Santander free forever bank account changes

eskbanker

clairec666 said:

GeoffTF said:

neilsedaka said:

To be pedantic, as far as I am aware the term "free for life" was never mentioned in the Abbey/Alliance & Leicester/Santander promotional material. The term used was "free forever".

Yes, indeed. That is important to Santander's position. "Forever" clearly cannot be taken literally. Santander will not be in business for ever, and this planet will not last forever. Santander says that "forever" in this context meant that the accounts were free for as long as they lasted, and that they were closed in 2015.

Presumably it is nailed down somewhere in the T&Cs with no ambiguity, and whether "forever" ends when the original account holder dies, etc.

I don't believe that to be the case, but happy to be corrected - my understanding is that the references to 'free forever' were primarily in brochures and adverts rather than within the actual Ts & Cs of the accounts concerned, and hence discussion earlier in the thread as to whether it related to the specific account or to the wider customer relationship.  They're still bound by commitments given in whatever form though, but I don't think there was anything unambiguously defined in the way that you anticipate, so 'forever' would therefore be the usual sense of the word....

fest0r

I had been planning to move away from Santander since they stopped business account email notifications earlier in the year. They provide push notifications in their personal banking app, but zero notifications, of any type in their business app. With Santander threatening to leave the UK recently, it's clearly enshitification IMO.

It seemed Monzo were by far the best reviewed of the banks that offer free business accounts. By my customers and online. It took around 5 min to setup and verify a new account. I really like their app. Plenty of deposit/withdrawal notification and customisation options. I even get notified when a cheque clears. I also don't have to go through 3 additional security warning stages when making a payment which was recently introduced to the Santander app. Even for transfers to my own account and saved payees!

The real annoyance is changing invoicing and notifying customers etc. I've also moved a savings account away from them and will be closing the business account if they do go ahead with charging. Although I was going to move away anyway, I believe they have reneged on their promise and fully support those trying to keep their free accounts. Ignore the trolls and shareholders.

amyfairweather

neilsedaka said:

To be pedantic, as far as I am aware the term "free for life" was never mentioned in the Abbey/Alliance & Leicester/Santander promotional material. The term used was "free forever".

Santander must know what it meant; they carried on advertising these accounts until 2009 after having taken over Abbey/A&L.

Yet, just 3 years later in 2012, they tried to U-turn on that promise.

RichardStevensons

amyfairweather said:

Santander must know what it meant; they carried on advertising these accounts until 2009 after having taken over Abbey/A&L.

Yet, just 3 years later in 2012, they tried to U-turn on that promise.

We opened ours in Jan 2010.... just sayin' !

Am1471

I just don't know what to do.  It looks like we've got a week or so left to decide and I'm running out of time!  SHould I just wait until the day before and see what happens or jump ship from Santander to another bank?  SO confused?

eskbanker

Am1471 said:

I just don't know what to do.  It looks like we've got a week or so left to decide and I'm running out of time!  SHould I just wait until the day before and see what happens or jump ship from Santander to another bank?  SO confused?

Why a week or so, don't the proposed changes kick in in October?

neilsedaka

Am1471 - There is no such urgency. You need to complain to Santander, obtain your Santander complaint reference number, then request the complaint deadlock/final response letter, then escalate to the FOS. In the meantime there is no need to close your account yet because you have until October to decide what to do.

GeoffTF

A factor that does not seem to have been considered here is the time limit for making FOS complaints:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/expect/time-limits

That seems to rule out complaints about the closure of the "free forever" accounts in 2015. (I expect that the terms and conditions of the "free forever" accounts allowed the bank to close the accounts anyway, but that is besides the point.) The FOS seems to be restricted to ruling on whether the current terms and conditions allow monthly fees to be imposed. I believe that it is clear that they do.

Section62

GeoffTF said:

A factor that does not seem to have been considered here is the time limit for making FOS complaints:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/expect/time-limits

That would seem to rule out complaints about the closure of the "free forever" accounts in 2015. (I expect that the terms and conditions of the "free forever" accounts allowed the bank to close the accounts anyway, but that is besides the point.) The FOS seems to be restricted to ruling on whether the current terms and conditions allow fees to be imposed. I believe that it is clear that they do.

FOS time limits were discussed extensively earlier in the thread.  Using the forum search facility can save time and effort all round.

Free forever accounts weren't "closed" in 2015.  Suggesting that risks misleading other forum members.  The same accounts have been open for the duration, only the T&C's have been changed.

Some people have reported going to to FOS in 2015 only to be told that Santander hadn't removed free banking, therefore the complaint was premature.  This was the 'hypothetical situation' you mentioned in a post over the weekend, in relation to what FOS can and can't look into.  What was a hypothetical situation has now become a real one.  It will be interesting if FOS were now to claim that people should have complained in 2015 - I could see grounds for a judicial review if so, and particularly interesting given the current consultation about changing the FOS time limits.

The remit of FOS is to look at whether customers have been treated fairly.  That goes beyond what the "current terms and conditions allow", and could include (for example) whether the change in the T&C's was fair, and whether Santander were sufficiently candid about the 2015 change being an end to the "free forever" promise.

Presumably one of the Santander supporters will be able to find the communications from Santander to customers in 2015 which clearly explained that they could now charge for these accounts but would not be doing so for the time being.  Such communications must exist, surely?

amyfairweather

Also, on online accounts (via laptop/desktop browsers, at least), it shows the account opening date.  I suggest everyone screenshot there’s.  Mine still says the date it was opened, not 2015.