Santander free forever bank account changes

ilenedover

Emmia said:

Section62 said:

Lightning360 said:

Emmia said:

singhini said:

Out of curiosity, why don't Santander just notify their customers they intend to close all these types of accounts (similar to what TESCO did with their current accounts back in November 2021)?

Are Santander not allowed to do it? 

I've asked this already... There's nothing stopping them other than "optics". I personally think negative optics are likely to be short-lived on this issue.

I agree. The vast majority of people won't even know about this and of those that do, many won't care. It's funny how everyone complaining has completely failed to answer this question.

Answer which question?

The question as to whether Santander can remove free business banking.

Answer, yes they can. Either via notice or by declining to continue serving those businesses by closing the accounts.

Contracts and the terms in them are legally binding. That's what FSA and courts look at and it   Santander can break the contract unilaterally if it wants of course ... but there could be penalties.   Maybe Santander don't care and any penalties (if any) would not be as much as operating the small amount of 'free forever' accounts.   'free forever.    Maybe they dont now make enough money that is lodged in the free accounts to satisfy the lifestyles of the execs and shareholders.

amyfairweather

ilenedover said:

same letter received today ...  October 2025 new charges of 9.99 (for less facilities it seems)  yet the account was set up as 'free lifetime business account' ...   lifetime in my book is as long as Santander exists, the the account is free.     Is there a collective complaint/challenge to this being set up   (similar to previously they tried it ?

as an aside, there are other options elsewhere for free business banking it seems ... but are they free lifetime !

thank you

You need to firstly raise an official complaint with Santander (not just customer dissatisfaction).

There are templates/guides earlier in the thread.

That will almost certainly be refused, at which point you go to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

birtynantwich

I've had my complaint knocked back from Santander and now lodged my FOS complaint. 
I'm not actually trading at the moment, but I need to keep my business going (or at least dormant) for other reasons. Slow balance and no trading isn't going to make my company appealing to another bank and I don't want to be paying out £10 a month for essentially nothing!

amyfairweather

To those who said it's only £9.99 a month, it says on here - https://www.betterretailing.com/santander-breaks-promise/ - a store banking £14k per month will have to pay another £900 per year in charges.

Also confirmed there, each complaint to the FOS costs Santander £650.

boingy

amyfairweather said:

Also confirmed there, each complaint to the FOS costs Santander £650.

Only if you progress the complaint past the "triage" stage. In the first instance you'll probably get a response from an FOS underling saying that they don't think the complaint will be upheld and recommending that you don't proceed. So it's important to insist that it does proceed if you want it to reach a proper ombudsman.

singhini

boingy said:

amyfairweather said:

Also confirmed there, each complaint to the FOS costs Santander £650.

Only if you progress the complaint past the "triage" stage. In the first instance you'll probably get a response from an FOS underling saying that they don't think the complaint will be upheld and recommending that you don't proceed. So it's important to insist that it does proceed if you want it to reach a proper ombudsman.

Charging Santander (or any other institution) £650 is criminal!

Section62

singhini said:

boingy said:

amyfairweather said:

Also confirmed there, each complaint to the FOS costs Santander £650.

Only if you progress the complaint past the "triage" stage. In the first instance you'll probably get a response from an FOS underling saying that they don't think the complaint will be upheld and recommending that you don't proceed. So it's important to insist that it does proceed if you want it to reach a proper ombudsman.

Charging Santander (or any other institution) £650 is criminal!

As a shareholder I agree with the sentiment.

But as someone who thinks banks should treat people fairly, if the argument is that Santander need to charge £9.99 per month to cover their costs when they previously promised to provide the service for free 'forever', then it would be a tad hypocritical of Santander to have a moan about FOS charging (a maximum of) £650 to cover their costs.  Business is business.

And as said on this thread about the affected customers, if Santander don't like the FOS charges they could* take their business elsewhere.

(*Ok, a bit more involved than switching bank, but still theoretically possible)

flickadee001

GW19 said:

I'm inclined to just close the Santander Business Account and move to one of the on-line/app based options.

Anyone else feel the same? Cannot really see Santander caving in and rolling this decision back personally......hence my thinking to vote with my feet to another Bank. 

