We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
Outrageous Santander closing account without notice or explanation
Options
Comments
-
Yes, I read your posts documenting your previous banking relationship with LBG and their decision to terminate your many accounts.Bridlington1 said:
You may remember that in March I received 3 letters from each of the LBG banks telling me that they will be closing all my accounts next week.Middle_of_the_Road said:Seems everyone thinks this kind of treatment is ok. A sad reflection of the times we now live in.
We're just expected to not take it personally, and accept this is the way banks can behave, dismissing years of patronage, with a pathetic standard letter, and that's the end of it.
Unfortunately, this is how things are, and this can happen to anyone, anytime. If it were to happen to you, I wonder if you'll be so understanding and not feel the slightest aggravation.
Although I agree it would be nice if the banks provided some sort of explanation as to why they are closing your accounts, a bank has a right to stop banking with you at any time as you have to stop banking with them. It does mention in the Ts&Cs that the bank can close your accounts subject to the appropriate period of notice. The bank has done this.
OP. Reading between the lines my suspicion in this case would be Santander suspected you were using your current account for business purposes resulting in them getting slightly rattled but it could be for any number of reasons.
There usually is a reason behind account closures, in my case I strongly suspect it was because I'd opened too many short-lived donor accounts with them in a short period then opened several savings accounts for the YouGov finance points.
Your best bet now would be to switch your current account elsewhere, preferably to somewhere offering a large switching incentive and ensure you have at least one other current account held with a different banking group.
I resisted making any comments at that time, as it was clear you were somewhat blindsided. Imagine then, how someone feels when the same occurs after a lifetime of banking in a responsible and respectful manner, exclusively with said bank.
I wasn't sure about how I felt regarding your situation. On the one hand I applauded your tenacity in extracting any possible benefit the banks made available. On the other, I felt you had acted disingenuously.
I can tell you now, I've seen the light. These banks deserve no respect or measure of fair play.
If they can dismiss a customer such as the OP (innocent until proven guilty) with a shabbily constructed letter, (clearly containing a glaring contradiction), then yes, I accept the banks should be taken for all we can get.
Regarding the OP using personal accounts. I see no offence in closing a business account if the said business is no longer trading, and depositing proceeds in their personal current account.
As has been said, banking is a business. We should have no illusions that they care about their customers. To that end, after finishing up here, I am going to switch my Santander account (which they recently paid me £200 to switch into) to Natwest. I was stupidly thinking I owed them a modicum of loyalty.
1 -
I think the implication is that the OP may have used a personal account for business purposes, which is a straightforward breach of ts and cs.Middle_of_the_Road said:
Yes, I read your posts documenting your previous banking relationship with LBG and their decision to terminate your many accounts.Bridlington1 said:
You may remember that in March I received 3 letters from each of the LBG banks telling me that they will be closing all my accounts next week.Middle_of_the_Road said:Seems everyone thinks this kind of treatment is ok. A sad reflection of the times we now live in.
We're just expected to not take it personally, and accept this is the way banks can behave, dismissing years of patronage, with a pathetic standard letter, and that's the end of it.
Unfortunately, this is how things are, and this can happen to anyone, anytime. If it were to happen to you, I wonder if you'll be so understanding and not feel the slightest aggravation.
Although I agree it would be nice if the banks provided some sort of explanation as to why they are closing your accounts, a bank has a right to stop banking with you at any time as you have to stop banking with them. It does mention in the Ts&Cs that the bank can close your accounts subject to the appropriate period of notice. The bank has done this.
OP. Reading between the lines my suspicion in this case would be Santander suspected you were using your current account for business purposes resulting in them getting slightly rattled but it could be for any number of reasons.
There usually is a reason behind account closures, in my case I strongly suspect it was because I'd opened too many short-lived donor accounts with them in a short period then opened several savings accounts for the YouGov finance points.
Your best bet now would be to switch your current account elsewhere, preferably to somewhere offering a large switching incentive and ensure you have at least one other current account held with a different banking group.
