Account Blocked By Santander

Coconuts55

On Sunday, myself and a friend were discussing sending some money as a surprise to a mutual friend. We both know this friend as we're involved in dog rescue, and both have rescue dogs, so know a lot of the same people. 

Anyway, we both decided it would be a nice idea to send her some money, what with Winter coming and her struggling at that moment with various things she has going on. Our friend is in Romania. My friend sent her some money via her Lloyds account, and was charged £9 for the international payment. I sent my money through my Santander account, and was charged £25, using the exact same details.

My friend's payment via Lloyds went through without any issue. Mine however was stopped, and I went into my account shortly afterwards to find a message saying my account was blocked, and the disingenuous message "Let us help you", when they had stopped the payment and blocked my account, telling me I had to phone them. 

So I called them, only to be met with the Santander equivalent of the Spanish Inquisition. After getting through the usual security questions, I was interrogated for twenty minutes on who I was sending money to, why was I sending it, what was it for, how long had I known this person, where had I met them, what was the purpose of our relationship. More and more intrusive ridiculous questions, and even then the person I spoke to was not satisfied, and told me that someone else would be calling me.

During this call this person also told me I had "chosen" to pay the £25 charge, when it is in fact a standard charge and I had no choice in the matter.

Someone else then called me about an hour later, and after going through security yet again, he advised me that he could make the payment and unblock my account, if I answered his questions, and I was interrogated for another fifteen minutes. Again I was asked who this person was, how I knew them, what the payment was for, where I had met this person, how long I had known them. I was then asked if they had asked me to lie, if they had asked me to move my money to another account. Had they asked me to lie to the police, my bank, HMRC etc.

During this interaction I also pointed out that the previous person had said that the previous person had told me that I had "chosen" to pay the £25 charge, and this person told me that "there is no charge for countries in the EU", despite the fact that Romania has been in the EU since 2007, and they had still charged me the £25 fee.

The questions then became ever more ridiculous, asking me over and over if I was lying.

I repeatedly pointed out that this was not a scam, that I knew this person, had proved who I was, and that it was my money I was in fact spending, and that they were my bank and should be there to advise me, not dictate to me who and what I spent my money on, so I did not know why they were continuing to treat me like I was some cross between a criminal and an imbecile.

I also pointed out that this was my only account, that I am disabled, seriously ill and suffer with Adrenal Disease, could not physically tolerate the totally unnecessary stress they were causing me, and they were preventing me accessing my account, they had also stopped all payments from my account, so I cannot make payments for things. I was due to take my dog to the vets this week, and now cannot take them because I cannot make payment for anything. This person then said that they were refusing to make the payment and refusing to unblock my account, because there were "more questions that needed answering", even when I told them to just cancel the payment and unblock my account. 

Yesterday I received a text from them asking me to call them. I called them and went through security again, and they said they did not know why I was calling them. When I pointed out what had happened the day before, I was advised that someone would call me within four to six hours. No one called me.

I went onto Twitter and asked for an address to send complaints to and they sent me an email address. I sent a complaint to that and they said someone would get back to me and that my complaint had been sent to a "specialist team" and still no one has got back to me.

I have opened a dispute on Resolver about this, but again, I remain locked out of my account, and my bank is acting like xenophobic, disablist tyrannical bullies, effectively punishing me for daring to send money to my friend in Romania, because they simultaneously seem to think everyone in Romania is a con artist and/or all disabled people are too stupid to run their own bank accounts.

This is also not the first time they have behaved like this. During the pandemic I placed an order for some medication, also from abroad, and they stopped that payment, and when I phoned up to query why, the staff member I spoke to "accidentally" stopped my bank card and I had to wait three weeks for a new one to arrive. At that time they apologised and sent me £50.

But this is ridiculous and frankly scary. My Father died last October, and yesterday the inheritance I was due to be receiving from him was paid into my account, unbeknownst to me. This now means Santander are not only blocking my account and holding my money hostage generally, but they are now also holding my inheritance money and preventing me accessing it. 

They are not contacting me, and will not communicate with me when I call them. 

I have no way of accessing the only bank account I have, and they are refusing to unblock it. 

So now what do I do? I honestly feel like crying with all the stress they are causing me and with the fact that I am ill anyway. They are literally making me sick. 

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Wonka_2

OK - there are two issues here

Firstly, without being too blunt, do you actually 'know' the friend or has the bank done you a favour by rejecting the payment ? You're not party to how many transactions there have been to this person nor what flags are held. The bank making checks in this case is normal

Second is the issue between you and the bank - you've had issues before yet you've remained with them but your language/tone here about them shows how unhappy you are and it's likely this comes across making it difficult to deal with you.

Is there anyone who can assist you to resolve this issue and start the process of transferring to another bank without the emotion/name calling that you're showing here ? Continuing in that vein with them is only likely to prolong any checks and may well lead to them closing the account for you.

And as a suggestion (although apparently too late now) a calm, direct complaint is more likely to have an impact than use of Resolver

prettyandfluffy

This will only help you in the future but as banks closing or locking accounts seems to be becoming more commonplace, I would strongly suggest you have more than one account going forward. 

friolento

I think there is very little more you can do now but wait for Santander to respond to your complaints.When they do get in touch again, try to keep the emotion out of it, as hard as that may be. Santander are neither xenophobic nor do their fraud prevention processes treat disabled people any different to able bodied / able minded. If you accuse them of this, the person at the other end might be less inclined to help you.

The above advice from prettyandfluffy makes a lot of sense - having more than one account is a good idea to reduce the risk of getting into the situation you are in now.  The other bit of advice for the future would be that you use a specialist currency transfer firm like Wise for sending money abroad.

Once you have access to your account again, you might also consider moving away from Santander. It's worth checking whether there are any switch offers about at the time.

