Santander free forever bank account changes

Carpetbeetle999

Anyone finding it difficult to get through on the phone can send a written complaint to

COMPLAINTS 
SANTANDER CORPORATE & COMMERCIAL BANKING
SUNDERLAND 
SR43 4GZ. 

At least this way you have a paper trail of your complaint. I've sent mine by recorded delivery so Santander can't claim it wasn't received. There is also a template letter earlier in this thread which may be useful. 

Futuristic

In one of the media posts:

The "free forever" promise applied to accounts offered by Abbey and Alliance & Leicester before the 2008 merger with Santander.

[...] However, these accounts were shifted to the Business Everyday account in 2015, which did not include the "free forever"

So good luck to you all, you all probably agreed to the standard everyday account terms when they converted everyone by not complaining back then  

born_again

Carpetbeetle999 said:

Anyone finding it difficult to get through on the phone can send a written complaint to

COMPLAINTS 
SANTANDER CORPORATE & COMMERCIAL BANKING
SUNDERLAND 
SR43 4GZ. 

At least this way you have a paper trail of your complaint. I've sent mine by recorded delivery so Santander can't claim it wasn't received. There is also a template letter earlier in this thread which may be useful. 

You do realise that large business do not sign for items, they are bulk signed by the RM at delivery office. So unless they are scanned onto Santander system, they have no idea you sent it. 
Save3 your money & just get proof of posting. means just the same 👍

Section62

Futuristic said:

In one of the media posts:

The "free forever" promise applied to accounts offered by Abbey and Alliance & Leicester before the 2008 merger with Santander.

[...] However, these accounts were shifted to the Business Everyday account in 2015, which did not include the "free forever"

So good luck to you all, you all probably agreed to the standard everyday account terms when they converted everyone by not complaining back then  

BCOBS 2.2.1 requires that "A firm or other provider must take reasonable steps to ensure that a communication, financial promotion or payment service or electronic money promotion is fair, clear and not misleading."

If Santander made a change in 2015 which had the effect of removing the "free forever" promise, and did not communicate this clearly, fairly, and in a non-misleading manner then it may be Santander which needs your "good luck" wishes.

That the accounts continued to be provided free might be interpreted by FOS as an attempt to mislead these customers that the 'free forever' pledge remained operational.

So, in 2015 did Santander clearly communicate the changes were removing the 'free forever' promise?

eskbanker

Section62 said:

So, in 2015 did Santander clearly communicate the changes were removing the 'free forever' promise?

They weren't particularly explicit in proactive comms but the messaging was there for those who went looking:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5155212/santander-free-accounts-important-changes 

Section62

eskbanker said:

Section62 said:

So, in 2015 did Santander clearly communicate the changes were removing the 'free forever' promise?

They weren't particularly explicit in proactive comms but the messaging was there for those who went looking:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5155212/santander-free-accounts-important-changes 

So that would be a 'not really' then?

Futuristic

Section62 said:

eskbanker said:

Section62 said:

So, in 2015 did Santander clearly communicate the changes were removing the 'free forever' promise?

They weren't particularly explicit in proactive comms but the messaging was there for those who went looking:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5155212/santander-free-accounts-important-changes 

So that would be a 'not really' then?

Seems pretty clear to me, the account remains free but you are under their updated terms. Looks like many people in the post got the message and potential (future) risk of account no longer being free as some even raised complaints. 

And as for your previous message, the free forever "promotion" was done by companies merged/bought out by Santander and not Santander themselves. They simply "honoured" the existing account pricing once they took over those accounts. 

noitsnotme

That old thread ended rather abruptly.  There was talk about people raising complaints with FOS.  You’d think they would have come back and posted if the outcome had been positive.  Or are there other follow up threads we haven’t seen?

Section62

Futuristic said:

Section62 said:

eskbanker said:

Section62 said:

So, in 2015 did Santander clearly communicate the changes were removing the 'free forever' promise?

They weren't particularly explicit in proactive comms but the messaging was there for those who went looking:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5155212/santander-free-accounts-important-changes 

So that would be a 'not really' then?

Seems pretty clear to me, the account remains free but you are under their updated terms. Looks like many people in the post got the message and potential (future) risk of account no longer being free as some even raised complaints.

We must have been looking at a different thread.  I see people saying that Santander CS staff were going to some effort to avoid answering basic questions about how the change affects the 'free forever' promise.

"Fair, clear and not misleading".  It isn't a difficult concept for a large bank to understand.

Futuristic said:

And as for your previous message, the free forever "promotion" was done by companies merged/bought out by Santander and not Santander themselves. They simply "honoured" the existing account pricing once they took over those accounts. 

Yeah, that isn't going to work.

A read of this thread would have made you aware that our much loved Santander UK plc of today is the same legal entity as the much lamented Abbey National plc of 1988 to 2010.  If you doubt this you can look up the Companies House filing made on 11/01/2010 by which the name change was made official.  The same company - just a different name.

In any event, unless contrary arrangements are agreed, buying a company means buying the company's liabilities.  "Honoured" isn't something they did voluntarily.  The company had entered into contracts on the basis of clear promises made to customers.  The company can't unilaterally break those contracts solely on the basis of a name change - pretending a completely different business made the promises wouldn't stand up to the slightest scrutiny.

eskbanker

Section62 said:

eskbanker said:

Section62 said:

So, in 2015 did Santander clearly communicate the changes were removing the 'free forever' promise?

They weren't particularly explicit in proactive comms but the messaging was there for those who went looking:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5155212/santander-free-accounts-important-changes 

So that would be a 'not really' then?

Agreed - based on that thread, it would be hard to argue that they'd met the condition you've defined, although that's not necessarily how FOS or FCA (or a court) would measure it, so it seems to me that there'd still be plenty of scope for interpretation and debate rather than there being a particularly clear position one way or the other.