Santander blocked my account without any reason

Bridlington1

a7ash said:

Malthusian said:
As this sounds like their "final response", you should go to the Financial Ombudsman immediately. By all means try to escalate to the CEO, but do not wait for a response before you go to the FOS. You've already gone past that stage. It is likely to take the Ombudsman months to pick up the case. 

(They can in theory push cases up the queue if the complainant is in immediate hardship, but I wouldn't rely on them doing so.)

Thanks I will. 



Unless you had more than £85k with the Santander banking licence (£170k for joint accounts), you've not done anything unwise. Make sure you include any financial losses (e.g. interest from having to rely on borrowing) in your complaint to the Ombudsman.

i had a shade over 85K. Why would this cause a problem ? These were my genuine savings.

Also does anyone know a good lawyer ot firm to deal with things like these ?

I think the having more than £85k in Santander being unwise was in reference to the FSCS protection limit. If Santander were to go bust anything below £85k would be protected, anything above would not (unless it is a joint account or had temporarily high balance due to house sale etc). This point has little/no bearing on this issue of the account being frozen for so long however.

You mention that your Santander account has recently disappeared from internet banking. Have you checked that Santander haven't closed the accounts? I recall seeing a thread last year where someone had had their HSBC account frozen for 2 months or so, then had their accounts closed by HSBC, receiving a cheque for the full amount that they held with HSBC a few days later. The first they'd known about the closure was when the accounts had been removed from internet banking. If Santander have done this then you could well receive a cheque in the next few days so it may be worth keeping an eye on your post. 

I don't think getting a lawyer would make Santander release the funds any earlier than they would've done without intervention though, not least because Santander could have already closed the accounts already. Santander will most likely be keeping the accounts frozen due to the various AML regulations they are under. I suspect the only person who would benefit from you getting a lawyer is the lawyer him/herself who will be getting a nice looking fee from you.

Momanns

A solicitor or lawyer would be throwing money away. 

OP - I & others have asked about any other account activity - something must have triggered and given the time the accounts have been blocked, Santander deem it is serious and the account may be subject to interest from a legal authority.

It is a very frustrating situation but assuming the authorities don't take any action, you will receive your money through either a) Regaining access to the account or b) Santander sending you the balances upon exit.

Santander would stand to gain absolutely nothing from blocking your accounts without reason, although this reason may be subjective. A solicitor acting on your behalf would more than likely only receive the same level of response you have already received. The bank is duty bound not to disclose any information if they are undertaking an investigation/have blocked the accounts for such an investigation. 

Momanns

How do you propose bank's deal with money laundering of fraud (a £1bn+prblem) without being able to block accounts? 

None of us know the circumstances. Santander could have blocked the OP's accounts for no reason for months on end - likely to lose them a customer with significant funds...OR there are circumstances the OP has omitted and Santander are doing their job.

aaj123

Momanns said:

How do you propose bank's deal with money laundering of fraud (a £1bn+prblem) without being able to block accounts? 

None of us know the circumstances. Santander could have blocked the OP's accounts for no reason for months on end - likely to lose them a customer with significant funds...OR there are circumstances the OP has omitted and Santander are doing their job.

By explaining their rationale and giving the OP a chance to defend (while account remains frozen)? What can this 'tipping off' do to influence what the OP can already do? I know it's the rules itself that are funny here. 

Bridlington1

(Removed by Forum Team)

With respect I think this seems a bit over the top to me. Santander can and will freeze accounts if it suspects the account has been compromised or is being used for fraudulent activity just as any bank would. They have a legal requirement to prevent fraudulent activity in their accounts, freezing is one of the ways in which they can do this.

Personally I would rather have an account frozen, however inconvenient it may be at the time, than see it emptied by fraudster.

aaj123

(Removed by Forum Team)

With respect I think this seems a bit over the top to me. Santander can and will freeze accounts if it suspects the account has been compromised or is being used for fraudulent activity just as any bank would. They have a legal requirement to prevent fraudulent activity in their accounts, freezing is one of the ways in which they can do this.

Personally I would rather have an account frozen, however inconvenient it may be at the time, than see it emptied by fraudster.

You are implying they are doing this to protect the OP? Not the impression at all that the description of the story gives. And what exactly is gained by not giving any explanation regarding an account that is already frozen?

