Santander blocked my account with no explanation

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  • BooJewels
    BooJewels Posts: 2,849 Forumite
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    mcplums wrote: »
    Oh yes I 100% agree with you here. And I can't blame Santander really- they have no way of knowing I'm following the rules (that you referenced) and are just being prudent. However what I would like is for them to actually find out if I'm following the rules by asking me questions instead of just blocking my access.
    It sounds like there's certainly one Santander rule that you're not following. Page 6 of their T&C as a general term that applies to all current accounts:

    You must not use the account for business purposes.
  • jonnygee2
    jonnygee2 Posts: 2,086 Forumite
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    You must not use the account for business purposes.

    Investing personal money for profits is not necessarily a business activity.

    @OP Santander can keep your money frozen for as long as it needs to. There's no point in complaining, they have no duty to release it. Most of these incidents will take 3 - 6 weeks, but there's a (slim) chance it could be several months.

    I would take this as a lesson. The business you are engaged in is very risky. I don't know what you do in terms of AML checks but it is almost impossible for a single trader to be able to do these fully and properly. The risk of you inadvertently laundering someones money is high, and if it happens you will be in a lot of trouble. Also, sometimes people complain to banks that they didn't receive the bitcoin they were promised etc, causing accounts to be frozen (this may have happened to you?).
  • Thrugelmir
    Thrugelmir Posts: 89,546 Forumite
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    edited 6 November 2018 at 3:45PM
    jonnygee2 wrote: »
    Investing personal money for profits is not necessarily a business activity.

    Trading with customers isn't personal speculation. At these levels. "£800k of volume go through it in a 6 month period". Bound to be a thorough investigation.
  • jonnygee2
    jonnygee2 Posts: 2,086 Forumite
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    Trading with customers isn't personal speculation

    My understanding is that the OP is simply buying bitcoin with his own and then selling it on at a higher price to people he calls 'customers'? In which case they aren't really 'customers' and it is personal speculation.
  • Thrugelmir
    Thrugelmir Posts: 89,546 Forumite
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    jonnygee2 wrote: »
    My understanding is that the OP is simply buying bitcoin with his own and then selling it on at a higher price to people he calls 'customers'? In which case they aren't really 'customers' and it is personal speculation.

    Then you need to read the thread properly.

    As the OP has already said.
    I do KYC and AML for 100% of my customers.
  • jonnygee2
    jonnygee2 Posts: 2,086 Forumite
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    Well, if you had read the thread you'd realise I've already read that comment ;-)

    But just because the OP said the word 'customers' or is doing KYC / AML checks doesn't actually mean its a business. I think the OP is a bit confused but is actually just investing personal money in stuff.

    Also, this discussion is a bit off topic because if the investigation was just the terms and conditions of the account, they wouldn't have suspended access.
  • meer53
    meer53 Posts: 10,217 Forumite
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    mcplums wrote: »
    Nah I knew it would happen eventually, it happened to my colleagues as well. It's just with them their account was just shut down. That isn't what has happened to me.

    I just rang Santander to lodge a complaint about them taking their sweet time to resolve this, they basically said that I was not able to lodge a complaint in this instance but couldn't tell me why. Lovely!

    Which screams money laundering checks are being made.
  • jonnygee2
    jonnygee2 Posts: 2,086 Forumite
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    They were actually wrong about the complaint - he still has the right to make a complaint and they still have to deal with the complaint in the appropriate way.

    In fact, the OP could make a complaint about them rejecting his request to make a complaint and it it would almost certainly be successful if it went to FOS. But it wouldn't get him much other than maybe £50 compensation. It certainly wouldn't have any impact on the release of the funds.
  • mcplums
    mcplums Posts: 42 Forumite
    mgdavid wrote: »
    I think the bank will be looking for a more substantial source of information than just relying on what you might tell them. They will be doing background checks, audits and traces, all of which take time.


    While you are waiting could you answer post #26 please?

    Sure, and I guess the point is it isn't worth their time doing any of that when they can just shut me down. It's not like they're making much money from me, I don't have a credit card or overdraft or anything. I will reply to #26 now :)
  • mcplums
    mcplums Posts: 42 Forumite
    mgdavid wrote: »
    OP I may have missed something here, if I have could you please point it out?
    If, as you assert, virtual currencies will wipe out the banks, how will you continue to operate - as you seem to depend on a bank at the moment, hence this thread?

    Because as cryptocurrencies become more adopted over time I will depend on banks less and less.

    Similar to how in 1880 people were predicting that the internal combustion engine would wipe out the horse drawn carriage, but simultaneously need a horse drawn carriage to get from A to B.
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