Santander free forever bank account changes

Smurrfmo

Has anybody had a charge applied to their account yet?  Nothing showing on mine.

Futuristic

I've received notification of charge showing the £9.99 for October. I don't see any reason to move for now as no issues and never been contacted in 10+ years and most spending done on CC but for my new business I've signed up elsewhere. 

dunnowot

Hello all,

I've followed this thread with interest but am now at a crossroads in trying to decide my way forward.  

As I have 3 other business accounts (none of which charge a fee for most of the things my business does), I'm trying to decide whether to complain to the FOS or just migrate my account and be done with this terrible bank!  For 9.99 Revolut provides an amazing service (including multi currency accounts and a decent app).  There is no way Santander's cr*ppy product can compare - they've never even had a decent app!

Having read the post by @Carpetbeetle999 (thank you for posting the FOS response), I can see how Santander is relying on regulatory changes (though the fact that other banks can provide a better service at no charge reflects on how poor Santander's management is).

Alternatively, I could just migrate the account and make the complaint at the same time out of spite so it does cost them money but I really wouldn't want to give them any of my hard earned money in fees.

Thanks in advance.

dunnowot

Smurrfmo said:

Has anybody had a charge applied to their account yet?  Nothing showing on mine.

Did you actually use the account?  Could the charge be triggered only on a transaction going through?  I've not used the account at all and my balance is less than £1 and I haven't received one either.

eskbanker

dunnowot said:

I'm trying to decide whether to complain to the FOS or just migrate my account and be done with this terrible bank!

[...]

Alternatively, I could just migrate the account and make the complaint at the same time out of spite so it does cost them money but I really wouldn't want to give them any of my hard earned money in fees.

Perhaps worth bearing in mind that (a) you have to go through Santander's internal complaints process before escalating that complaint to FOS, which introduces significant delay (up to 8 weeks within Santander and at least the same again at FOS), and (b) an individual complaint escalated to FOS doesn't necessarily cost Santander anything - they're one of the financial services groups who pay a single group-level fee, which is only subject to change if the variance from estimated case load exceeds 5%, i.e. they'll pay based on circa 6000 annual cases and the fee is only changed if outside 5700-6300.

It's not beyond the bounds of possibility that the introduction of fees will increase Santander's escalated FOS complaint volumes beyond that 5% tolerance, but it's not a certainty....

dunnowot

Thank you @eskbanker.  Aplogies I should have mentioned that I have complained to Santander and received a response that their position remains unchanged.  What I'm sure about is that their service is defintely *NOT* worth £9.99 per month.

Smurrfmo

dunnowot said:

Smurrfmo said:

Has anybody had a charge applied to their account yet?  Nothing showing on mine.

Did you actually use the account?  Could the charge be triggered only on a transaction going through?  I've not used the account at all and my balance is less than £1 and I haven't received one either.

Yes, it is in regular use.  Still no charge, which is frustrating as I'm keen to get going on legal action.

amyfairweather

I've now had the charges through from Santander for October fees, so will be raising a complaint for unauthorised transaction on Monday.

I've also been assigned a resident investigator, formerly known as junior investigator, at the FOS so just awaiting their cut and paste response before requesting an actual ombudsman to review the case.

ForumUser7

amyfairweather said:

I've now had the charges through from Santander for October fees, so will be raising a complaint for unauthorised transaction on Monday.

I've also been assigned a resident investigator, formerly known as junior investigator, at the FOS so just awaiting their cut and paste response before requesting an actual ombudsman to review the case.

I’m not sure an unauthorised transaction complaint would be the best next step

HumpFree

Smurrfmo said:

MeteredOut said:

Smurrfmo said:

Well I have always said the issue will be settled in court.  I had very little faith in the FOS protecting customers and that has proven to be the case.  I'm ready to litigate as soon as Santander breach the contractual promise by applying a monthly charge.

Have they stated when the first charges would hit accounts?

The charges were meant to start on 1st October so they're already late.  I expect it will be end of this month, early November, the sooner the better really so we can get this definitively resolved.

I’ve just received an email from Santander containing the following notice:

“You may need to take action
Please log on to your Mobile Banking app or Online Banking as soon as possible. You have an important new document to read.
It relates to your:
• Pre-notification of charges ending in xxxx.

The document is an account charge notification.

The details are:
Administration 02 Oct 25 – 01 Nov 25, charge £9.99
Advices of charge due on 02 Dec 25”

I’m unable to reply to them by email, as they’ve provided no email address. My only options are to contact them by phone or by post.

Since receiving the initial email regarding the account charge, I have not contacted either Santander or the Financial Ombudsman Service.