Santander free forever bank account changes

Smurrfmo

IanManc said:

Smurrfmo said:

IanManc said:

Smurrfmo said:

IanManc said:

Smurrfmo said:

Something I have mentioned before is the possibility of bringing an action for specific performance in the County Court, seeking an order to force Santander to honour the terms of the contract.  You'd need to prove that damages are not an adequate remedy which I think is possible as there is no real way of assessing those damages, eg £10 per month but for how long?  I am going to look into this as the FOS does not have this level of powers.  There is court authority that you can get an order in advance of the threatened contract breach.

Courts won't order specific performance in respect of contracts for services.

My research today says otherwise, it is not limited to property.

I didn't say it was "limited to property". It was an example.

My point is that free banking forever is a service, and specific performance isn't granted as a remedy for breach of a contract for services.

IanManc said:

Smurrfmo said:

IanManc said:

Smurrfmo said:

Something I have mentioned before is the possibility of bringing an action for specific performance in the County Court, seeking an order to force Santander to honour the terms of the contract.  You'd need to prove that damages are not an adequate remedy which I think is possible as there is no real way of assessing those damages, eg £10 per month but for how long?  I am going to look into this as the FOS does not have this level of powers.  There is court authority that you can get an order in advance of the threatened contract breach.

Courts won't order specific performance in respect of contracts for services.

My research today says otherwise, it is not limited to property.

specific performance isn't granted as a remedy for breach of a contract for services.

That is not correct as far as I have been able to ascertain.

A little while ago I posted in this very thread:

"I'm usually really wary about commenting on this sort of thing on the forum, because invariably someone who knows absolutely nothing about law immediately wades in and pontificates that I'm talking rubbish."

I wish I'd listened to my gut and not bothered posting. But I did. And that is more or less what has happened.

It took me 6 years to qualify and then I practised law for 35 years.

I know that you will not get an order of specific performance against Santander in relation to their promise of free banking for ever. There is absolutely zero possibility of it happening. Courts will not order it for services or where continuous monitoring of performance by the court would be needed. Specific performance is for one off, specific things, not ongoing service contracts.

I decided to try to help by saying so and by explaining why.

If someone prefers to do a bit of Googling, misunderstands my clear posting where I didn't say that specific performance was limited to property, and then point blank tells me I'm wrong then that is their privilege.

Despite my dislike of Santander and being wholly supportive of people who acted on a promise of free banking for ever only for Santander to break their promise, I now really don't care one way or the other. It doesn't affect me and I won't be reading this thread again.

IanManc said:

Smurrfmo said:

IanManc said:

Smurrfmo said:

IanManc said:

Smurrfmo said:

Something I have mentioned before is the possibility of bringing an action for specific performance in the County Court, seeking an order to force Santander to honour the terms of the contract.  You'd need to prove that damages are not an adequate remedy which I think is possible as there is no real way of assessing those damages, eg £10 per month but for how long?  I am going to look into this as the FOS does not have this level of powers.  There is court authority that you can get an order in advance of the threatened contract breach.

Courts won't order specific performance in respect of contracts for services.

My research today says otherwise, it is not limited to property.

I didn't say it was "limited to property". It was an example.

My point is that free banking forever is a service, and specific performance isn't granted as a remedy for breach of a contract for services.

IanManc said:

Smurrfmo said:

IanManc said:

Smurrfmo said:

Something I have mentioned before is the possibility of bringing an action for specific performance in the County Court, seeking an order to force Santander to honour the terms of the contract.  You'd need to prove that damages are not an adequate remedy which I think is possible as there is no real way of assessing those damages, eg £10 per month but for how long?  I am going to look into this as the FOS does not have this level of powers.  There is court authority that you can get an order in advance of the threatened contract breach.

Courts won't order specific performance in respect of contracts for services.

My research today says otherwise, it is not limited to property.

specific performance isn't granted as a remedy for breach of a contract for services.

That is not correct as far as I have been able to ascertain

It took me 6 years to qualify and then I practised law for 35 years.

If you had been following this thread you'd see that far from googling I also have decades of legal practice behind me.  But as you wont be reading this thread again I suppose we will have to live with the loss.

subjecttocontract

Well you can't both be wrong ?

Smurrfmo

As I know that Santander will be monitoring this thread diligently, if not actively participating, let me put another legal concept in the mix: anticipatory breach, which gives rise to a wealth of possibilities.  That is all I will say for now.

Futuristic

I assume these professionals with decades of experience will also present the current terms of their business account which allows them to make said changes to the courts? Or evidence of their complaint from the 2015 change of terms to your account?

Smurrfmo

Futuristic said:

I assume these professionals with decades of experience will also present the current terms of your business account which allows them to make said changes to the courts? Or evidence of your complaint from the 2015 change of terms to your account?

I will be happy to put the details of the free forever promise before the court, it helpfully speaks for itself.  No complaint was necessary in 2015 as the core term would always override any such attempt to amend.  In addition clause e14 does not even do what Stantander alleges but that is for another day.

solidpro

An anticipatory breach of contract is a situation where one party to a contract indicates, before the performance is due, that they will not be able to fulfill their contractual obligations. This can be done through actions or statements that clearly demonstrate an unwillingness or inability to perform. Upon an anticipatory breach, the non-breaching party has the option to accept the breach immediately and terminate the contract, or to wait and see if the breaching party will still perform, and then claim damages if they fail to do so. 

TheFergster

It’s going to cost me over £50 a month with the changes due to cash lodgement charges. I wouldn’t mind paying the £9.99 if that was the only fee but considering the extra charges, I’ll have no choice but to shop around. Unless I can figure out a way to lodge cash without having to pay. 

Smurrfmo

TheFergster said:

It’s going to cost me over £50 a month with the changes due to cash lodgement charges. I wouldn’t mind paying the £9.99 if that was the only fee but considering the extra charges, I’ll have no choice but to shop around. Unless I can figure out a way to lodge cash without having to pay. 

Definitely shop around for a backup but please also complain to Santander, get a reference number and complain to the FOS so that the pressure can be kept on Santander to do the right thing and honour their promise.  The more complaints there are the more likely Santander are to have a rethink.

MeteredOut

Smurrfmo said:

TheFergster said:

It’s going to cost me over £50 a month with the changes due to cash lodgement charges. I wouldn’t mind paying the £9.99 if that was the only fee but considering the extra charges, I’ll have no choice but to shop around. Unless I can figure out a way to lodge cash without having to pay. 

Definitely shop around for a backup but please also complain to Santander, get a reference number and complain to the FOS so that the pressure can be kept on Santander to do the right thing and honour their promise.  The more complaints there are the more likely Santander are to have a rethink.

I'm not sure any volume of complaints will force Santander to rethink. But, a volume of FOS claims will make it more likely they'd investigate.

hencloud1

Just made a complaint to the FO.

The main point is this... if they are now attempting to introduce fees to "free lifetime banking" then they sort to exploit customers. They also sort to gain customers away from other banks and they have had the beenfit of our banking for 20 odd years. Its not just the fees.

Please send in a complaint - they cannot be allowed to get away with what is essentially miss - selling.