Santander free forever bank account changes

noitsnotme

Section62 said:

noitsnotme said:

amyfairweather said:

noitsnotme said:

amyfairweather said:

MeteredOut said:

There were a few folk threatening small claims after their first charge hit their account. Has anyone kicked that off yet?

The first charge went out this week, I’ve raised a complaint about that and awaiting news.

This is probably going to be viewed as a vexatious complaint, particularly if you keep making them, as you were already told you would be charged.  They could deal with vexatious complaints by closing your accounts, but if you're moving banks anyway that probably doesn't bother you too much.  It might not go in your favour if you're thinking of taking legal action.

They’ve started charging before the initial complaint has been dealt with by FOS.  That is why a second complaint has been raised.

There was some discussion about that earlier in the thread.  I can’t be bothered to find it but I’m not sure they are obliged to suspend the charges while a FOS complaint is live?

Regardless, it would seem a bit harsh for Santander to close amyfairweather's account for making a 'vexatious complaint' about new charges whilst they patiently wait for FOS to do their job.

I feel Santander would struggle to justify setting the 'vexatious' bar so low.

I’m sure their legal department could work their magic.  They’ve performed a small miracle getting over the free for life promise after all.

amyfairweather

noitsnotme said:

amyfairweather said:

MeteredOut said:

There were a few folk threatening small claims after their first charge hit their account. Has anyone kicked that off yet?

The first charge went out this week, I’ve raised a complaint about that and awaiting news.

This is probably going to be viewed as a vexatious complaint, particularly if you keep making them, as you were already told you would be charged.  They could deal with vexatious complaints by closing your accounts, but if you're moving banks anyway that probably doesn't bother you too much.  It might not go in your favour if you're thinking of taking legal action.

Not that it matters, but the call handler agreed that the charges should not have commenced before the ombudsman had made a decision.  I mean that just seems like common sense, but apparently not.

In any case, it's gone to complaints to rule on.  I'm expecting them to throw out this complaint or say they will only refund in the event of the ombudsman ruling as such on the initial complaint.

Surely a better way of proceeding would be to advise customers of fees from November 1st, but suspend them until such a time as the Ombudsman had made their final decision?

As it is, they've now got more complaint(s) to deal with.

noitsnotme

amyfairweather said:

noitsnotme said:

amyfairweather said:

MeteredOut said:

There were a few folk threatening small claims after their first charge hit their account. Has anyone kicked that off yet?

The first charge went out this week, I’ve raised a complaint about that and awaiting news.

This is probably going to be viewed as a vexatious complaint, particularly if you keep making them, as you were already told you would be charged.  They could deal with vexatious complaints by closing your accounts, but if you're moving banks anyway that probably doesn't bother you too much.  It might not go in your favour if you're thinking of taking legal action.

Not that it matters, but the call handler agreed that the charges should not have commenced before the ombudsman had made a decision.  I mean that just seems like common sense, but apparently not.

In any case, it's gone to complaints to rule on.  I'm expecting them to throw out this complaint or say they will only refund in the event of the ombudsman ruling as such on the initial complaint.

Surely a better way of proceeding would be to advise customers of fees from November 1st, but suspend them until such a time as the Ombudsman had made their final decision?

As it is, they've now got more complaint(s) to deal with.

That’s understandable now you have given more detail.

LordDavos

Checked into my Santander account this morning to find a £9.99 charge on my business account. Duly hurdled over the AI chatbot to speak with a lady via chat.

I've not received any correspondence (email/letter/nothing in Statements and Documents), so this is news to me today. She mentioned twice that I can close my account if I wish, to which I replied: "You seem keen to have me close my account (mentioned twice)?". She came back with: "Yes If you are not happy with the new fees we can close if you prefer here for you.".

Have raised a complaint because there's no way I'm missing three lots of comms and have asked them to acknowledge a comms error on their part. I will be duly moving my account at the earliest opportunity, but it seems from her attitude that they really won't care anyway. I'm only a small business but have comfortably banked 7 figures with them during the last 13 years. Plenty of other banks out there I guess, which I'll be moving to once I've untangled myself from their clutches. Any recommendations?

