Blocked from my current account after following a link on MSE for easy access saver

boingy

wiseonesomeofthetime said:

boingy said:

wiseonesomeofthetime said

Remember, it is US they are protecting by doing this, or at least that is what we are lead to believe

Make no mistake, they are protecting themselves, not us. I understand the need to temporarily block some payments but they need to be slicker and more efficient at unblocking them for the vast majority of cases (i.e. the legitimate ones). It took me over an hour to get through to Co-op and another 20 minutes of running through their ridiculous script, the irony being that any fraudster would have answered exactly as I did. It should be enough to establish our ID then ask us simply, "Are you sure that you want to make this payment and that it's going to the place you intend?". 

One of the Co-op questions was "Are you feeling more stressed or pressured than normal?" and I thought "Of course I bloody am! Some faceless person in a call centre is messing with my money."
It's about as much use as airports asking someone if they are a terrorist.

I know! My comment was tongue-in-cheek

Ha ha!  Apologies. I'm quite sensitive to this particular piece of banking over-the-top-ness. 

UncleK

I got one hell of a grilling from Santander when buying a secondhand car. I felt like a right plonker sitting in the car dealer's office having to answer all the banker's (that's banker, Mrs Whitehouse) questions when all the dealer wanted was the money and all I wanted was the car. "Had I seen the car?" "was it one piece?", all that sort of malarkey - indeed all from a script and he tried to keep it civil and even though I felt I was being being treated like an idiot I had to bite down hard on my tongue as I really wanted ACCESS TO MY OWN MONEY! (Deep breath)

mikb

eskbanker said:

mikb said:

Imagine setting up the account, getting a digit trapsnosed in the account number...

I suppose if you're going to use 'the right letters, but not necessarily the right order', then that's the word to do it with!

Purely intentional. It was not a splelling error

GeoffTF

Bigwheels1111 said:

Reading on here Santander are not good.

I have found them to be good. The OP's experience is normal. Find out what they want. Do it. Ring them up. Tell them what you have done. The payment goes straight through.

searching4bestrates

Sorry to hear of your issues OPs. As other posters have already mentioned, the issue isn't so much following an MSE link to open a new savings account, but rather Santander's incredibly overzealous payment blocking algorithm.

My (short) experience with Santander was terrible and they were constantly blocking payments/my account requiring me to call them up, wait in a queue for typically at least 30 minutes (usually approaching 60 minutes) to then unblock the account and release the transaction. On one occasion, after waiting 60 minutes, the operator cut me off and I had to start the whole process again (I waited 15 minutes for them to ring me back - they didn't).

I've never experienced anything like it before or since with other banking institutions. I wouldn't touch Santander with a bargepole, personally.

My main issue is the awful customer service and wait times to unblock accounts/transactions (as opposed to the overzealous algorithm which I appreciate is to protect against scams).

Silverbullet036

I use Lloyds as my nominated current account for all my other accounts to and fro'ing , never had 1 single issue with blocked payments and several hundred thousands go through there each year. Also have accounts with Santander where I channel money through to the Lloyds account and also never had a single issue with blockages.

I feel very lucky when I read of the many problems people on here have regularly with both these banks

Swipe

How do you even call Santander? Do they give you a number to call if your transfer is blocked? I can't seem to find a phone number for them on their website.

eskbanker

Swipe said:

How do you even call Santander? Do they give you a number to call if your transfer is blocked? I can't seem to find a phone number for them on their website.

Our automated system

If our fraud detection systems notice something unusual, we may contact you using our automated system. This is the quickest way for us to get in touch with you. 

We may call, text, or email you.

Phone call

The call will ask for some security details so that we know we’ve reached the right person. 

• You'll be asked to confirm your name and then your date of birth.
• We'll then read out the transactions we want you to confirm.
• If you confirm you recognise the transactions, you can continue banking as normal. If any payments were declined, you may need to make them again.
• If you don't recognise one or more of the transactions, you can speak with one of our team who will help you further.

Remember, we'll never ask for details such as your card PIN, Online Banking passwords and One Time Passcodes (OTP). If you're asked to share these, hang up and call us anytime on 0330 9 123 123 or 0800 313 4321 (freephone).

https://www.santander.co.uk/personal/support/fraud-and-security/our-approach-to-fraud-prevention

dealyboy

Swipe said:

How do you even call Santander? Do they give you a number to call if your transfer is blocked? I can't seem to find a phone number for them on their website.

I usually receive a text to phone them on a given number ... after about an hour.

GeoffTF

Santander now seems to be hiding its phone number away on its website. The number on my debit card is 0800 9 123 123, which I expect is still the standard customer services number. If you are a Select customer, you will find the number for the Select team on your statements.