Santander free forever bank account changes

sdd56

Update:

I've now spoken to FOS.

Apparently I need to provide evidence that I have made a complaint to Santander, for example a letter from them confirming that I have made a complaint.

The reference number and date of phone call is not sufficient evidence!

FOS said that I can ask them to complain to Santander on my behalf, but that would result in another 8 week wait.

Or I can contact Santander and ask them to provide me with evidence that I complained to them in July.

Fat chance of them providing that, I think.

I'm now fed up with wasting my time on this, don't think I can be bothered any more, which is probably what Santander were hoping.

amyfairweather

sdd56 said:

Update:

I've now spoken to FOS.

Apparently I need to provide evidence that I have made a complaint to Santander, for example a letter from them confirming that I have made a complaint.

The reference number and date of phone call is not sufficient evidence!

FOS said that I can ask them to complain to Santander on my behalf, but that would result in another 8 week wait.

Or I can contact Santander and ask them to provide me with evidence that I complained to them in July.

Fat chance of them providing that, I think.

I'm now fed up with wasting my time on this, don't think I can be bothered any more, which is probably what Santander were hoping.

Please don’t give up, that’s what they want.

Just go back to Santander and ask for their final decision on the matter.

While you’re at it, open a second complaint about the first not being resolved correctly.

It will be worth your while in the long run.

ForumUser7

sdd56 said:

I'm confused.

I made a formal complaint by phone to Santander in July, and was given a reference number.

After 8 weeks, with no response, I made a complaint to the FOS last week, using their online form. I explained clearly that I had complained to Santander, had no response within the 8 weeks, and provided FOS with the date and reference number.

I have now received a reply from the FOS, which although it gives me a case number, appears to suggest they will not be taking it further at this stage, as I need to first complain to Santander and give them time to respond (which I have already done).

"Thanks for getting in touch with the Financial Ombudsman Service. We’ve set up a case for you – the reference number is XXXXXXX. Please use this number whenever you contact us. 

Firstly, I’d like to take this opportunity to say I’m sorry to hear about the difficult time you’ve gone through regarding this complaint.

Before we can get involved, Santander needs a chance to give you an answer on your complaint.

We can only look into complaints where you've received a final response letter from the business you're complaining about, or where the business hasn't responded within our time limits. If you submit a complaint to us before this, we won't be able to get involved and it will take us a lot longer to progress your complaint.

What you'll need to do

You should complain directly to Santander, explaining what the problem is, and how you'd like them to put things right.

If you’ve already complained to Santander, in most cases they have up to eight weeks, to look into your complaint and issue their final response, depending on what you're complaining about. You should keep a record of when you complain to them, and any other correspondence or conversations.

In the meantime, you can find out more about how to complain on our website.

When you've heard back from the business – or eight weeks have passed from the date you first complained – if you remain unhappy, get back in touch using our online form or call us on 0800 023 4567 and we'll let you know how we can help.

If you decide to use our online form, please also quote the above reference number in the section of the form ‘Tell us about your complaint – what happened?’. This will help us find your complaint and prevent delays.

We won’t take the complaint any further at this stage."

Has anybody else had a similar response from FOS?

I would send them this:

Dear Financial Ombudsman Service,

Thanks for your email.

You mention "we can only look into complaints where you've received a final response letter from the business you're complaining about, or where the business hasn't responded within our time limits". The linked page states "for most other complaints, a business has 8 weeks to consider a complaint" and "if you haven't received a final response within the time limits, you can refer your complaint to us".

I wanted to highlight this, as Santander has had 8 weeks to respond from when I raised my complaint on [DATE] July 2025. They provided reference number [REFERENCE NUMBER].

Please may you now take my complaint further?

Thank you,

[YOUR NAME]

Hope this helps

ForumUser7

sdd56 said:

Update:

I've now spoken to FOS.

Apparently I need to provide evidence that I have made a complaint to Santander, for example a letter from them confirming that I have made a complaint.

The reference number and date of phone call is not sufficient evidence!

FOS said that I can ask them to complain to Santander on my behalf, but that would result in another 8 week wait.

Or I can contact Santander and ask them to provide me with evidence that I complained to them in July.

Fat chance of them providing that, I think.

I'm now fed up with wasting my time on this, don't think I can be bothered any more, which is probably what Santander were hoping.

