Santander "Free" Accounts - Important Changes...

colsten

What do your terms and conditions say about each party's right to terminate the account?

neilsedaka

Santander in their last communication to me say "Your account is currently a fee free account and you would like assurance that this would not change for the lifetime of the account." ... "Currently, there are no plans to introduce a fee, however, this is something that I am not able to guarantee for the lifetime of your account."

They do not address the key point that I signed up for a "free forever" account.

JuicyJesus

neilsedaka wrote: »

Santander in their last communication to me say "Your account is currently a fee free account and you would like assurance that this would not change for the lifetime of the account." ... "Currently, there are no plans to introduce a fee, however, this is something that I am not able to guarantee for the lifetime of your account."

They do not address the key point that I signed up for a "free forever" account.

In fairness, they have absolutely no indication as to whether Santander will provide you a free account forever as they cannot see the future or know what future management teams will do.

chevrons2

JuicyJesus wrote: »

In fairness, they have absolutely no indication as to whether Santander will provide you a free account forever as they cannot see the future or know what future management teams will do.

But the whole point of this is that they sold this account to 230000 small business customers on the basis that it would be free FOREVER. They made a huge deal about the fact that it would be forever. In 2012, when they tried to force people to move away from the accounts where this was promised, the FSO ruled that they could not do this and that they had to honour the promise that they made. The promise was not that they would offer free banking until they changed their minds. It was FOREVER.

neilsedaka

On the question of the possibility of monthly fees being introduced in the future, the FOS say that I cannot complain about something that has not happened yet, even though it seems that the new terms and conditions seem to have opened the door to that possibility.

eskbanker

neilsedaka wrote: »

On the question of the possibility of monthly fees being introduced in the future, the FOS say that I cannot complain about something that has not happened yet, even though it seems that the new terms and conditions seem to have opened the door to that possibility.

I can see where they're coming from to a certain extent but it sounds like they've got a nice line in self-defeating circular argument coming up at some point in the future:

Customer: I'd like to complain about Santander introducing charges.

FOS: Well it's in line with the Ts & Cs, case closed. Next!

zoerhymes

Does anyone know how we deposit cash through the post office but. I tried today with my bank card as I do for my Santander personal account and was told they don't take those cards. Do we need to do a paying in slip or something. Help
Please.

janusdesign wrote: »

Hi,

I received some letters from Santander this morning regarding my "free" business banking accounts.

They are being switched to "Business Everyday Current Accounts" on 1st May 2015 - there are no monthly fees and transactions are free within the monthly limits.

However, the account will no longer offer any credit interest - I can't recall if it was one of the original guarantees that the account would offer credit interest for life.

also, after 1st June 2015, we can deposit funds at the Post Office.

if you haven't received your letters yet, I'm sure they'll arrive in the next few days.

darren72

zoerhymes wrote: »

Does anyone know how we deposit cash through the post office but. I tried today with my bank card as I do for my Santander personal account and was told they don't take those cards. Do we need to do a paying in slip or something. Help
Please.

For our Santander business account we have a 'Cash Deposit' plastic card that we show.