I resisted making any comments at that time, as it was clear you were somewhat blindsided. Imagine then, how someone feels when the same occurs after a lifetime of banking in a responsible and respectful manner, exclusively with said bank.
I wasn't sure about how I felt regarding your situation. On the one hand I applauded your tenacity in extracting any possible benefit the banks made available. On the other, I felt you had acted disingenuously.
I can tell you now, I've seen the light. These banks deserve no respect or measure of fair play.
If they can dismiss a customer such as the OP (innocent until proven guilty) with a shabbily constructed letter, (clearly containing a glaring contradiction), then yes, I accept the banks should be taken for all we can get.
Regarding the OP using personal accounts. I see no offence in closing a business account if the said business is no longer trading, and depositing proceeds in their personal current account.
As has been said, banking is a business. We should have no illusions that they care about their customers. To that end, after finishing up here, I am going to switch my Santander account (which they recently paid me £200 to switch into) to Natwest. I was stupidly thinking I owed them a modicum of loyalty.
5 -
There isn't a glaring contradiction that's clear to me, what are you thinking of?Middle_of_the_Road said:
...a shabbily constructed letter, (clearly containing a glaring contradiction)...
There's an argument that they could have said "unfortunately we can't won't offer you banking facilities anymore" and "we are not able willing to give you further information" though....
Why did you think that? You presumably didn't feel you owed any loyalty to the bank you previously switched away from?Middle_of_the_Road said:
after finishing up here, I am going to switch my Santander account (which they recently paid me £200 to switch into) to Natwest. I was stupidly thinking I owed them a modicum of loyalty.5 -
It's not a case of the treatment being OK.Middle_of_the_Road said:Seems everyone thinks this kind of treatment is ok. A sad reflection of the times we now live in.
We're just expected to not take it personally, and accept this is the way banks can behave, dismissing years of patronage, with a pathetic standard letter, and that's the end of it.
Unfortunately, this is how things are, and this can happen to anyone, anytime. If it were to happen to you, I wonder if you'll be so understanding and not feel the slightest aggravation.
We only have one side of a story.
We have no idea exactly what Op has done, or not done with their account.
At present there are credit balances, arising from sales of my business and property during recent years.
Could imply that account has been sat inactive for several years. Which to a bank is a big risk. Or that bank thinks that the account is being used for business use, or other purposes, they have concerns over.
As to not giving a reason, Do customers give a reason when they leave, especially when switching?
A bit like the woman unhappy that she did not get her £110K + back from banks on a love scam, which was in the media. It was only after her complaint was referred to FOS, that it came out she had been warned & told by the bank it was a scam. Yet she insisted the funds were sent, actually came out.Life in the slow lane5 -
Your post made me laugh.Middle_of_the_Road said:
I can tell you now, I've seen the light. These banks deserve no respect or measure of fair play.
If they can dismiss a customer such as the OP (innocent until proven guilty) with a shabbily constructed letter, (clearly containing a glaring contradiction), then yes, I accept the banks should be taken for all we can get.
None of us is likely to ever find out why the bank issued their letter but you have decided they deserve no respect and should be taken for all we can get, whilst you have somehow also decided that the OP is innocent, on the say so of the OP. Good job you are not a judge.7 -
"We regularly review our customers' accounts and need to let you know that unfortunately we can' offer you banking facilities anymore (sic).eskbanker said:
There isn't a glaring contradiction that's clear to me, what are you thinking of?Middle_of_the_Road said:
...a shabbily constructed letter, (clearly containing a glaring contradiction)...
There's an argument that they could have said "unfortunately we can't won't offer you banking facilities anymore" and "we are not able willing to give you further information" though....
Why did you think that? You presumably didn't feel you owed any loyalty to the bank you previously switched away from?Middle_of_the_Road said:
after finishing up here, I am going to switch my Santander account (which they recently paid me £200 to switch into) to Natwest. I was stupidly thinking I owed them a modicum of loyalty.
This makes no sense, unless this is some new kind of written English.
It's either
we can't offer you banking facilities anymore.
Or
we can offer you banking facilities no longer.
