Santander free forever bank account changes

Section62

Hoenir said:

Section62 said:

Hoenir said:

punto123 said:

Given, they tried last time and had to reserve, I have made a complaint, obviously they're likely to not change there mind at first, you can then get a deadlock letter and take them regulator, which I am sure cost them money, when you go to the regulator

This is a business not a consumer matter.  Contractually they can simply give notice and terminate the relationship. 

Though for Santander shareholders sake you'd hope someone would consider the optics of debanking small businesspeople as a way of weaselling out of a "free banking forever" promise (again).

Santander didn't make any promises though.  The promise died with the demise of Abbey National in the GFC and subsequent take over. All ex Abbey National business customers will have accounts operating under Santander contractual terms and conditions. A different legal entity. 

That's one way of looking at it I suppose.

But the word used in the headline and repeatedly in the body of this article (from 2012) is "Santander", not "Abbey National" -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19506634

I'm not sure "We didn't make the promise" would improve the debanking optics that much.

chevrons2

Every few years Santander try to renege on their "Free Banking Forever" contracts with thousands of business account holders, by moving them to a different type of account. On previous attempts, (2012 & 2015) MSE has got involved and the Financial Services Ombudsman ruled against Santander, saying that 'forever' means 'forever' and that they could not change that express term of the contract without the account-holder's permission.

Now they're trying again. 

Here's a link to when Helen Knapman of MSE investigated how it would affect 230,000 account holders in 2012: 
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2012/07/santander-to-charge-for-free-business-accounts/
and then when Santander gave up, after the backlash and the Ombudsman's decision against them:
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2012/09/santander-u-turn-saves-free-business-banking/

A few years later they changed the name of the account to "Business Everyday" and changed some of the conditions, dropping the "free forever" commitment. This newly named account still had no monthly fee but did add some fees for some services. Many people wrote to them at the time to remind Santander that they needed the account-holder's permission to change anything that removed their contractual committed to "free banking forever".

Now, 10 years later, they are trying it on again: They are sending letters to account holders, notifying them of an imminent (01/10/25) migration to a new account that charges £119.88 per year just for having the account, plus additional charges for deposits, withdrawals etc. They say that if you don't want to accept the changes, you can close your account.
They also say that if you do nothing, they will assume that you have accepted the changes.

Although the numbers of affected account holders are likely to be less than 230,000 this time, I hope MSE will get involved again, so that Santander are again forced to adhere to the FSO rulings.

noitsnotme

There’s already a thread about this - https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6617469/santander-free-forever-bank-account-changes

surreysaver

I think a lot of businesses try and cheat their customers. It all goes round in circles.

clairec666

Section62 said:

Hoenir said:

Section62 said:

Hoenir said:

punto123 said:

Given, they tried last time and had to reserve, I have made a complaint, obviously they're likely to not change there mind at first, you can then get a deadlock letter and take them regulator, which I am sure cost them money, when you go to the regulator

This is a business not a consumer matter.  Contractually they can simply give notice and terminate the relationship. 

Though for Santander shareholders sake you'd hope someone would consider the optics of debanking small businesspeople as a way of weaselling out of a "free banking forever" promise (again).

Santander didn't make any promises though.  The promise died with the demise of Abbey National in the GFC and subsequent take over. All ex Abbey National business customers will have accounts operating under Santander contractual terms and conditions. A different legal entity. 

That's one way of looking at it I suppose.

But the word used in the headline and repeatedly in the body of this article (from 2012) is "Santander", not "Abbey National" -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19506634

I'm not sure "We didn't make the promise" would improve the debanking optics that much.

I have no clue about the legal implications etc., but surely Santander should have considered this when they took over Abbey's customers, i.e. being stuck with terms they don't really want to stick to

singhini

i suspect alot of people cheat their employers.
Personally i cheat at cards and monopoly. 

Hoenir

singhini said:

i suspect alot of people cheat their employers.

In many many ways.........

boingy

It's a good few years since my free business account with Abbey National moved to Santander and it took them only a couple of months to start trying to force me onto a charged account. They even presented it as an upgrade! I closed the account and I've never forgiven them, although I did break my vow to never deal with them again in order to nab the free cash for a personal CASS switch (not with my real account obviously)... 

All banks are evil. ;p

Emmia

Is there anything stopping Santander just withdrawing banking facilities from the businesses still using the account? I feel this is the obvious move. 

Section62

Emmia said:

Is there anything stopping Santander just withdrawing banking facilities from the businesses still using the account? I feel this is the obvious move. 

As I mentioned upthread, the optics of debanking small businesspeople could be an issue at least.

For example, Santander need regulatory approval for their takeover of TSB, so doing something which makes themselves unpopular and in the news for the wrong reasons would, on the face of it, be a brave decision.

In fact Santander still highlight how they "successfully acquired and integrated Abbey in 2004" whilst talking about the TSB takeover, which seems at odds with simultaneously claiming these 'free' accounts from Abbey are somehow ancient history -

https://data.fca.org.uk/artefacts/NSM/RNS/5720524.html