Santander cost me £6800

Tomo28

Here is a cautionary story about how arranging buying a property abroad using santander uk international payments can cost you.
I wanted to buy a retirement home out in tenerife as is common in spain a deposit has to be paid of 10% so on the 4th of may 2017 santander uk transferred this to the vendors solicitors in sterling to there spanish office no problem in the meantime i returned to the uk to visit my santander branch in Erdington to explain that i would need to transfer the balance of 57,800 in about a months time.
So the time comes to appear in front. Of a notary at least 5 days prior I contacted santander uk to arrange the transfer and was told All is fine and it will be actioned.
3 days later and the vendors Solicicter has not received payment and that meant not being able to sign leaving me with a 1200 euro bill. On contacting santander I WAS TOLD THAT EVERYTHING WAS IN ORDER BUT MY TRANSFER HAD TO BE SCRUTINISED BY THERE SECURITY DEPARTMENT.
This has been going on for nearly a week no call backs no help at all, I'm in trouble now as the contract will be up, and in spanish law i will lose £6800 deposit.
I hope that someone who cares from santander picks this up and cares about santander uk's reputation and puts this right, your customer service is abysmal

xylophone

i returned to the uk to visit my santander branch in Erdington to explain that i would need to transfer the balance of 57,800 in about a months time.

at least 5 days prior I contacted santander uk to arrange the transfer and was told All is fine and it will be actioned.3 days later and the vendors Solicicter has not received payment and that meant not being able to sign leaving me with a 1200 euro bill. On contacting santander I WAS TOLD THAT EVERYTHING WAS IN ORDER BUT MY TRANSFER HAD TO BE SCRUTINISED BY THERE SECURITY DEPARTMENT.
This has been going on for nearly a week no call backs no help at all, I'm in trouble now as the contract will be up, and in spanish law i will lose £6800 deposit.

It appears that you have indeed been badly served by Santander.

Were you ever told that "security checks" could be required and that you should arrange the transfer at least X days in advance of the money's being required?

Have you tried telephoning again and explaining the urgency?

If you suffer a quantifiable loss after you have taken all reasonable steps with Santander to arrange the transfer, a formal complaint for compensation could be made.

Tomo28

Yes i have been begging them for my. Own money and yes my branch manager said it was a straightforward international transfer nothing about any delay. I ordered this money last Wednesday and so far no security from santander have called and no one in there call centres can help me they say they cannot contact security and just keep telling me i will be updated when they decide and unfortunately they cannot give a time frame.
I have decided to fly back to the uk and try to collect my cash myself

martindow

I would imagine that in Santander's small print there is a proviso about money laundering checks being a possibility. If there is any suspicion I'm not surprised that they are vague and reticent to give any details. I assume that checks are always a risk with any transfer of a substantial sum.

What is the 1200 Euros for? If these are charges connected with buying your holiday home is it not possible that there will be a delay but the sale could still go through and this money will not be lost.

Tomo28

the 1200 euros is the cost for the signing of the notary public office to sign the escultura plus my lawyer and the vendors lawyer. the choice was we could not cancel as we had arranged the signing that day.
Now I only have a short time left otherwise the seller under spanish law can keep my deposit and resell

hazyjo

Public 'shaming' usually works. Try their FB page (bit of a long message for twitter!).


Is there a nearby Spanish branch you can go into to discuss this?

AdrianC

martindow wrote: »

I would imagine that in Santander's small print there is a proviso about the possibility of money laundering checks being a possibility. If there is any suspicion I'm not surprised that they are vague and reticent to give any details. I assume that checks are always a risk with any transfer of a substantial sum.

This, with bells on.

I'm really not sure this is a uniquely Santander issue. If it'd been me, I'd have opened a Euro account in my own name, timed the transfer into it to give maximum control over the exchange rate (You sent Sterling to a Spanish recipient, putting the exchange into THEIR hands...?), then done a Euro transfer - which would have been much quicker and easier, as well as cheaper.

martinsurrey

hazyjo wrote: »

Public 'shaming' usually works. Try their FB page (bit of a long message for twitter!).


Is there a nearby Spanish branch you can go into to discuss this?

Public shaming will do nothing, payments get held up all the time as they are flagged in EVERY banks anti money laundering system and need to be manually processed and checked.

My solicitor would have advised that the cash is on shore weeks before the deadline to make sure this isn't an issue.

hazyjo

martinsurrey wrote: »

Public shaming will do nothing, payments get held up all the time as they are flagged in EVERY banks anti money laundering system and need to be manually processed and checked.

My solicitor would have advised that the cash is on shore weeks before the deadline to make sure this isn't an issue.

Appreciated - but they've not been in touch for a week. I'd like to know the current situation and it doesn't seem like the OP is being unreasonable in trying to get an answer. Especially if they're considering paying for a return flight!

martinsurrey

hazyjo wrote: »

Appreciated - but they've not been in touch for a week. I'd like to know the current situation and it doesn't seem like the OP is being unreasonable in trying to get an answer. Especially if they're considering paying for a return flight!

Read up on tipping off, its a criminal offence for the bank to say anything that might let the suspect in a potential money laundering situation know that they are being investigated.

tipping off

jlaw4

I work for another bank and do internationl payments everyday.

As other posters have stated, it will be part of your terms and conditions that they can suspend and even cancel payments, however, if these were not read out or emailed, you may have a case for compensation.

A week is unreasonable. it should take hours not days. Speak to the customer service centre and make it clear as soon as the call starts that you wish to make a complaint, or write a letter/email to the CEO of santander. They escalate complaints quickly and state in it that you are willing to go to the press and financial obundsman about the service and the fact that they are witholding your funds.

Hope this helps, international transfers are not the easiest but hopefully they will see reason when you complain.