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Santander free forever bank account changes
Comments
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solidpro said:This seems like the age old question of the letter of the law or the spirit of the law. My guess is that buried in some small print that nobody spotted, somewhere in a 2015 transfer of the product branding - not the actual accounts, there was some wording that tries to supercede their original, and repeated 'free forever' wording all the way up to the first time they did this in 2012, which they probably worked out a way where in 2015 they could do something that in another 10 years they could rely on in 'the letter of the law' in case against someone representing themselves and possibly unprepared.
Right now, nobody seems to know if what happened in 2015 inserts this weird wording they now appear to be relying on.
This however, as I think anyone who cares that much is not in the spirit of the law that it's the same bank, the same service, the same people and in many cases the same exact product as when agreeing the contract back in 2008 or whenever. I had the same account number, sort code, and so on as I have now, and forcing me to change all that so they can start charging me for £10 a month for the exact same (actually slightly worse) service is completely against the spirit of the law.
And their integrity. I'm a straight up businessperson and I stand by my word and my contract. When someone tries to renege on that, I do what a 1000 businesses have done with serial bankrupters and deal-breakers like Donald Trump and decided to never ever do business with them ever again.
Their original offer was only supposed to change if there had been a huge change in banking regulations or the law - neither of which have occured. God knows why they want to pick a fight with all these very very very loyal customers - even if they're not making much out of it, the amount of people carrying their brand via their business is worth a lot, especially when transferring bank account has never been easier and there are other banks offering (for the time being) free business banking.
They obviously don't need my business reserves, so if they want to rattle my cage, I'll take those sums elsewhere.
I run a business but don’t bank with Santander for that. I do have personal accounts with Santander but won’t be moving them. This decision of theirs doesn’t change my view of Santander. I’m pretty sure it won’t change the view of the majority of their personal customers either.3 -
noitsnotme said:
I run a business but don’t bank with Santander for that. I do have personal accounts with Santander but won’t be moving them. This decision of theirs doesn’t change my view of Santander. I’m pretty sure it won’t change the view of the majority of their personal customers either.0 -
solidpro said:noitsnotme said:
I run a business but don’t bank with Santander for that. I do have personal accounts with Santander but won’t be moving them. This decision of theirs doesn’t change my view of Santander. I’m pretty sure it won’t change the view of the majority of their personal customers either.6 -
noitsnotme said:solidpro said:noitsnotme said:
I run a business but don’t bank with Santander for that. I do have personal accounts with Santander but won’t be moving them. This decision of theirs doesn’t change my view of Santander. I’m pretty sure it won’t change the view of the majority of their personal customers either.You might have a point if it was only Santander customers that mattered. But the reality is the 'court of public opinion' (if not the ombudsman) will determine how this story pans out (if at all).As I said about a dozen pages ago..... 'optics'.1 -
Section62 said:noitsnotme said:solidpro said:noitsnotme said:
I run a business but don’t bank with Santander for that. I do have personal accounts with Santander but won’t be moving them. This decision of theirs doesn’t change my view of Santander. I’m pretty sure it won’t change the view of the majority of their personal customers either.You might have a point if it was only Santander customers that mattered. But the reality is the 'court of public opinion' (if not the ombudsman) will determine how this story pans out (if at all).As I said about a dozen pages ago..... 'optics'.4 -
Section62 said:noitsnotme said:solidpro said:noitsnotme said:
I run a business but don’t bank with Santander for that. I do have personal accounts with Santander but won’t be moving them. This decision of theirs doesn’t change my view of Santander. I’m pretty sure it won’t change the view of the majority of their personal customers either.You might have a point if it was only Santander customers that mattered. But the reality is the 'court of public opinion' (if not the ombudsman) will determine how this story pans out (if at all).As I said about a dozen pages ago..... 'optics'.
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Lightning360 said:Section62 said:noitsnotme said:solidpro said:noitsnotme said:
I run a business but don’t bank with Santander for that. I do have personal accounts with Santander but won’t be moving them. This decision of theirs doesn’t change my view of Santander. I’m pretty sure it won’t change the view of the majority of their personal customers either.You might have a point if it was only Santander customers that mattered. But the reality is the 'court of public opinion' (if not the ombudsman) will determine how this story pans out (if at all).As I said about a dozen pages ago..... 'optics'.Lightning360 said:It really isn't the end of the world anyway if businesses end up getting charged some extra money.0 -
Section62 said:Lightning360 said:Section62 said:noitsnotme said:solidpro said:noitsnotme said:
I run a business but don’t bank with Santander for that. I do have personal accounts with Santander but won’t be moving them. This decision of theirs doesn’t change my view of Santander. I’m pretty sure it won’t change the view of the majority of their personal customers either.You might have a point if it was only Santander customers that mattered. But the reality is the 'court of public opinion' (if not the ombudsman) will determine how this story pans out (if at all).As I said about a dozen pages ago..... 'optics'.Lightning360 said:It really isn't the end of the world anyway if businesses end up getting charged some extra money.
And if this fee is impacting a business that much, then something is clearly going very wrong for that business already.2 -
Smurrfmo said:clairec666 said:Everyone's speculating on whether Santander should be able to do this, and while we all agree that it's all morally wrong, we need someone with specific legal expertise to confirm that it's legally wrong.
It includes a proposal that "the FOS will be required to find that a firm’s conduct is fair and reasonable where it has complied with relevant FCA rules"
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6618175/review-of-the-financial-ombudsman-service1 -
https://www.santander.co.uk/assets/s3fs-public/AD_documents/business_banking_general_terms_conditions_anb90361jul23hcd_lr_3.pdf
The infamous section E14 relied on by Santander is in the above general business terms, starting on page 27. On page 29 is the condition that Santander are trying to rely on: the tight to convert one account type to another. But a right to convert a forever fee free current account to a fee paying account using this condition is a very big stretch. The Santander claim that the free forever promise was not carried over in 2015 is as shonky as relying on section E14. How they can claim this gets around the promise of free business banking forever when that promise did now allow a get out for just changing the terms or account type I am struggling to see. I have little doubt that the free forever promise is a core term that cannot be overridden in this way.1
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