Santander free forever bank account changes

cocacolakid

Just got the email. I'll be complaining too. Thought this was sorted 10 years ago.

ti4

jaybeetoo said:

Just move to Starling business banking.

But that is like backing down rather than fighting to maintain our rights.

ti4

mattgod69 said:

I got the same letter today.... initially thinking about Starling or Monzo..... i still have the Free Banking Forever letter, but it was Abbey National then.... do you think they can wriggle of out of it due to this?

I have my original welcome letter. Do you have the original terms and conditions which accompanied it? Maybe you would be happy to post it for others if you do?

ti4

L999 said:

Exactly the same as others - I've had my "FREE FOREVER - business banking account" for 20 years, received the letter, called and have logged a complaint (waiting to hear back).  I have all the supporting original brochures stating "Free Forever" - printed all over them. In my view it constituted part of the legal arrangement we all entered into and why we bought the service/product and opened accounts.  Regardless or not of take-overs, a bank takes on the customer base and the legal agreements in-place when the take over (in the case of Santander), legacy financial products are common across the financial industry - a bank can not just "bin-off" a product because "they don't like it" they will have to either continue the product and agreement they entered into, or compensate in someway.

My suggestion would be Log a complaint, ask for a complaint number ... 

Would you be kind enough to attach the 'Free forever' original brochure(s)?

MattyMatty

climpies said:

Just got a letter in the post that Santander are changing my business account to £9.99 a month. I've had it a very long time and remember Santander trying this move before only to be told they can't because the original sign up material pushed it as being free forever.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

Me too. We were promised Free Business Banking Forever. In 2012 they tried to charge £7.99 a month but were stopped because of the promise. I spoke to Santander today who basically said tough and said they'd changed their terms and conditions. I am hopping mad. We were promised Free Business Banking Forever. FOREVER. Like, FOR EVER AND EVER AND EVER AND EVER. They need to be stopped again urgently but how do we go about it?

MattyMatty

This is from 2012 when they tried to do it but were stopped: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19506634 How do we go about stopping them again?

MattyMatty

We were promised Free Business Banking Forever. In 2012 they tried to charge £7.99 a month but were stopped because of the promise. I spoke to Santander today who basically said tough and said they'd changed their terms and conditions. I am hopping mad. We were promised Free Business Banking Forever. FOREVER. Like, FOR EVER AND EVER AND EVER AND EVER. They need to be stopped again urgently but how do we go about it?

Just wasted a whole blooming morning of my life being angry about this...

L999

ti4 said:

L999 said:

Exactly the same as others - I've had my "FREE FOREVER - business banking account" for 20 years, received the letter, called and have logged a complaint (waiting to hear back).  I have all the supporting original brochures stating "Free Forever" - printed all over them. In my view it constituted part of the legal arrangement we all entered into and why we bought the service/product and opened accounts.  Regardless or not of take-overs, a bank takes on the customer base and the legal agreements in-place when the take over (in the case of Santander), legacy financial products are common across the financial industry - a bank can not just "bin-off" a product because "they don't like it" they will have to either continue the product and agreement they entered into, or compensate in someway.

My suggestion would be Log a complaint, ask for a complaint number ... 

Would you be kind enough to attach the 'Free forever' original brochure(s)?

I'll look to scan over the coming days and attach to this thread.

In the meantime I can't stress enough - logging official complaint's is "a must" (as other have mentioned the sheer volume of complaint numbers and the referrals to the FSA will likely result in another 2012 U-Turn), the FSA only get to know there is discontent / issues if the complaint procedure is followed.

So please log the complaint and see it through, so the FSA get's notification.

Carpetbeetle999

Me too. Like a lot of people on the forum I also have all the old paperwork stating Free business banking forever and I intend to make a formal complaint tomorrow. I expect to get an unfavourable response back from them but will then refer it to the FSA as a matter of course. Apparently it costs Santander around £500 for each referral so if 200,000 of us do it then it's going to make it an expensive exercise for them! 

singhini

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?