I hope you manage to get the matter resolved soon.

Coconuts55

Yes I know the person I'm sending the money to. We are actually friends. Everything I've written is actually the facts, Santander are not in any way helping me. They blocked the payment instantly, just as they have blocked every international payment I have tried to make instantly. This is just how they behave. They are clearly prejudiced, and that much is patently obvious from their questioning, I can assure you. They're also spoken to me like I'm an imbecile who cannot run my own bank account, purely on the basis that I am registered as disabled, which I in no way appreciate.

Just to be clear, as I have explained, they seem to be overly obsessed with international payments, and have stopped every payment I've ever made, and forced me to sit through an interrogation every time, which has become more and more ridiculous over the years, to the point where their staff are now becoming more like bullies and tyrants, hence the situation I now find myself in, where they seem to think they get to tell me how I spend my money, and if I dare to disagree my account is locked.

As I said, my friend and I both made exactly the same payments using exactly the same details. Yet she has not suffered any of this behaviour whatsoever. So I can assure you none of this is happening because Santander have some unbeknownst to us information about our friend. They are doing it because they are behaving as though my money is theirs and as though I somehow report to them, whereas the staff at my friend's bank are behaving like reasonable human beings, a capacity that the staff at Santander appear to have lost sight of. 

I only have one account because I was misdiagnosed for forty years, forced to seek private healthcare. Then misdiagnosed there for another ten, and suffered at the hands of various terrible doctors, leading to thousands of pounds of debt, so I'm now with StepChange, and because of that I only have one back account, unfortunately with Santander. 

I have made a direct complaint to them, and they have either completely ignored me, or repeatedly told me they will call me at various times, (depending on who it is) and then have not contacted me at all. Hence my going on Resolver. This has been going on for three days now, and shows no sign of getting anywhere. 

I sound like I do because I've been interrogated for literally hours by these people and they have continued to harass me, despite me answering their questions, and still refusing to unlock my account, despite the fact they are now not contacting me, and there being nothing further to discuss.

I started off being reasonable with them, and putting up with their increasingly unreasonable behaviour, and now yes I have frankly had enough of them. What right have they to interrogate me for hours. They are causing me untold stress for no reason. They've repeatedly assured me they will contact me and then haven't. They've blocked my account despite me answering hours of their questions, and when they should be there to advise me, not dictate to me what and who I spend my money on. They've left me unable to do the things I should be doing, and they've made it quite clear they could not care less.

I've proved who I am, I've answered their hours of questions, so what reason have they to block my account. 

I don't think it's okay to treat people like this, and then just leave them stranded, with no money, no access to their account, and give no tosses whatsoever. I haven't done anything wrong. So why am I being treated as though I have. I told them to cancel the payment if they had such a big issue with it. So why the need to lock my account and treat me like this. 

I've literally sent money to a friend, via an international payment. The fact that they clearly don't like the country I'm sending it to, along with every other country I've ever sent a payment to, doesn't mean everyone in that country is a criminal, or that I'm an imbecile, or that they get to lock my account as though I can't make decisions for myself, does it. 

Or are we allowing banks to decide who we or what we can spend money on now. Because that's what they're doing to me. Locking my account because they don't agree with what I'm spending my money on. 

CliveOfIndia

Coconuts55 said:

They are clearly prejudiced

With the utmost respect, that statement is pure nonsense.  Banks are not prejudiced - or if they were, they'd find their licence revoked in pretty short order.

Coconuts55 said:

I've literally sent money to a friend, via an international payment.

The don't know that he/she is a friend - it's just an anonymous person as far as they're concerned.

Coconuts55 said:

Or are we allowing banks to decide who we or what we can spend money on now.

Actually, in a manner of speaking they can decide this.  There are very stringent Anti Money Laundering rules which all banks are obliged to enforce - or face extremely stiff penalties if they don't.  There are many "red flags" which can trigger an AML alert, but international transfers can be one of them.

You need to wait until they have completed their internal checks and AML processes.  In the meantime, it would be beneficial if you could try to remove the emotion from proceedings and stick to the facts.  Santander do not have a personal grudge against either you or your friend - they are simply following the AML processes as they are obliged to do.

Coconuts55

To be fair, you have not heard the repeated interrogations I've been subjected to, and I can assure you that the staff I've had to deal with are prejudiced. That's why I've written what I've written. 

My statement is not nonsense. It's based on my actual experience, and your comments are not at all helpful. 

These staff are overstepping their positions and behaving in a way they should not be behaving. 

If you think we live on a planet where no prejudice based on disability or country of origin exist, then good luck with that. I happen to know and have experienced quite the opposite, in both my personal and private life, and that includes with these staff.

I have never said Santander have a "personal" grudge against myself or my friend. They do however have a very clear issue with international payments, because that is based on my experience. All of which I have on tape and their apologies via email. I have banked with plenty of other banks, and have never experienced this behaviour with any other of them.

Nothing I have done would be sufficient to suggest money laundering and that is NOT in any way what they are accusing me of by the way. 

I'm also a former investigator, if that helps prevent you from writing to me in such condescending manner in future and making the assumptions you clearly have. 

la531983

If you are registered as vulnerable with them you can't have the penny and the bun here. If your disability doesn't affect your ability to run a bank account, deregister as being a vulnerable customer then. 

flo22

The difference between the £25 fee and no charge will be based on whether you marked it as urgent or not when inputting the payment   https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/current-accounts/making-international-payments

Hoenir

Coconuts55 said:

I'm also a former investigator,

Then you should appreciate that Santander have a due process to follow. You have no idea what they know internally either. Which I should add has no connection to yourself personally. There's a much larger macro picture to consider. 

wmb194

How much money are we talking about?