Aw man, I hadn't realised there was another page to the thread - just ignore my previous post.

I echo what other posters were saying - don't give up with this. Personally in your situation I would contact Santander on live chat and ask them to confirm that you raised a complaint on that date (and then screenshot it) and then also ask them to send a letter.

Section62

sdd56 said:

Update:

I've now spoken to FOS.

Apparently I need to provide evidence that I have made a complaint to Santander, for example a letter from them confirming that I have made a complaint.

The reference number and date of phone call is not sufficient evidence!

FOS said that I can ask them to complain to Santander on my behalf, but that would result in another 8 week wait.

Or I can contact Santander and ask them to provide me with evidence that I complained to them in July.

Fat chance of them providing that, I think.

I'm now fed up with wasting my time on this, don't think I can be bothered any more, which is probably what Santander were hoping.

Make a complaint to FOS about their poor service.  Having a Santander complaint reference number should be all you need - the FOS investigator can contact Santander to confirm that the reference number relates to a valid complaint.  They don't need to complain to Santander on your behalf, nor do they need to wait 8 weeks for anything.

ely_ellis

sdd56 said:

Update:

I've now spoken to FOS.

Apparently I need to provide evidence that I have made a complaint to Santander, for example a letter from them confirming that I have made a complaint.

The reference number and date of phone call is not sufficient evidence!

Unfortunatly if you didn't specifically state to Santander that you wish to make it a complaint then it probably won't be registered as one.
Whilst on the chat with them, I specifically said 'I wish to escalate this matter to a complaint'. About a week later I received a letter stating they looking into the complaint and will let me know of the outcome. There was no time frame given but 8 weeks from the date of the letter will be mid October and I will have closed my account by then.
I will still take the complaint further though.

sdd56

Have now spoken to Santander again.

Apparently when I made my complaint in July and received a reference number, it was not logged as a complaint, merely that I was "unhappy". (I'm fairly sure I used the words "I want to make a formal complaint).

The adviser I spoke to today has escalated it to a complaint, given me a number, and has said it will be backdated to 24th July.

I should receive a letter within 7-10 days, at which point I should be able to go back to FOS.

Section62

sdd56 said:

Have now spoken to Santander again.

Apparently when I made my complaint in July and received a reference number, it was not logged as a complaint, merely that I was "unhappy". (I'm fairly sure I used the words "I want to make a formal complaint).

The adviser I spoke to today has escalated it to a complaint, given me a number, and has said it will be backdated to 24th July.

I should receive a letter within 7-10 days, at which point I should be able to go back to FOS.

Make that part of your complaint as well - the call may well have been recorded so the FOS investigator would be able to get a transcript of the call or the actual recording.

There was a fair bit of discussion earlier in the thread about Santander's use of 'dissatisfactions' instead of 'complaints', apparently as a means of not logging complaints and risking them going to FOS.  Summarising that discussion, the distinction doesn't appear to be one the law and FCA rules would recognise, although FOS may say that complaints about the bank's complaints process are outside their remit. (If so, a report of the circumstances to the FCA might be worthwhile, because it seems to be a loophole the FCA/government may need to stop)

sdd56

Another odd thing - when I spoke to FOS, he reviewed my online submission to the FOS. I had said 'no' to the question " Are you applying on behalf of of a business?". He asked if I was a sole trader (which I am), and then said I should have ticked the box.

If I am able to take my case further, I will need to supply them with details of the following:

The turnover of the sole trader for the last financial year.
The total assets as at the end of the last financial year. The number of employees.

Is this normal? I can't see why it is relevant to the complaint.

gt94sss2

sdd56 said:

Another odd thing - when I spoke to FOS, he reviewed my online submission to the FOS. I had said 'no' to the question " Are you applying on behalf of of a business?". He asked if I was a sole trader (which I am), and then said I should have ticked the box.

If I am able to take my case further, I will need to supply them with details of the following:

The turnover of the sole trader for the last financial year.
The total assets as at the end of the last financial year. The number of employees.

Is this normal? I can't see why it is relevant to the complaint.

The Financial Ombudsman Service is limited to which businesses it can help.

They have a dedicated dispute resolution service/site for SMEs at https://sme.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/ which includes https://sme.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/complain/can-help that outlines this.