Santander causing me huge problems not allowing me access my account

greyteam1959

OP
Please answer the question that has been asked several times.
How many accounts do you have with Santander??

pridehappy

I'd always recommend having 2 banks with a good amount of money in, but I understand this doesn't help at the moment.

If these are just internal transfers, I'm very surprised Santander blocked these and to me it doesn't seem like excellent customer service either. I'd definitely open a complaint, and explain the troubles it is causing you. For the stress it's causing, I'd definitely say it's worth some compensation.

If they don't respond in time, it's best to contact your mortgage provider and let them know what's happened. Depending on your provider, they should be understanding and possibly provide a solution which would work better for you and reduce the impact it would have on you otherwise. 

If they are unwilling, you might need to call Santander and explain the urgency of the situation. It's important to not be rude, but be firm in insisting that you've done nothing wrong and they have a responsibility to help you.

Your only other option is consider a money transfer from a credit card temporarily to a current account with another bank like Starling Bank, but this might have a small impact on your credit score due to the new credit card. You should be able to claim these fees back from Santander though.

datz

bulldog80 said:

I fully intend to join a new bank after this and pull all my business away from Santander. I’ve never experienced anything like this.

All banks operate in much the same way, and can freeze money and/or accounts for weeks at a time (usually due to ever stricter AML regulations and over-zealous algorithms). You will find similar reports from every current account provider, so moving your business from one to another isn't really a 'fix'.

You aren't limited to just using one bank, so the best solution is always going to be to use multiple providers (i.e. banking groups), and ensure you have enough funds 'elsewhere' should any one freeze/restrict your accounts (or run into technical issues).

eskbanker

datz said:

bulldog80 said:

I fully intend to join a new bank after this and pull all my business away from Santander. I’ve never experienced anything like this.

All banks operate in much the same way, and can freeze money and/or accounts for weeks at a time (usually due to ever stricter AML regulations). You will find similar reports from every current account provider, so moving your business from one to another isn't really a 'fix'.

I don't recall any threads about any bank imposing restrictions resulting from an internal transfer between a customer's own accounts, do you have any links to the contrary?

Hoenir

bulldog80 said:

Hoenir said:

How many accounts do you have with Santander? Why open yet another account if the money was going to be immediately being transferred out again. Makes no sense. 

Not at all. It’s a simple concept to ensure that I don’t spend money from my other accounts that is meant for a specific purpose. 

How many accounts both sole and jointly have you opened in total for a specific purpose?  In your opening post you said numerous. 

boingy

Banks blocking internal transfers would be a new thing I think so I'd guess it's to do with the number of accounts.

eskbanker

I can understand why posters are pushing OP to clarify the exact number of accounts but do sympathise with OP's earlier post on that subject:

bulldog80 said:

some is locked away in an ISA, others are there as instant access savings and others to be used less frequently. It’s essentially pots to put my money in so I can manage it effectively and save for different things.
I get your point but they should have just refused to open the accounts in that case and not sent the email saying they were fine to use and certainly not allowed me to transfer my money into them.

Hoenir

eskbanker said:

I can understand why posters are pushing OP to clarify the exact number of accounts but do sympathise with OP's earlier post on that subject:

bulldog80 said:

some is locked away in an ISA, others are there as instant access savings and others to be used less frequently. It’s essentially pots to put my money in so I can manage it effectively and save for different things.
I get your point but they should have just refused to open the accounts in that case and not sent the email saying they were fine to use and certainly not allowed me to transfer my money into them.

Opening an account which is going to be used for less than 10 days (for a single transaction). Before the cash is moved on again. Can only make you wonder. 

Section62

eskbanker said:

datz said:

bulldog80 said:

I fully intend to join a new bank after this and pull all my business away from Santander. I’ve never experienced anything like this.

All banks operate in much the same way, and can freeze money and/or accounts for weeks at a time (usually due to ever stricter AML regulations). You will find similar reports from every current account provider, so moving your business from one to another isn't really a 'fix'.

I don't recall any threads about any bank imposing restrictions resulting from an internal transfer between a customer's own accounts, do you have any links to the contrary?

I wonder whether the issue hasn't got anything to do with the number of accounts the OP has, nor the internal transfers, but rather the act of opening an additional new account has triggered some kind of periodic check of activity, which has thrown up something (possibly from long ago) that the system didn't like.

Hoenir

Section62 said:

eskbanker said:

datz said:

bulldog80 said:

I fully intend to join a new bank after this and pull all my business away from Santander. I’ve never experienced anything like this.

All banks operate in much the same way, and can freeze money and/or accounts for weeks at a time (usually due to ever stricter AML regulations). You will find similar reports from every current account provider, so moving your business from one to another isn't really a 'fix'.

I don't recall any threads about any bank imposing restrictions resulting from an internal transfer between a customer's own accounts, do you have any links to the contrary?

I wonder whether the issue hasn't got anything to do with the number of accounts the OP has, nor the internal transfers, but rather the act of opening an additional new account has triggered some kind of periodic check of activity, which has thrown up something (possibly from long ago) that the system didn't like.

AML software which runs across the databases is extremely sophisticated and joins the dots together. Flagging up cases for indepth investigation. Behave normally and there's rarely an issue.