Futuristic

LordDavos said:

Checked into my Santander account this morning to find a £9.99 charge on my business account. Duly hurdled over the AI chatbot to speak with a lady via chat.

I've not received any correspondence (email/letter/nothing in Statements and Documents), so this is news to me today. She mentioned twice that I can close my account if I wish, to which I replied: "You seem keen to have me close my account (mentioned twice)?". She came back with: "Yes If you are not happy with the new fees we can close if you prefer here for you.".

Have raised a complaint because there's no way I'm missing three lots of comms and have asked them to acknowledge a comms error on their part. I will be duly moving my account at the earliest opportunity, but it seems from her attitude that they really won't care anyway. I'm only a small business but have comfortably banked 7 figures with them during the last 13 years. Plenty of other banks out there I guess, which I'll be moving to once I've untangled myself from their clutches. Any recommendations?

The notifications about plan change does not show up in "Statements and Documents" but I have received several letters and emails regarding it. 

gunjin

Had a first determination from the FOS unsurprisingly in favour of Santander for the same reasons everyone else has. Have escalated to the Ombudman to consider for two reasons: 1) dereliction of the FOS's fundamental duty to protect banking clients from banks' arbitrary and unfair practices; 2) a cornerstone of their argument is that "the banking landscape has changed and costs have risen" but ultimately this is allowing Santander's operational inefficiency to be used as an excuse for reneging on a promise to clients as so many other banks still offer fee free banking; 3) I added an additional complaint about how long it has all taken both Santander (1.5 months) and then the FOS (3.5 months) to get to this point when fees became chargeable on 1st Oct.

Am not expecting a positive outcome but want to add my voice to the weight of complaints about Santander and the FOS. Suggest others do the same.   

Also, am finally taking my business to Monzo

nakie999

Banks have been phasing out the old free legacy business accounts for a while because the original terms no longer match their current pricing structure. If you challenged it years ago and they backed off, that was during a period when they still supported those plans.

This time they are moving everything onto the same paid model, so there is not much room to argue it. You can either accept the new fee or start comparing business accounts elsewhere to see if a switch saves you money.

eskbanker

gunjin said:

Had a first determination from the FOS unsurprisingly in favour of Santander for the same reasons everyone else has. Have escalated to the Ombudman to consider for two reasons: 1) dereliction of the FOS's fundamental duty to protect banking clients from banks' arbitrary and unfair practices; [...]

Where are you sourcing that from?  Their remit is to resolve disputes fairly and impartially, not to act as a consumer protection body as such, i.e. their role is more analogous to courts rather than the likes of MSE or Which.

phillw

gunjin said:
2) a cornerstone of their argument is that "the banking landscape has changed and costs have risen" but ultimately this is allowing Santander's operational inefficiency to be used as an excuse for reneging on a promise to clients as so many other banks still offer fee free banking; 

Maybe those other banks are happy with making a loss? Or at least subsidising their business banking, hoping to make the money up elsewhere.

The UK is pretty unique at even having free retail banking.

fest0r

phillw said:

gunjin said:
2) a cornerstone of their argument is that "the banking landscape has changed and costs have risen" but ultimately this is allowing Santander's operational inefficiency to be used as an excuse for reneging on a promise to clients as so many other banks still offer fee free banking; 

Maybe those other banks are happy with making a loss? Or at least subsidising their business banking, hoping to make the money up elsewhere.

The UK is pretty unique at even having free retail banking.

It's funny to see this rhetoric posted here repeatedly. It might work. I'm sure some people will be annoyed that others have a "free" account, that they can't get, and they are subsidising these freeloaders.

Can you provide any actual evidence that these accounts are not profitable for Santander? I don't mean not profitable enough, I mean actually making a loss. Any evidence will do.

You conveniently forget the core business of a bank, loans. It's why the vast majority of current accounts are free. They make money from deposits. They can offer various incentives and some even provide interest on these free accounts. The accounts that do require a monthly fee include all sorts of add-ons such as various types of insurance cover and extra interest etc.

Compare that to the free Santander business account where you couldn't even make deposits at the counter, let alone receive interest. Why do you feel this account was being subsidised, compared to all the other free accounts that are available? Maybe you should start getting annoyed at all these current account freeloaders.