I am about to do the same.
I had 3 Santander bank accounts, including a Business Reserve Account, and an Everyday Personal Account.

I've already closed the Business Reserve Account, and the Everyday Personal Account, just because its made me look elsewhere, if Santander are prepared to do this.

Now all of a sudden my Business Bank Card has been removed from Apple Pay with no warning?
So I am now in the process of trying to get this back!!

It seems regardless of this, that Santander have really gone downhill!

But any suggestions for a simple Sole Trader Business Account, that I could move to? (with no charges)?

I have seen many on here mention Starling Bank? but wanted to get some thoughts and opinions from people here who are probably in the same boat for moving an account..

flickadee001

A quick Update -

I called to query their upcoming Business Account charges starting October 1st — charges which, according to them, are hidden in the small print. No warning. No clear communication. Just “we’re allowed to do this.”

I told them straight: many loyal customers (myself included) are furious with this decision, even after 20 years of using their Accounts.

I then closed two of my personal accounts — not the Business Account, which I left untouched for now, pending how this charge situation develops.

Fast forward a week or so…

My main Business Debit Card was randomly cancelled!!

No notice. Just suddenly removed from Apple Pay and unusable.

They admitted, it was an Error!

So now I’m left with no access to my business funds via card, while I wait for a new one to be reissued — with a new PIN, of course, because why not add more hassle?

Let’s talk about customer service too:

The agent I spoke with earlier sounded half-asleep and completely out of her depth. No urgency, no real help, and no follow-up — even after I requested a complaint form, which still hasn’t arrived.

 - Anyone know where the actual complaints process is on Santander’s site? Because clearly they’re not in any rush to tell me. And I'm now looking at leaving completely, if they are this bad..

Section62

flickadee001 said:

A quick Update -

I called to query their upcoming Business Account charges starting October 1st — charges which, according to them, are hidden in the small print. No warning. No clear communication. Just “we’re allowed to do this.”

I told them straight: many loyal customers (myself included) are furious with this decision, even after 20 years of using their Accounts.

I then closed two of my personal accounts — not the Business Account, which I left untouched for now, pending how this charge situation develops.

Fast forward a week or so…

My main Business Debit Card was randomly cancelled!!

No notice. Just suddenly removed from Apple Pay and unusable.

They admitted, it was an Error!

So now I’m left with no access to my business funds via card, while I wait for a new one to be reissued — with a new PIN, of course, because why not add more hassle?

Let’s talk about customer service too:

The agent I spoke with earlier sounded half-asleep and completely out of her depth. No urgency, no real help, and no follow-up — even after I requested a complaint form, which still hasn’t arrived.

 - Anyone know where the actual complaints process is on Santander’s site? Because clearly they’re not in any rush to tell me. And I'm now looking at leaving completely, if they are this bad..

Although it may turn out to be unrelated, your situation might be a good example of why it isn't the best approach to react to something like this by closing your accounts.  Unless they are charging, it costs banks money to operate customer accounts and that could be a net cost.  Closing little-used 'free' accounts often does the bank a favour.

Closing a personal current account also means you no longer have that account available to benefit from a switching incentive.

The best strategy for responding to Santander's proposals is to do nothing (for now) other than to complain.  There is ample time to open a new business account elsewhere before the Santander charges start.  If the complaint gets nowhere you still have time to switch, or at worst pay £10/month until you manage to switch.

In terms of complaining, it is often best to do that on the phone.  If the complaint is a simple one the complaint handler will often try to resolve it in the same call by offering a goodwill payment.

If the complaint is one the bank will almost certainly reject (like these new charges) then there's little point exchanging screeds of correspondence with the bank - the details are the work of FOS to figure out, so the quicker your complaint gets to FOS the better.  Again, if the complaint handler on the first call is able to reject the complaint then they will get the final response sent to you within a matter of days, and then you can start the process with FOS.  If you send your complaint in writing then you'll need to wait for someone at the bank to read it, and then reply.

It doesn't matter too much if the person at the bank taking the call doesn't seem to know what they are doing - all you need to do is to get them to reject your complaint, give you a complaint reference number, and agree to send you their final response letter.

In your case you might want to make a separate complaint about the debit card cancellation - that is a complaint they will likely uphold and offer you some kind of goodwill payment.