Santander free forever bank account changes

neilsedaka

The "50k accounts still covered by the promise" was only someone's guess. None of us know the reality.

solidpro

It's somewhere between 650 and 230,000 so that narrows it down.

solidpro

https://www.betterretailing.com/santander-breaks-promise/

It actually really really stinks that anyone asking for comment, from a customer to a news site, to an MP all get the exact same cut and paste response. It's like someone has decided the most insulting way to respond to anyone and everything is with a computer saying 'no'.

“The business banking landscape has changed significantly over the last decade. As such, we are simplifying our business banking offering as the first step to ensure that we can sustainably and efficiently evolve to better meet the needs of our business customers in the future.”

Nothing in this word salad explains to the world why they believe this is OK.

drphila

solidpro said:

https://www.betterretailing.com/santander-breaks-promise/

It actually really really stinks that anyone asking for comment, from a customer to a news site, to an MP all get the exact same cut and paste response. It's like someone has decided the most insulting way to respond to anyone and everything is with a computer saying 'no'.

“The business banking landscape has changed significantly over the last decade. As such, we are simplifying our business banking offering as the first step to ensure that we can sustainably and efficiently evolve to better meet the needs of our business customers in the future.”

Nothing in this word salad explains to the world why they believe this is OK.

But this does:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/jul/17/santander-business-accounts-free-owners

MellowJello

headsman said:

Section62 said:

As for the sums involved, I don't think someone running a small business would necessarily expect to stop at state pension age - particularly if they have employees and/or family members who help run the business.  There's no reason to think "forever" means 'until reaching age 65'.  However, the uncertainty about how long someone might continue to need their free business account could be a weakness in any 'small claims' for a specific amount.

The business is the relevant entity for this discussion, not the person owning / running it.  It has the legal status of an individual on its own and there's no retirement age for a business and the ownership can change.

Hi, I agree with you. No reason to assume that the 'free for life' promise should end at 65 years. That would be ageist. I was one of the first to take out the 'free for life' account with Abbey National, when it was first introduced over 20 years ago. I still have this account, am considerably older than 65 years and use the account for my various self employed earnings. If Santander start charging then I will have to leave, but I will also cancel the credit card and other accounts I hold with them. If the Government do not force Santander to make a sharp U turn and if any group 'small claims' is filed then I would want to be part of this. 'Free for life' means just that, no less. Also deceitful of Santander to hide the fact that they planned to change the account in 2015, so it no longer meant 'free for life'. The jury is out on that though.

noitsnotme

MellowJello said:

headsman said:

Section62 said:

As for the sums involved, I don't think someone running a small business would necessarily expect to stop at state pension age - particularly if they have employees and/or family members who help run the business.  There's no reason to think "forever" means 'until reaching age 65'.  However, the uncertainty about how long someone might continue to need their free business account could be a weakness in any 'small claims' for a specific amount.

The business is the relevant entity for this discussion, not the person owning / running it.  It has the legal status of an individual on its own and there's no retirement age for a business and the ownership can change.

if any group 'small claims' is filed then I would want to be part of this.

Any decent size group claim is likely to very quickly exceed the £10000 limit for the small claims track.  Over that and you're starting to get in the territory of higher legal costs and the risk of having to pay the costs of the other party if you lose.

singhini

MellowJello said:

headsman said:

Section62 said:

As for the sums involved, I don't think someone running a small business would necessarily expect to stop at state pension age - particularly if they have employees and/or family members who help run the business.  There's no reason to think "forever" means 'until reaching age 65'.  However, the uncertainty about how long someone might continue to need their free business account could be a weakness in any 'small claims' for a specific amount.

The business is the relevant entity for this discussion, not the person owning / running it.  It has the legal status of an individual on its own and there's no retirement age for a business and the ownership can change.

Hi, I agree with you. No reason to assume that the 'free for life' promise should end at 65 years. That would be ageist. I was one of the first to take out the 'free for life' account with Abbey National, when it was first introduced over 20 years ago. I still have this account, am considerably older than 65 years and use the account for my various self employed earnings. If Santander start charging then I will have to leave, but I will also cancel the credit card and other accounts I hold with them. If the Government do not force Santander to make a sharp U turn and if any group 'small claims' is filed then I would want to be part of this. 'Free for life' means just that, no less. Also deceitful of Santander to hide the fact that they planned to change the account in 2015, so it no longer meant 'free for life'. The jury is out on that though.

Bus pass comes to mind

subjecttocontract

noitsnotme said:

MellowJello said:

headsman said:

Section62 said:

As for the sums involved, I don't think someone running a small business would necessarily expect to stop at state pension age - particularly if they have employees and/or family members who help run the business.  There's no reason to think "forever" means 'until reaching age 65'.  However, the uncertainty about how long someone might continue to need their free business account could be a weakness in any 'small claims' for a specific amount.

The business is the relevant entity for this discussion, not the person owning / running it.  It has the legal status of an individual on its own and there's no retirement age for a business and the ownership can change.

if any group 'small claims' is filed then I would want to be part of this.

Any decent size group claim is likely to very quickly exceed the £10000 limit for the small claims track.  Over that and you're starting to get in the territory of higher legal costs and the risk of having to pay the costs of the other party if you lose.

My experience with a class action in the high court.......there was a requirement to take out insurance to cover us for potential costs awarded against us. In our case the insurance premium was based on barristers review of the evidence and opinion of the chance of winning the case.I

I should think that any group claim is going to involve the participants putting their hands in their pockets and taking a chance on success in the courts.

GeoffTF

subjecttocontract said:

noitsnotme said:

MellowJello said:

headsman said:

Section62 said:

As for the sums involved, I don't think someone running a small business would necessarily expect to stop at state pension age - particularly if they have employees and/or family members who help run the business.  There's no reason to think "forever" means 'until reaching age 65'.  However, the uncertainty about how long someone might continue to need their free business account could be a weakness in any 'small claims' for a specific amount.

The business is the relevant entity for this discussion, not the person owning / running it.  It has the legal status of an individual on its own and there's no retirement age for a business and the ownership can change.

if any group 'small claims' is filed then I would want to be part of this.

Any decent size group claim is likely to very quickly exceed the £10000 limit for the small claims track.  Over that and you're starting to get in the territory of higher legal costs and the risk of having to pay the costs of the other party if you lose.

My experience with a class action in the high court.......there was a requirement to take out insurance to cover us for potential costs awarded against us. In our case the insurance premium was based on barristers review of the evidence and opinion of the chance of winning the case.I

I should think that any group claim is going to involve the participants putting their hands in their pockets and taking a chance on success in the courts.

I would be surprised if Santander has not taken legal advice on this matter.

eskbanker

GeoffTF said:

I would be surprised if Santander has not taken legal advice on this matter.

You'd have expected them to have taken legal advice last time they tried too but they went ahead anyway and had to climb down, although in turn you'd expect them to have learned lessons from that and to be surer of their legal footing this time round....