checks on a first transaction, or first large transaction, or really for any reason that they want, but that doesn't mean they'd block your account.

Lith didn't say that a payment over £5000 would lead to your account being blocked. He/she said that a single transaction £5000 would get flagged, presumably so that they can investigate whether the transaction meets the conditions for reporting money laundering.

This limit might not be something you're aware of but that does not mean it doesn't exist - in fact you're probably not even supposed to know about it. I doubt Santander would be the only organisation to have such limits either - otherwise somebody would have to investigate every single transaction.

Archi_Bald

colsten wrote: »

Have you got more information on that 5k limit please? I have checked the Santander website and can't find anything. I have a £7.8K bill coming how, how should I pay that?

Don't worry, I have made many payments from Santander that were for more than £10K, and never noticed anything about a £5K limit of any sort. The usual pattern seems to be that they investigate larger payments (over £1,000?) to new payees, sometimes for several hours. But the payment will arrive at the destination by no later than the next business day, which is what they are legally expected to achieve. Subsequent payments to the same payee usually go through almost instantly. Exception to this is if your first payment to the new payee is just for a small amount (say £1, to test you got the right data), they will also investigate the second payment but still get it to its destination by end of next business day.

For larger payments to new payees, Santander often automatically call you on your registered home number, withing seconds of you confirming the payment. So setting up the large payment when you can answer your home phone is a good idea. However, answering the phone and confirming you requested the payment doesn't appear to speed up whatever else they are checking.

It is also advisable that you tell your bank about any very large payments beforehand so they will let if go through without any hold-ups. Banks have different daily limits - Santander's is £100,000.

Bottom line is though you can easily make a £7.8K payment from Santander, to any reputable destination. If the destination account is considered dodgy, however, you might find yourself in some sort of trouble. Such as a locked account.

BMN wrote: »

Lith didn't say that a payment over £5000 would lead to your account being blocked. He/she said that a single transaction £5000 would get flagged, presumably so that they can investigate whether the transaction meets the conditions for reporting money laundering.

This limit might not be something you're aware of but that does not mean it doesn't exist - in fact you're probably not even supposed to know about it. I doubt Santander would be the only organisation to have such limits either - otherwise somebody would have to investigate every single transaction.

Santander aren't on Lith's published list, so I guess he is guessing (as opposed to me, who is actually a Santander account holder), and I tend to agree with agrinnall. I also agree that all banks have some sort of controls but they will all be different and change frequently, and they won't be published, for obvious reasons.