Santander blocked my account--need help

colsten

Lith

'Excellent'

gunsandbanjos

Putting £5k into an account that's well established isn't a massive deal.

Putting £5k into a brand shiny new account, transferring most of it straight back out then getting shirty when the bank question you is a little different.

cyberbabe

I sympathise with your dilemma entirely. I have been through a similar scenario only a week ago and will most probably involve the Financial Ombudsman because I believe Santander shouldn't get way with incompetence. However, my account is now unblocked after making a fuss in their branch and by speaking to their fraud/customer service people. If I was you I would put my foot down, demand a new bank card and tell them to unblock your account within 24 hours and warn them in writing that their actions will have legal consequences if they keep your account blocked.

Before Santander there was Abbey with whom I had accounts with until I was hit with ID-theft (not online related). Abbey handled the matter completely shambolic unlike Nat-West with whom we were banking for decades. It took Abbey almost one year (!) to sort this out. Won't get into the details here how many mistakes they made but after the nightmare was over and got reimbursed I closed all my accounts and vowed never to have anything to do with them. I wrote a long letter to them expressing my frustration and received an apology - which I binned.

I am a retired former self-employed business women and dealt with all the finance side for more than 25 years - so, I think I have a bit of experience in handling money and finance. I am also computer savvy and do 98% of all my money transaction online and never had problems with that.

Since the interest rates tumbled considerably in last 5 years I was shifting my cash funds from here to there looking for the best returns. When Santander offered the new 123-account I reluctantly opened three accounts but everything was ok. transferred larger sums back and forth with no problems. From time to time there are online glitches, which is down to their IT system, and I have complained about it many times, but nothing has changed. I know now how to approach Santander and their unqualified staff and communicate with them only online or via letter.

Before my recent encounter with Santander, about 3 months ago my son had an online problem with them, (blocked account online etc.) when it was eventually solved after one week (!) he received a goodwill gesture compensation but I found that was not good enough for the distress suffered and past the matter on to the Financial Ombudsman. The FO accepted the complaint and Santander agreed to arrange for a further larger compensation - job done! Well, I suppose that's the way to deal with incompetent financial institutions.

meer53

cyberbabe wrote: »

I sympathise with your dilemma entirely. I have been through a similar scenario only a week ago and will most probably involve the Financial Ombudsman because I believe Santander shouldn't get way with incompetence. However, my account is now unblocked after making a fuss in their branch and by speaking to their fraud/customer service people. If I was you I would put my foot down, demand a new bank card and tell them to unblock your account within 24 hours and warn them in writing that their actions will have legal consequences if they keep your account blocked.

Before Santander there was Abbey with whom I had accounts with until I was hit with ID-theft (not online related). Abbey handled the matter completely shambolic unlike Nat-West with whom we were banking for decades. It took Abbey almost one year (!) to sort this out. Won't get into the details here how many mistakes they made but after the nightmare was over and got reimbursed I closed all my accounts and vowed never to have anything to do with them. I wrote a long letter to them expressing my frustration and received an apology - which I binned.

I am a retired former self-employed business women and dealt with all the finance side for more than 25 years - so, I think I have a bit of experience in handling money and finance. I am also computer savvy and do 98% of all my money transaction online and never had problems with that.

Since the interest rates tumbled considerably in last 5 years I was shifting my cash funds from here to there looking for the best returns. When Santander offered the new 123-account I reluctantly opened three accounts but everything was ok. transferred larger sums back and forth with no problems. From time to time there are online glitches, which is down to their IT system, and I have complained about it many times, but nothing has changed. I know now how to approach Santander and their unqualified staff and communicate with them only online or via letter.

Before my recent encounter with Santander, about 3 months ago my son had an online problem with them, (blocked account online etc.) when it was eventually solved after one week (!) he received a goodwill gesture compensation but I found that was not good enough for the distress suffered and past the matter on to the Financial Ombudsman. The FO accepted the complaint and Santander agreed to arrange for a further larger compensation - job done! Well, I suppose that's the way to deal with incompetent financial institutions.

You can't accuse them of incompetence unless you know the full facts of the issue. Which we don't.

If an account has been blocked because of suspicions of money laundering, no amount of demanding will get it unblocked.

bengal-stripe

cyberbabe wrote: »

When Santander offered the new 123-account I reluctantly opened three accounts but everything was ok. transferred larger sums back and forth with no problems.

I hope you are aware that you can only hold one 123 account in your own name. Your partner (if you have one) can also hold an account and the both of you can hold a joint account together. So it's one account for a single person and up to three for a couple.

If you have done some nimble footwork to hold three accounts on your own, you shouldn't be surprised if the bank feels the need to investigate you.

meer53

bengal-stripe wrote: »

I hope you are aware that you can only hold one 123 account in your own name. Your partner (if you have one) can also hold an account and the both of you can hold a joint account together. So it's one account for a single person and up to three for a couple.

If you have done some nimble footwork to hold three accounts on your own, you shouldn't be surprised if the bank feels the need to investigate you.

Now that would be quite funny

Thrugelmir

cyberbabe wrote: »

Well, I suppose that's the way to deal with incompetent financial institutions.

And who pays? Some would say a short sighted view.

ffacoffipawb

bengal-stripe wrote: »

I hope you are aware that you can only hold one 123 account in your own name. Your partner (if you have one) can also hold an account and the both of you can hold a joint account together. So it's one account for a single person and up to three for a couple.

If you have done some nimble footwork to hold three accounts on your own, you shouldn't be surprised if the bank feels the need to investigate you.

That is the case now. Last year you could have as many as you wanted, subject to credit checks. I have two myself.

badger09

ffacoffipawb wrote: »

That is the case now. Last year you could have as many as you wanted, subject to credit checks. I have two myself.

Me too.

Some posters have 3 or 4 - all perfectly within the T&C at the time they were opened