Wrongly accused of using personal account for business use - help!

GoingBadger

Santander have wrongly accused me of using me personal account for business use and are threatening to close my account - can they do this?
I absolutely do not have any for of business or business transactions at all, let alone from this account.

From escalating to customer complaints it appears that monthly payments from Worldpay (my salary from my employer) are business transactions (I'm a full time employee, paid via PAYE not any for of contractor or limited company)

The second and more outrageous supposed "business transaction" is a monthly payment from my husband entitled "Housekeeping", which is his share of the household costs and spending as most of the domestic bills come out of my account. Apparently they are interpreting this as me receiving an income for providing a "housekeeping service" to my my husband!!

I am in the process of escalating this further but curious to know if anyone else has had to deal with this unjustified level of highhanded stupidity?
Are we the only couple who regularly transfer money to each other for the domestic housekeeping?

Am I doing something wrong here?

Worth mentioning I have been a customer for around 20 years and have run my account the same way in all that time!

eskbanker

Doesn't sound like you're doing anything wrong, no, so escalation seems appropriate - when you say that they're "threatening to close my account", what specifically have they said?  It would be more normal for banks to advise customers that they'd already decided to withdraw banking facilities, rather than giving advance notice that they might do this, so have they given you a chance to put forward your side of the story first?

Daliah

Deep breath, stay calm and raise an unemotional complaint in which you state the origins of your money, which should satisfy Santander. You can say, calmly, that you are disappointed and upset, and they might pay you £25 as an apology.

Though why does your employer pay you through Worldpay and not directly?

GoingBadger

eskbanker said:

Doesn't sound like you're doing anything wrong, no, so escalation seems appropriate - when you say that they're "threatening to close my account", what specifically have they said?  It would be more normal for banks to advise customers that they'd already decided to withdraw banking facilities, rather than giving advance notice that they might do this, so have they given you a chance to put forward your side of the story first?

Without retyping the whole letter here..."You'll either need to open a business account or move your business related activities elsewhere"  and "If business activity continues to be identified, then your account will be blocked and ultimately closed"

As I'm not doing any business related activity - I can't move it!!

There is a phone number for making an appointment for setting up a business account (not appropriate for my use" and an email address for business banking queries which I have written to explaining why these are not business transactions and enclosing supporting evidence - and now have to wait 14 days for a reply.

GoingBadger

Daliah said:

Though why does your employer pay you through Worldpay and not directly?

I am an employee of Worldpay - in the IT management arm. Worldpay have a couple of thousand employees in the UK.

Daliah

GoingBadger said:

Daliah said:

Though why does your employer pay you through Worldpay and not directly?

I am an employee of Worldpay - in the IT management arm. Worldpay have a couple of thousand employees in the UK.

Oh right, that makes it even easier for you then to present your case to Santander.

Here's how you complain to them: https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/customer-support/how-to-complain

As I said, stay calm and unemotional. Start by saying somebody in Santander must have made a mistake, it upset you, and you would therefore like to make a formal complaint. 

GoingBadger

Thanks Daliah, I have already gone through the customer complaints loop - they were very sympathetic and responsive  - that's how I found which transactions had been flagged. They were powerless though and told me "it's a banking decision" as if it's a fete accompli. Apparently it's now up to me if I want to continue banking with Santander.

I have now written to the business banking team (calmly and succinctly as you suggested) with supporting evidence of my employment status and marital status. Really shocked I have to do this after 20 years with the same bank.  

They will respond within 14 days - so waiting but extremely anxious, upset and offended.

Daliah

Lets see what they come back with. If not satisfactory, I would continue with the complaint, perhaps escalate it to Executive levl in Santander.

In the meantime, have you considered opening a second current account elsewhere? It's a good idea to have a second account, anyway, and you might want to move your banking away from Santander, anyway.
 
There is Chase Bank, who will pay you 1% cashback on most household spending for a year. Though they don't presently offer Direct Debits yet.

A full current account, easy and fast to open, can be had at Starling Bank. No branches but a fully-fledged bank. Other account worth considering would be Halifax or Nationwide - though the others, such as Natwest, Lloyds, Virgin Money etc aren't too bad, either. None of them, do, however, come with any guarantee for not causing trouble at some stage....

penners324

Probably site of a payslips from Worldpay should sort it out.

GoingBadger

penners324 said:

Probably site of a payslips from Worldpay should sort it out.

I hope so - I've sent them my contract of employment - that should be more than enough to verify I'm an employee.

HobgoblinBT

As you work for Worldpay you probably know what Santander have misunderstood……they have flagged your salary in the mistaken belief it is card processing sales receipts.   

 

Most businesses receiving payments by card receive them daily, or at least more frequently than monthly so unless you are paid salary or expenses weekly, evidencing your employment with a recent pay slip ought to enable Santander to satisfy themselves that you are not running a business from your personal account.