Santander has frozen all my bank accounts

antiquatedanne

We are having our driveway re-done and I know this is a red flag for banks due to the large number of driveway scams occuring.  But in our case, we found this Company through Which as a Trusted trader, they came and quoted the job some months ago, they advised start of work would be 10th July, 2023, they turned up on time and started the work.  Three days in and they are doing a fantastic job.  

Our side of the contract was to pay 50% when they started the work and 50% on completion.  On day one, they sent their invoice by email and I set up the payment for 50% through my Santander account.  This resulted in a telephone call from their Fraud department.  I answered all their questions, assured them I had fully looked into the Company.  I then did everything they asked, such as telephone the company on a telephone number given on our contract, rather than my invoice, confirmed the bank details and so forth.  Initially they said they would block it for 24 hours.  24 hours has come and gone and further phone calls have resulted in being told that it has been passed to their bank office for further investigation.  Meantime, I have no access to my account nor my funds nor my savings.

Not only is this embarrassing as the work is nearly completed and I always keep to my side of a contract, but I also am unable to make other payments, such as my credit card bill and other workmen who are carrying out work on my property.

Has anyone had a similar experience and if so, what have they done about it.  Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

jimlad68

There is a worrying trend of banks "overzealously" closing or blocking accounts. I'm surprised the banking ombudsman has not been involved. Even if they have concerns about who you are paying, it should not affect your other (presumably) regular activities. Seems that credit cards are the "safe" way to go, but that is extra expense especially for the contractor. Have they given you a reason, even if they are suspicious of the contractor, in the short term perhaps some photos of the nearly completed work might help, but this is obviously an industry "problem".

Let us know how you get on please.

antiquatedanne

Thanks for your comment.  That is exactly what I've said to them, stop the payment, yes, but do not close off my access to all my funds.  I have offered them a copy of my contract, photos, full Company house details of the Company doing the work, but they're not interested.  All I get is that it is with "back office" who are "doing further investigations".  I've started to feel as though I am the guilty party, but of course when I said that, they were quick to deny that.  As I said, I can understand a block on my account if they suspect me of money laundering or similar, but to put a block on all my funds "to protect me" is going too far, especially when they can give me no time scale at all.  Unfortunately the amount owe exceeds my credit card limit (which I keep quite low for security reasons) so paying by credit card is not an option. 

I will let you know how I get on.  Many thanks

antiquatedanne

Two further phone calls have got me nowhere apart from them raising two more complaints.  I have now submitted a claim through the Resolver platform.  With this I was able to include a copy of my contract and before and after photos.

GeoffTF

It would appear that you account has been frozen for two days. What has actually been frozen? Online access? Have you tried offering a cheque? Has the frozen account caused you a financial loss?

Bigwheels1111

Not another Santander has, frozen or locked my account.
Every week there’s a post about it on here.
I’m glad I’ve cleaned out my account.

antiquatedanne

In response to GeoffTF - they had totally blocked my account.  Only my standing orders and direct debits were still being honoured.  I could not withdraw any funds at all (although they now dispute that fact).  I tried to transfer funds to another account and they refused, I tried making an appointment at Branch and they said there was no point.  Even the woman in Complaints could not access my account.  In the end (see below for how I solved this), I did not suffer any financial loss, only stress and embarrassment and sleepless nights with worry as they could not tell me when the block would be lifted.

antiquatedanne

For anyone who is interested, yesterday (Thursday) the block was still in place.  However this time when I rang Fraud, the person I spoke to seemed far more helpful.  After I had to listen to the same Fraud lecture as previously, answer all the same questions as on Monday, giving the same information yet again, he, apparently was able to lift the block and I could process the payment.  I also transferred funds to my husband - these arrived in his account within minutes, the Contractor only received his funds this morning.  No other reason was given about the block or the reason why it was now lifted (apart from I had now satisfied them I was not being scammed), except that this person said there was a standard minimum block of 72 hours, although this has not been verified by anyone else.  

Today, I received a call about the complaints I made and he said they had received my email with the attachments.  This was my claim through the Resolver platform because I had been unable to get this information to them any other way, so it would appear doing this had done the trick.  Although I tried to get my point across about the total blocking of funds is rather over the top when all they want to do is to stop a payment, they were not interested and said they were putting the ubiquitous £50 into my account as compensation and as far as they were concerned the matter is settled.

They were at great pains to tell me that they noted I had other workmen to pay and they could not guarantee this problem would not re-occur.  Like Bigwheels1111 above, I am going to transfer the funds to another account and pay from there.

To summarise my actions -

I telephoned several time every day and ensured I talked so much I drove them insane
On the second day I also when through Complaints and then ensured further complaints were logged with every call I made
At the end of day three, I submitted a claim through : www.resolver.co.uk, and through this I was able to attach a copy of my contract and photos as proof of the work being done
Thursday morning after a further call, the block was lifted.

I hope this helps anyone in a similar position.

dealyboy

Good news ... you have been very helpful ... thank you @antiquatedanne

lindabea

A very similar thing happened to me a few years ago when I was banking with Santander.  Needless to say I have since closed my account.  On that occasion, I made a large transfer (although within transfer limits) to my savings account and they stopped it. However, in my case, they did not freeze my account. Numerous calls from me and they can't tell me why they stopped the payment.  Eventually, they paid put £100 in my account as compensation and matter closed.  I thought about referring a complaint to the Ombudsman, but couldn't be bothered within wasting any more time and effort.  In the end, I went to the branch and told them in no certain way what I thought of the bank. I made sure I was speaking loudly so that all other customers could hear me. 

As Bigwheels1111 said, this is happening much to often. Santander is taking liberties with customers treating them with disgraceful contempt.  I urge all Santander customers to close their accounts and hope this bank goes out of business.      

born_again

antiquatedanne said:

Two further phone calls have got me nowhere apart from them raising two more complaints.  I have now submitted a claim through the Resolver platform.  With this I was able to include a copy of my contract and before and after photos.

If you have 2 open complaints. What is the point of resolver?
They are a 3rd party company who do nothing other that forwarding you complaint on. They do not get involved in solving it for you.

That is exactly what I've said to them, stop the payment, yes, but do not close off my access to all my funds. 

Why would you say that if it was a genuine payment???

No wonder they have taken the action they have...