Regarding loyalty to banks. As I said, I was misguided.
I did feel the bank deserved a certain loyalty, as they also paid an incentive, so I retained and operate another account.
I thought it fair to continue a relationship with a bank who had paid an incentive, for a duration anyway.1 -
There will be a reason. As others have said, it could be a CIFAS marker, it could be the type of transactions on the account. It could be that Santander asked for further information about the transactions and weren't satisfied with the explanation (or did not receive an explanation). It could be something else.
What I do know is banks don't close accounts for the hell of it. They want to grow their customer base, not shrink it. But on the other hand Santander were fined over £100m last year for failing to control their money laundering risks - so you can't really blame them for taking a harsher stance.4 -
That's hardly a 'glaring contradiction'! In its context it's obviously a minor typo, or do you really believe that 'unfortunately we can offer you banking facilities anymore' makes any sense?Middle_of_the_Road said:
"We regularly review our customers' accounts and need to let you know that unfortunately we can' offer you banking facilities anymore (sic).
This makes no sense, unless this is some new kind of written English.
It's either
we can't offer you banking facilities anymore.
Or
we can offer you banking facilities no longer.7 -
You seem to assume the OP copied and pasted the text from a Santander letter. This may or may not have happened. They may have typed it.Middle_of_the_Road said:"We regularly review our customers' accounts and need to let you know that unfortunately we can' offer you banking facilities anymore (sic).
This makes no sense, unless this is some new kind of written English.
It's either
we can't offer you banking facilities anymore.
Or
we can offer you banking facilities no longer.
Just one of the many things we don't actually know.6 -
Middle_of_the_Road said:
"We regularly review our customers' accounts and need to let you know that unfortunately we can' offer you banking facilities anymore (sic).eskbanker said:
There isn't a glaring contradiction that's clear to me, what are you thinking of?Middle_of_the_Road said:
...a shabbily constructed letter, (clearly containing a glaring contradiction)...
There's an argument that they could have said "unfortunately we can't won't offer you banking facilities anymore" and "we are not able willing to give you further information" though....
Why did you think that? You presumably didn't feel you owed any loyalty to the bank you previously switched away from?Middle_of_the_Road said:
after finishing up here, I am going to switch my Santander account (which they recently paid me £200 to switch into) to Natwest. I was stupidly thinking I owed them a modicum of loyalty.
This makes no sense, unless this is some new kind of written English.
It's either
we can't offer you banking facilities anymore.
Or
we can offer you banking facilities no longer.
Regarding loyalty to banks. As I said, I was misguided.
I did feel the bank deserved a certain loyalty, as they also paid an incentive, so I retained and operate another account.
I thought it fair to continue a relationship with a bank who had paid an incentive, for a duration anyway.
I've no idea what the bank did or didn't do, nor what cause they had to do it.
I've a relative who lives abroad and still has a Santander account, who has recently had to complete two lengthy forms with a lot of personal and work details, and also had to send them documents by post, but so far hasn't had his banking facilities withdrawn.
They also sent me a strange letter demanding I call a specific number or they might have to withdraw my service. When I contacted them it turned out that they actually wanted to talk to my wife (we have an ancient joint account we don't use any more) They didn't have enough 'know your customer' information on her and she had to send ID. About two weeks after she sent the ID they contacted her to say they had located an old account with a few pounds in it, and after visiting a branch they gave her a cheque for the money. Although fairly laborious and drawn-out, I thought it was decent of them to track down a lost account.
However to put their behaviour in context...... Santander UK fined £108m over money laundering failings - BBC News
The financial watchdog said the bank "failed to properly oversee and manage" systems aimed at verifying information provided by business customers.
If any of us had been fined a painful proportion of our yearly income, I think we would take strong measures to prevent that happening again. These measures may well inconvenience some people, but the regulator is bound to be all over them like a rash, with them expected to demonstrate they have put their failings right.
It's very much, damned if they do........7
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 350.9K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.5K Spending & Discounts
- 243.9K Work, Benefits & Business
- 598.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.9K Life & Family
- 257.2K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards