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Santander blocked account- help!
109 replies
6.2K views
Mozart33
Forumite 7 posts
Hi there, looking for advice from people with similar experiences or knowledge. My husband took out a loan £30k for house related expenses. This was paid from M&S Bank to his Santander current account. We had agreed we’ll keep the money in my Barclays account. The day after he tried to transfer the sum and got stopped, he called them and they told him he needed to go to the branch with ID to do transfer there. Which he did today. The transfer did not go through and they told him the account’s been blocked due to ML suspicion. They scanned his passport, took his signature to verify with the one they have on file from when he opened the account. He also gave them the copy of the loan contract which they scanned. The Barclays account is in my name and I also have a Santander account and we have a joint mortgage with them- so they can easily see my details being the same, I mean clearly that he’s sending the money to my account not just random person’s. I am concerned because I’m going to be out of work in 2 weeks time so won’t have any income and we were meant to transfer all DDs to his account. Can we still do that? And what about DDs that are already set up on his account, or his wages- will all that be allowed in and out? Apparently they told him he can’t make transfers but can still go to the bank to take money out with ID and that he can use his card to pay. He did in fact go shopping and his card payment went through fine. Surely this isn’t too complicated to resolve with all the facts black on white? I’m just very concerned as I myself will be without income in 2 weeks time.
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Replies
Look at it from their point of view - a large sum of money goes into his account which is quickly transferred out (or attempted to be).
For the life of me I can't ser the logic in transferring it to your Barclays. An unneccessary step that has triggered AML enquiry?
at the very least you should (after it has all be resolved) complain to them and ask for substantial compensation
following that i would switch accounts although avoid lloyds they are even worse than santander when it comes to blocking payments
Surely people are entitled to move their cash to any account they wish in order to control management of their affairs?
In this case, one imagines that the transfer was out of the normal pattern so that some algorithm has been triggered to security check the transaction.
I am very surprised that the OP's husband was told
as I had thought that no such comment should ever be made to the customer?
I imagine that as the husband has all necessary documentation to support any "source of funds" enquiry, the account will not long be blocked.
If it is, I'd be inclined to make a formal complaint.
Yep, tipping off the customer is a big no with AML. As with most of these threads we only hear half the story, banks don't hinder their customers accounts for sh1ts and giggles.
Why not send it in the first place from M&S to Barclays?
You will have to wait until they are satisfied the monies are legit.
The source was a bank transfer.
Santander don't know that it was a loan.