Santander are making changes to their business current account fees from the 1st of October and this is something you probably want to take a close look at.
In addition to a monthly fee of £9.99 (regardless of which type of account you’ve previously enjoyed) a lot of other fees are also changing.
The biggest impact is that 1|2|3 Business Current Accounts, Business Everyday Current Accounts and Business Current Accounts will be retired and you’ll be migrated to a Business Current Account – Classic.
This may be a great time to reevaluate your banking arrangements. You may well decide that Santander still offer the best banking solution for your needs, or you may find an alternative with a different cost structure suits you better.
Santander Business Current Account – Classic
Once migrated to a Santander Business Current Account – Classic, these are the fees you can expect:
Monthly account fee
- £9.99
In some cases accounts were previously free, but you could have been paying as much as £40 for greater free benefits which will now be chargeable.
Cash deposit charges
For those used to paying in large amounts of cash, this one could be a bigger impact than the monthly fee.
- No charge up to £1,000 paid in at Santander cash machines in each monthly billing period
- Then £1.25 per £100 over the £1,000 limit
- For cash deposited at Santander and Post Office counters £1.25 per £100
Cash withdrawal
- Santander cash machines: Free
- Santander branch counters/Post Office counters: £1.25 per £100
Cheque deposits
- £0.70 per cheque
Overdraft fees will also change.
8 Responses
I’ve been looking at Monzo and Starling, but when you read the Trustpilot reviews and search for Business, of course, all the negatives come up!!
Anyone got any good suggestions for a small Limited Company.
No cash deposits, just free bacs and transfers!!
I’ve used Starling Business for years without any issues, aside from not being able to buy crypto. I also have a Santander Business account and a few Revolut business accounts, each for different purposes. Each one has its strengths depending on your needs, but overall, I think Revolut is hard to beat. If Santander starts charging fees, I’ll probably close that account, since the main benefit used to be having local branches, and most of those are gone now.
Great, thank you.
I’m surprised this is allowed. I originally had an account with Alliance & Leicester which promised something to the effect of “no monthly account fee for as long as you have this account.” When A & L was taken over by Santander they tried to alter the terms of the account to charge a monthly fee and they were taken to court. They were forced to grandfather the “no monthly account fees” accounts, but I always thought they would try again. Yep, yesterday I had the letter. Under the guise of “simplifying our product range” here come the fees. I wonder what has changed that allows Santander to do this. Am I the last person holding one of the grandfathered accounts?
Same here. I am still on the free account from the Alliance and Leicester days. I recently got a sales call where they tried to move me onto their corporate account, but their offer was not attractive at all so I refused. I have a feeling we might be able to keep these free accounts, because when I told them I was not interested, they seemed pretty surprised. If I can keep the free account, I will keep using it. If not, there is no reason to stay.
i still have one, and thry face the same fight and bad publicity as the last time they tried to pull this stunt
My account was grandfathered in from Abbey National, who marketed their business account as “Free Forever”. Part of the deal when Santander took them over was that they’d honour this commitment.
They tried to scrap it in 2012, and were told in no uncertain terms that a massive advertising campaign where the words “Free Forever” filled 50% of the front of each leaflet trumped any minor wording buried in terms & conditions. They were forced to back down. So now they are trying it again, based on a newer set of T&C’s which were issued subsequent to the original contract.
It’s notable that they are doing this at the same time as trumpeting their “successful” takeover of Abbey National in their attempts to get the regulator to pass their proposed takeover of TSB.
It also appears (based on the call I made to a call centre in Cwmbran) that their staff have been briefed to be blunt and uncaring. Santander appear willing to face down regulators this time around just to force out customers they perceive as “undesirable”, despite the fact that they already have healthy earnings from those customers through the wonders of fractional reserve banking and the difference between the interest they charge for loans & overdrafts and the frankly derisory amount they pay on savings accounts.
We need some “big guns” like Which and Money Saving Expert to generate some publicity on this shameful behaviour !
I hope everyone who comments here also takes the time to raise an official complaint with Santander.
And then, when they get the standard brushoff as I did (which serves as your deadlock letter) that they pursue their complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service.
That’s what I’ve now done. I estimate it took me less than half an hour all told. And I feel a lot better knowing that Santander will probably now face a £650 Ombudsman charge in relation to my complaint. Even though I’m a small term shareholder in Santander. But principles sometimes have to trump your personal finances.
If you now also complain, that’s another £650 charge each time. Which is over 5 years’ worth of the new fees they’re trying to impose per customer.
As others have said, they tried pretty much the same thing in 2012 and were forced to back down. They probably sense fewer legacy customers are left by now and are hoping they can get away with it.
Don’t let them!
Complain. In writing. To them and (assuming they don’t back down) the Ombudsman.
Only by hurting them in the pocket are we in with a chance of them backtrackign for a second time.
Sure, I could just transfer the account to an alternative free provider. But what’s to stop that new provider removing the free bit later on? And why should I have to anyway?
Power to the people!