Santander looking to freeze Bank account

Lightning360

redgem12 said:

Thanks for all of your comments, my parent have been to the branch and the branch agreed with my parents and the branch have made a complaint on their behalf.

They have provided everything they behave asked for tbh they bought there house 4 years ago so they had all the information from solicitors and all the information about the house.

Yes it was the Abbey National which was taken over by santander.... same account for over 50 years... 

I believe unusual payments made in bank account, such as payments from HMRC one off payments can trigger these type of things. If there is an expert on here I would like to know what the time scale is for sorting this out.

As its unacceptable putting people in poverty not able to touch their own money. goingg to the local MP has been thought of and we are going to contact the MP.

Banks can't win, can they? They get told to do more to prevent fraud, but then customers complain when they use measures to try to reduce fraud.

Yes, your parents may be innocent, but banks don't know that which is why checks are needed. It is also why it is a good idea for you to have a 2nd account at another bank with some money in it if needed.

xylophone

I know it’s a bit pedantic but haven’t Santander only been in the UK for 20 years since acquiring Abbey National in 2004

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santander_UK

The deeds of the property? Why?

The staff member was very rude, firstly saying if my father spoke to them when they phoned him originally instead of ending the call.

Rudeness to a customer, especially an elderly customer who may be particularly nervous about a scam call is utterly unacceptable


https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/fraud-and-security/spotting-fraud-or-scams

What are impersonation scams?

These are when a fraudster contacts you and pretends to be someone else. They’ll pretend to be your bank, HMRC, or another trusted person to convince you to send them money.

An example of this could be:​ ​You get a call from Santander on a known and trusted number. The caller claims to be from Santander’s fraud department. 

The OP's father was worried by the call - he did exactly the right thing in contacting Santander.

I can't understand why a payment from a car retailer and a rebate from HMRC should in any way count as "suspicious activity".

Ask your parents to book an appointment at their branch as soon as possible and go with them.

They should take with them passports/driving licences (if they have them), otherwise statements of increase in their state pensions/council tax statement/ water bill etc.

If they have the paper deeds they should take them - if the property is registered, it is cheap and easy to download a copy from the Land Registry.

And they should also write and take with them a formal letter of  complaint about the scant courtesy with which they were treated - a recording of the phone call should have been retained by Santander.

xylophone

In connection with an appointment, see https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/ways-to-bank/in-your-branch

Hoenir

redgem12 said:

Yes it was the Abbey National which was taken over by santander.... same account for over 50 years... 

Abbey National only demutalised from being a Building Society to become a bank in the late 90's. 

On what basis did the branch staff raise a complaint on your parents behalf? That would have no idea as what has driven the enquiry. 

You said in your OP that information regarding their ISA's was required. Has there been activity on their accounts from a third party source? 

Kim_13

Lightning360 said:

redgem12 said:

Thanks for all of your comments, my parent have been to the branch and the branch agreed with my parents and the branch have made a complaint on their behalf.

They have provided everything they behave asked for tbh they bought there house 4 years ago so they had all the information from solicitors and all the information about the house.

Yes it was the Abbey National which was taken over by santander.... same account for over 50 years... 

I believe unusual payments made in bank account, such as payments from HMRC one off payments can trigger these type of things. If there is an expert on here I would like to know what the time scale is for sorting this out.

As its unacceptable putting people in poverty not able to touch their own money. goingg to the local MP has been thought of and we are going to contact the MP.

Banks can't win, can they? They get told to do more to prevent fraud, but then customers complain when they use measures to try to reduce fraud.

Yes, your parents may be innocent, but banks don't know that which is why checks are needed. It is also why it is a good idea for you to have a 2nd account at another bank with some money in it if needed.

In fairness, the complaint is likely to concern the way in which the phone operator told OPs parent that they should have spoke to them when they called. This is not good practice, as it would only be a matter of time until anyone taking such advice would one day be speaking to a scammer. OPs parent called Santander back using the number on the back of their card and their staff should be understanding of this and appreciate customers who take steps to protect themselves (as they then don't get complaints from people who have been scammed that they might ultimately be forced to pay out for.)

Any element to the complaint around what was being asked for will be closed off as the bank simply doing what the legislation/regulations require of them, unless they were excessive in what they asked for.

Fingerbobs

Hoenir said:

redgem12 said:

Yes it was the Abbey National which was taken over by santander.... same account for over 50 years... 

Abbey National only demutalised from being a Building Society to become a bank in the late 90's. 

Isn't this unnecessary pedantry? I've held a Halifax current account since they were a traditional building society, and I still consider it to be the same "bank" account.

35har1old

Kim_13 said:

Lightning360 said:

redgem12 said:

Thanks for all of your comments, my parent have been to the branch and the branch agreed with my parents and the branch have made a complaint on their behalf.

They have provided everything they behave asked for tbh they bought there house 4 years ago so they had all the information from solicitors and all the information about the house.

Yes it was the Abbey National which was taken over by santander.... same account for over 50 years... 

I believe unusual payments made in bank account, such as payments from HMRC one off payments can trigger these type of things. If there is an expert on here I would like to know what the time scale is for sorting this out.

As its unacceptable putting people in poverty not able to touch their own money. goingg to the local MP has been thought of and we are going to contact the MP.

Banks can't win, can they? They get told to do more to prevent fraud, but then customers complain when they use measures to try to reduce fraud.

Yes, your parents may be innocent, but banks don't know that which is why checks are needed. It is also why it is a good idea for you to have a 2nd account at another bank with some money in it if needed.

In fairness, the complaint is likely to concern the way in which the phone operator told OPs parent that they should have spoke to them when they called. This is not good practice, as it would only be a matter of time until anyone taking such advice would one day be speaking to a scammer. OPs parent called Santander back using the number on the back of their card and their staff should be understanding of this and appreciate customers who take steps to protect themselves (as they then don't get complaints from people who have been scammed that they might ultimately be forced to pay out for.)

Any element to the complaint around what was being asked for will be closed off as the bank simply doing what the legislation/regulations require of them, unless they were excessive in what they asked for.

Deeds request are usually only for Mortgage applications and not all people would have the deeds in there possession usally kept by solicitor 

35har1old

eskbanker said:

redgem12 said:

Bank has asked them  if they own their house and want a copy of the deeds and other things like copy of shares ICAs etc..

What can they do to stop the freeze on there bank account.

The most pragmatic thing would be to supply the documentation the bank is asking for - I can understand why they might consider that intrusive but am unconvinced that there's actually any meaningful alternative if they want to regain access to the account.

I think you need to edit

35har1old

noitsnotme said:

I know it’s a bit pedantic but haven’t Santander only been in the UK for 20 years since acquiring Abbey National in 2004?

They came into the UK in 1988
As Abbey National rebranded in 2003 to Abbey so Abbey National  was never acquired 
Abbey only changed its name 2010

eskbanker

35har1old said:

eskbanker said:

redgem12 said:

Bank has asked them  if they own their house and want a copy of the deeds and other things like copy of shares ICAs etc..

What can they do to stop the freeze on there bank account.

The most pragmatic thing would be to supply the documentation the bank is asking for - I can understand why they might consider that intrusive but am unconvinced that there's actually any meaningful alternative if they want to regain access to the account.

I think you need to edit

Are you planning to elaborate?