Does a bank have the right to withhold my money?

Arnisdale

MargaretB_2 said:

davidmcn said:

MargaretB_2 said:

yesterday £1400 was paid in
I've already put in a complaint with the Banking Ombudsman 

This happened only yesterday, and you've already complained to the ombudsman? That seems a bit trigger-happy, as well as pointless as you first have to go through Santander's own complaints process before the ombudsman will look at it.
As suggested above, it may well have triggered anti-money-laundering checks - and because of the rules about "tipping off", Santander won't even be allowed to tell you that's what's going on, they'll just eventually release the funds to you, hopefully before too long.

What complaints process? I couldn't find such a thing or I would have used it. No, I don't think it's trigger happy, given that I've had this money paid into other banks already cleared. It's my money; where's the hold up? It could be salary for all they know; how do they know I don't work for Amazon?

This one:-
https://www.google.co.uk/search?client=opera&q=santander+complaints&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
...never mind.

Manxman_in_exile

MargaretB_2 said:

Never mind

Oh - another one of those posters.

I sometimes wonder if perhaps there's some reason to explain why certain people seem to be victims of appallingly bad service from banks etc.

fb1969

MargaretB_2 said:

I have royalties which are paid monthly from Amazon, direct into my bank account. Like any bank transfer, this money is already cleared when it arrives. I decided to try Santander for my royalties and yesterday £1400 was paid in by so-called faster payment. This money always arrived clear in Natwest, Halifax and TSB. But in Santander it is showing as not cleared and I cannot access it. I can get no sense out of anyone; all they say is they are looking into it and they are sorry. Sorry will not pay my important bills.
Have they any right to keep this money from me? And who do I go to? I've already put in a complaint with the Banking Ombudsman but I need the money now, not next year.

For posterity (I'm getting good at this).

born_again

Sounds like someone running a business on a personal account.... Yet they complain when they get caught out.

soolin

born_again said:

Sounds like someone running a business on a personal account.... Yet they complain when they get caught out.

The OP does seem to be spreading out payments rather than have them all in the same place where the actual total received could be calculated. I can think of several reasons why someone might not wish the full extent of their earned income known and identified. 

However that doesn’t explain why Santander have held the money although even that will be more of a concern if the hold goes on for more than a few days. 

born_again

soolin said:

However that doesn’t explain why Santander have held the money although even that will be more of a concern if the hold goes on for more than a few days. 

The obvious one is that OP has not made any purchase to Amazon for £1400, but gets a payment of that amount from them. They can take as long as they want. Onwardsman will do nothing, just the same as OP complaining to bank would... Which is strange that they do not know how to complain, given the amount of accounts they have & you get informed of how to complain each time you open a account.

As I said personal account being used by a business. Which to be fair OP is quite open about running a business. Banks do not like customers avoiding paying for the proper accounts. It's clear in the T/C.

macman

It should be noted that, at the time of making the original post, the OP's funds had been withheld by Santander for just 24 hours...doesn't seem an unreasonably long period in which to investigate a potential irregularity.