Santander bank account closed with no notice

MrPaulus

Yesterday I noticed my online banking with Santander stopped working. Today I called them, and after a 30-minute wait I was told my account had been closed the day before and a cheque had been mailed out with the balance!

I was told it's within the T&Cs of the account to close it, but what I really object to is the lack of notice, which was zero. Fortunately it's not my main account any more, but I did have a few regular payments go in and out of it.

I've raised a complaint, and apparently they should respond within 3 days.

My question: is the lack of notice acceptable? Do you think my complaint will get me any compensation for the time it's going to take to readjust everything?

For those wondering, I have no idea why Santander might close my account other than the fact that I had a low balance, and I've been living outside the UK for a while. I did a KYC check a few months ago and I've always been 100% honest about where I live. I've had this account for about 20 years.

la531983

They can choose not to do business with you in the same way you can choose not to business with them, suspect a complaint will lead you nowhere

Woodstok2000

Is it acceptable? Yes, it'll be allowed in their terms. Not making any judgement on your case, but it wouldnt be much good if they had to give e.g. scammers notice of an account closure. Your question should be more directed at whether your case fits under those guidelines, but you will have a struggle to get that info.

I doubt any compensation will be forthcoming.

friolento

Santander have changed their T&Cs regarding account closures earlier this year: https://www.santander.co.uk/assets/s3fs-public/AD_documents/Notice_of_Variation_for_General_Terms_and_Conditions_and_important_information_COREMC1025OCT25PUBCD_1.3.pdf

molerat

IMO it should have been with 90-30 days notice. That notice would have been by snail mail so do they have a correct correspondence address for you ? The only FOS decision I could find was not upheld, notice would have been nice but they were allowed not to.

la531983

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82148483#Comment_82148483

The linked terms and conditions above does give examples where they can close the account immediately

mta999

I think I am right in saying that most banks don't allow you to bank with them if you live outside the UK

MrPaulus

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82148500#Comment_82148500

That's a valid point, but they've known for 1-2 years that I've been living mostly outside of the UK, so I don't know why they would suddenly decide to do something about it now.

If they had said "Sorry, you've living outside the UK and we want to close your account; here's 14 days notice" I wouldn't have minded so much. I get copies of any mail sent to my UK mailing address so it's very doubtful they tried to contact me by post.

Section62

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82148489#Comment_82148489

The change in the T&C's was necessary to protect consumers. Based on what the OP has said it would appear their situation would be a 30/90 day notice one - as per molerat's post - not an immediate closure without notice.

There's nothing in the OP's post to suggest the reason falls into one of the immediate closure categories, unless perhaps the unnamed country they are living in is one where sanctions (or similar) mean Santander simply cannot provide banking service full-stop.

molerat

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82148489#Comment_82148489

None of which IMO cover the immediate closure scenario. But as I said, the FOS seem to be flexible on the notice requirement.

HillStreetBlues

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82148511#Comment_82148511

I agree, I can't see why they should instantly close it.