Blocked by Santander

airsound

I’ve been really let down by my bank of more than 10 years, Santander.  I have always banked online with them, and I’ve never lived near a branch.   But for the past 22 hours, since 1430 on 6 Nov 2020, my account has been blocked “for security reasons”.   

Briefly, I had closed my NS&I Income Bond account, because of their interest rate reduction, and several thousand pounds had been transferred into my Santander 123 Lite current account.   I noted that it had indeed appeared in that account, and then set up a new payment of roughly the same amount to DF Capital 2-year Fixed Deposit (as recommended by Money Saving Expert).  Despite my having gone through all the hoops of setting up the new payment, including the one-time passcode, the transfer failed.   And almost immediately, online access to all three of my Santander accounts was blocked.

I then spent more than an hour on the phone, speaking to five different people, including a “manager”, who were almost universally unhelpful, other than to say that my account would be unblocked by 2100 yesterday.  They kept saying it was all down to “the back office”  -  so I said let me speak to them.  Oh no we can’t do that.

This morning, Saturday, the account is still blocked.   Another phone call, three more people  -  it’ll be unblocked by 2100 tonight.  Oh yeah? No explanation of why it was blocked in the first place.   I asked why they hadn’t just phoned me when a problem arose, but there was no explanation.

I feel badly let down, especially because Saturday is my day for planning the next week’s banking activity, and I can’t do it.  But the thing that really grips me is the total disregard of the bank for a long-term and reliable customer.

[Deleted User]

Is there a question here? If you want to vent, there is a sub forum for doing exactly that

airsound

OK  -  I didn't specifically include a question, because I think the bank's behaviour is altogether questionable.   But if you want a specific question   -  I guess it would be:   Is this reasonable behaviour by the bank?

airsound

Ed-1

airsound said:

OK  -  I didn't specifically include a question, because I think the bank's behaviour is altogether questionable.   But if you want a specific question   -  I guess it would be:   Is this reasonable behaviour by the bank?

airsound

There are 2 factors here that make the transaction higher risk for the bank which is why it has been blocked for further checks:
1. The fact it is a new payee and the amount
2. The fact the money being transferred had only just come into the account so there are potentially source of funds checks that need doing to satisfy AML.

airsound

There are 2 factors here that make the transaction higher risk for the bank which is why it has been blocked

Yes, but why should that include blocking my access to my accounts?   And why wouldn't they call me to check before taking such action?   It's not as if I've just walked in off the street  -  I've been banking with them for a long time, and since I'm a non-contract freelance, I get frequent irregular payments into my account.   Also, if they'd looked, they'd have seen that the payment in was from NS&I  -  surely pretty clearly safe and legal.   And, as I was required to say in the process, the purpose of the payment was for "re-investment"

airsound

Sea_Shell

I always use "transfer to an account in own name" on the drop-down list.

Not sure what bearing that actually has?

Ed-1

airsound said:

There are 2 factors here that make the transaction higher risk for the bank which is why it has been blocked

Yes, but why should that include blocking my access to my accounts?   And why wouldn't they call me to check before taking such action?   It's not as if I've just walked in off the street  -  I've been banking with them for a long time, and since I'm a non-contract freelance, I get frequent irregular payments into my account.   Also, if they'd looked, they'd have seen that the payment in was from NS&I  -  surely pretty clearly safe and legal.   And, as I was required to say in the process, the purpose of the payment was for "re-investment"

airsound

I'm sure it's all above board but the bank legally can't 'tip you off' if their systems have flagged it for potential money laundering checks. So they just adopt a policy of not discussing it with the customer until they have carried out their checks. Frustrating, yes. But it's a fact of modern day banking that you have to put up with from time to time.

colsten

Blocking accounts to investigate unusual payments is, unfortunately, a necessary feature to protect everyone from fraudsters. If there is nothing untoward with the transactions, the block will soon be removed.

However, if Santander have  not kept a promise they made (unblock by 21:00 yesterday), raise a formal complaint about it. Stay factual and unemotional about it. Don't mention you have been a customer of xxx years, that's irrelevant. The only thing your complaint should be about is that they have not kept their promise.

xylophone

The only thing your complaint should be about is that they have not kept their promise.

A little emotive?

 Maybe "failed in  their undertaking to unblock the accounts by 9 pm on 6 November, which has caused some inconvenience......"

airsound

So....   By this morning, 8 Nov, 2.5 days and two unblocking deadlines later, my accounts had still not been unblocked.   I made my 6th phonecall, and eventually spoke to my 11th Santander person, one Jodie in Liverpool  -  who, the Lord be praised, was actually helpful.   She produced the magic phrase "time sensitive payment" about my several grand of used oncers sitting idly in a no-interest account.   That phrase apparently gets them going, and she promised that someone from the mysterious 'back office' would fix it all and be in touch.

Guess what!   Olivia (12th Santander person) called me, and talked me through all the scamming possibilities, and was eventually satisfied with my answers.   She also said two useful things:

• If this happens again, go straight to the 'security' number, 0800 151 3151  -  not to the number that appears on your 'access blocked' screen.
• There is nothing I can do to stop this happening again  -  there is no way to pre-warn the security checkers that you're about to make a big payment to a new recipient.
  

And.... half an hour later, my accounts were miraculously unblocked, and my used oncers were fluttering on their way to DF Capital.

Phew.   It had taken 2.5 days, 7 phonecalls lasting more than 3.5 hours, and a lot of stress and frustration.

I'll let you know what happens with the complaints.

airsound

airsound

Oops, I've realised it's not really 2.5 days  -  it just seems like at least that long.   But today is actually the second day since I started all this.   Sorry!

airsound