Momanns

That's a fair comment. Agree that could be changed in future but at present Santander don't have that option. I would only add that banks often do make enquiries with client's where they need additional verification or information/documents to support a transaction. 

Given Santander haven't done this, it is likely there concern is greater/they would not stand to gain anything from asking the OP questions. 

The alternative is the accounts were blocked by Santander following a request or information by a legal authority. Although we all only guessing, it is possible Santander are acting under instruction. The OP would then not likely disclose on a forum but they have clearly done some research having initially referred to the DAML/Consent regime. 

The fraud bit is a red herring, if the OP was in any way a victim then none of the circumstances they have outlined would be applicable. 

grumbler

Bridlington1 said:

aaj123 said:

Momanns said:

A solicitor or lawyer would be throwing money away. 

OP - I & others have asked about any other account activity - something must have triggered and given the time the accounts have been blocked, Santander deem it is serious and the account may be subject to interest from a legal authority.

It is a very frustrating situation but assuming the authorities don't take any action, you will receive your money through either a) Regaining access to the account or b) Santander sending you the balances upon exit.

Santander would stand to gain absolutely nothing from blocking your accounts without reason, although this reason may be subjective. A solicitor acting on your behalf would more than likely only receive the same level of response you have already received. The bank is duty bound not to disclose any information if they are undertaking an investigation/have blocked the accounts for such an investigation. 

Imagine what the world has become when people throng to put money into a custodial entity which is bequeathed the right to withhold it without notice or explanation. 

Global reserve currencies soon will stop being fiat that allows someone's wealth to be 'switched off'.

With respect I think this seems a bit over the top to me. Santander can and will freeze accounts if it suspects the account has been compromised ...

Personally I would rather have an account frozen, however inconvenient it may be at the time, than see it emptied by fraudster.

Yeah, and you'd like to be kept in the dark in this case. 
If banks block your account and don't tell you why, this isn't because they want to protect you.

Futuristic

Apart from trying to make another new complaint and then escalating to FOS there's nothing OP can really do.

Personally Ive had my account blocked numerous times in the past 1-2 yrs as I've moved significant amounts in and out of various saving accs elsewhere. Longest I was blocked for was 2 weeks a few months ago and had to complain (got compensation, issue resolved within 48 hours) so the fact its been several months here means 1) your account/case is being mishandled or 2) your account/funds are frozen for other reasons which only you will know

TheBanker

aaj123 said:

Momanns said:

A solicitor or lawyer would be throwing money away. 

OP - I & others have asked about any other account activity - something must have triggered and given the time the accounts have been blocked, Santander deem it is serious and the account may be subject to interest from a legal authority.

It is a very frustrating situation but assuming the authorities don't take any action, you will receive your money through either a) Regaining access to the account or b) Santander sending you the balances upon exit.

Santander would stand to gain absolutely nothing from blocking your accounts without reason, although this reason may be subjective. A solicitor acting on your behalf would more than likely only receive the same level of response you have already received. The bank is duty bound not to disclose any information if they are undertaking an investigation/have blocked the accounts for such an investigation. 

Imagine what the world has become when people throng to put money into a custodial entity which is bequeathed the right to withhold it without notice or explanation. 

Global reserve currencies soon will stop being fiat that allows someone's wealth to be 'switched off'. Are there ways to hold and transfer wealth conveniently without depending on a third party? Sure there are.

Can I just correct your first paragraph? Banks are not 'bequeathed the right to withhold it without notice or explanation'. They are placed under a legal obligation, which comes with the privilege of holding a banking license, to prevent, detect and report money laundering and other types of crime, and an obligation to act in line with orders from the courts and certain authorities.

I suspect most banks would rather not have these obligations, which can affect legitimate customers, result in lost business, cost tens of millions of pounds in staff and systems, and ultimately result in enormous fines if they get it wrong.

I can't speak for Santander, but no bank I've ever worked or, or colleague I've ever worked with, has taken pleasure from having to freeze an account in these circumstances.

It's a long time since I've been involved in freezing accounts, but the last time I was our actions allowed hundreds of thousands of pounds to be returned to victims of a fraudulent accountant. He was pretty hacked off that we froze his account . He was even more hacked off that as a result of our intervention the authorities froze all his other assets and the police arrested him.