Santander free forever bank account changes

Am1471

We are getting closer to the deadline now.  I have gone through all the hoops, written letters to Santander, had their final response, written to the FOS to complain and am awaiting their answer.  Am I likely to get an answer back from the FOS before1st October or should I get myself a Monza business account as a back up?  And what do I do re my Santander account?  Do I just need to keep it open and pay the fees and HOPE that the FOS's decision is in my favour and I will be refunded the £10 per month fees or should just bite the bullet and cancel my Santander business account?  What is everyone else doing in a similar situation please?

Futuristic

Am1471 said:

We are getting closer to the deadline now.  I have gone through all the hoops, written letters to Santander, had their final response, written to the FOS to complain and am awaiting their answer.  Am I likely to get an answer back from the FOS before1st October or should I get myself a Monza business account as a back up?  And what do I do re my Santander account?  Do I just need to keep it open and pay the fees and HOPE that the FOS's decision is in my favour and I will be refunded the £10 per month fees or should just bite the bullet and cancel my Santander business account?  What is everyone else doing in a similar situation please?

It can take several months for FOS cases to resolve.

if you believe the decision will be reversed you carry on using your account as normal.

if you believe it won’t then prepare yourself by signing up elsewhere and manually moving over direct debits etc. but keep Santander account open until your case concludes as there could be some good will/compensation.

Worth noting you can CASS switch any time in the future so can use switch at your new bank after case closes so if you still for example get payment to Santander account it’ll get redirected to new.

neilsedaka

Am1471 said:

We are getting closer to the deadline now.  I have gone through all the hoops, written letters to Santander, had their final response, written to the FOS to complain and am awaiting their answer.  Am I likely to get an answer back from the FOS before1st October or should I get myself a Monza business account as a back up?  And what do I do re my Santander account?  Do I just need to keep it open and pay the fees and HOPE that the FOS's decision is in my favour and I will be refunded the £10 per month fees or should just bite the bullet and cancel my Santander business account?  What is everyone else doing in a similar situation please?

I have opened two HSBC small business current accounts; because HSBC accept partnerships and Monzo and Mettle do not, and Starling is phone app only. As I don't want to pay any Santander fees whatsover I intend to close the two business accounts there before 1st October. If the FOS decide in our favour at some point I will expect some recompense from Santander for forcing me into this action.

MeteredOut

I'm sure it is somewhere in the thread, but I can't find it.

Is the proposed change this year the introduction of a new charge, or is it the changing of the charge to £10/month. I ask as I saw reference to the 2015 T&Cs changes implicitly changing the account from "free" to £0/month.

If that is the case, then I think the fight will have to be against the 2015 T&C changes, as I doubt changing monthly fee from £0 to £10 will be against those T&Cs.

Has anyone submitted a retrospective complaint against those 2015 T&C changes?

sdd56

MeteredOut said:

I'm sure it is somewhere in the thread, but I can't find it.

Is the proposed change this year the introduction of a new charge, or is it the changing of the charge to £10/month. I ask as I saw reference to the 2015 T&Cs changes implicitly changing the account from "free" to £0/month.

If that is the case, then I think the fight will have to be against the 2015 T&C changes, as I doubt changing monthly fee from £0 to £10 will be against those T&Cs.

Has anyone submitted a retrospective complaint against those 2015 T&C changes?

In my opinion, free forever means exactly that. They can't change it just by some sly word changes in subsequent T&C's.

amyfairweather

I’m doing nothing until the FOS gives their verdict - but understand why some are unable to wait.

Carpetbeetle999

I've had another response back from the FOS this morning stating that they are reviewing all the information that Satander have sent them and will update me as soon as they can. They state that they are aware that the charges are due to start next week but are unable to advise me what to do.
I'm in it for the long run regardless. 

Am1471

Thanks everyone!

ely_ellis

Am1471 said:

We are getting closer to the deadline now. ....... or should I get myself a Monza business account as a back up?  

I just applied for a Mettle account. 
Apparently they are surprisingly bussy at the moment.... I wonder why?

flickadee001

OK so the final date is almost here, and while I've not read every single thread here, it does look like they aren't backing down and Santander will charge from Oct 1st.

I haven't heard anything to the contrary?

So I now have a Monzo Business Account, which was surprisingly easy, and migrated everything over.

Looks like I'm off, and closing my Santander Bus Account, after 22 years.
I guess a lot of others here will follow suit.