Santander reneges on promise to offer free banking for life to business customers

[vetran]

lloyds charged £7 a month so its not bad.

However I suspect this is a response to being told that they can't hold onto money for 7 days 'while processing' which plus transaction charges to the vendor was what funded free accounts.

Now they have to clear the money immediately, vendors are using paypal etc they are now seeing their profits fall.

[FiveTimes]

I've not had any notification from alliance and leicester/santander about the charges. When I do I will look at moving the account.
I did the same with my mobile phone account with orange - they sent a letter about business tariff increase so I switch to a lower sim only deal paying £7.50/month for 12 months.

[Martin@AS Financial]

They have however just gone head to head with hsbc and also launched some new mortgage rates including a 2.99% 5 year fixed. Their underwriting criteria tends to be a little more leniant as well.

[SimonMac]

I wonder what this means to the Carter Allen accounts, aren't they part of Santander?

[Scoobos]

Nooooooooooooooooooooo..

I've loved my fee free banking

[Dearnla]

I wonder what this means to the Carter Allen accounts, aren't they part of Santander?

Whew! Thankfully I'm with Cater Allen then....

[FiveTimes]

just looked online at the terms for business banking with alliance and they say its still free

[BolshieBastard]

I wonder what this means to the Carter Allen accounts, aren't they part of Santander?

Yep, they sure are. All Santander accounts have been moved onto their Partenon platform so CA will likely be affected.

Doesnt affect me as Im on free banking via the FSB Co Op account (tulipe GUI I must admit). Even so, they havent claimed 'free for life' but even if they did, I wouldnt expect free business banking for 40 odd years.

[psychocandy]

Yep, they sure are. All Santander accounts have been moved onto their Partenon platform so CA will likely be affected.

Doesnt affect me as Im on free banking via the FSB Co Op account (tulipe GUI I must admit). Even so, they havent claimed 'free for life' but even if they did, I wouldnt expect free business banking for 40 odd years.

Bugger. Might be finding a new one here then since I'm with CA.

Must admit didnt realise they were Santander at first. Until that is one of credits mysteriously disappeared without trace and then it became obvious that Santander uselessness was at work here.

Any free business accounts these days? Or at least paid for ones where you get something for your money?

[kingcook]

I think some amount paid just to maintain your bank account (even if no transactions take place) is reasonable, if £7.50 a month paid for business banking is a deal breaker then you don't have a business in the first place.

Banks need to earn money too and I much prefer them charge for services they provide rather than stinging same business with massive overdraft penalties or selling them tulip products like derivatives.

£7.50/mth deal breaker? Maybe, maybe not.

All depends what they are using my company's money for. If, for example, they were lending out my thousands of £££ to other people/businesses and earning £x/mth AND charging me for their privileges, then can take a running jump.