Santander UK Reviews 

You can't trust a bank which promised free business banking for life and now wants to renege on that promise and charge £10 per month. Basically untrustworthy and dishonest.

Don't trust them at all, take your money elsewhere

I was a personal customer with Santander for around 14 years and had my business account with them for almost as long. A few years back they started targeting me for Know Your Customer checks, which I believe is because we buy a portion of our stock from China (like many companies). This latest time I received the email about it when about to board a flight for a holiday. I tried calling straight away but after 20 mins on hold I had to give up so as not to miss my flight. I messaged them on live chat and asked that they extend the deadline, explaining I didnt have access to a phone that could receive or make international calls nor a printer/scanner to provide the information they needed. They refused to extend the deadline or be in any way helpful. They would not correspond by any method other than letter (useless when I'm an 8 hour flight away) or calling my mobile (which doesnt receive international calls). They wouldnt even call me when I got the resort I was staying at to let them call their landline. Eventually I found a way to do a call to them via my laptop using a very low cost web app (a good job as a proper international call the length it required would have cost me £100s) and I found a way to get them the documents they wanted. I wasted hours and hours of my family holiday doing that while my family had to just sit around waiting and thought it was sorted. They then went ahead and froze my account anyway with no warning because I'd digitally signed the form instead of with pen. They carried on receiving my sales revenue just fine (no problem there!) but they stopped my supplier payments and direct debits going out and completely crippled my business. They did not care one bit. I was fortunate that I was in a position to personally fund my business to continue while I got a new bank account set up but a small business with owners in less good financial standing might not survive the same situation.

I would never use or recommend Santander again. They are completely callous and inflexible, they do not care one bit about your business. In the whole time I had my business account with them I had very little interaction, unlike my previous business with Lloyds where they provided me with a dedicated account manager and were frequently helpful. So even before this issue started they were never great and I'd had very little interaction with them in over a decade. I realize now that I got lucky in that respect, because they are far worse when you do need to actually interact with them.

charging for business accounts:
Complaint directly to Santander, standard letter stating I can leave after 20 years of loyal non interest paying banking.

Complaint now with financial ombudsmen await outcome; terrible customer service from a once great bank.

They completely exploited us by upping our mortgage rate when we fell into a brief period of financial difficulties despite having 60%+ in our home and then making us pay the higher rate for an additional year when we were back on track to 'prove we could afford it'. Now we've closed our 'Free Forever' business account because they were introducing charges, despite having to honour the original Abbey National terms when they bought them out. Absolutely awful bank and now closing my personal account as well.

I have just closed my Santander accounts because the Business Current Account will no longer be "Free Forever" from October. There are better alternatives (e.g. Coop), and I guess they were hoping that it would be too much bother for a business to move.
I give them two stars because the closure process by telephone was straightforward. The first closure, in July, took one day. The last closure this month (September) took 11 days to be completed, but they had warned me that they were exceptionally busy and it was taking up to 14 days.

Payment system danger. Tried to make a payment today, system requested code that had been sent to my phone. I input the code and it was rejected - online banking screen said payment NOT made. I tied to make the payment again and it made it instantly - none of the secondary screens appeared. I phoned up and was met with an AI system that was equally unfit for purpouse - I real battle to speak with a real person - their response went along the lines do I have screen shots? - I need to speak with the payee to get it sorted out. I challenge on their system not being fit for purpose - to no avail - time to look elsewhere

Like many others, I had chosen Santander many years ago because of their lifetime free business banking promise. They have now broken their promise and I will close all my accounts on principle. It is particularly astonishing given their U turn in September 2012 seeingly forced by regulators.

Sadly, being a foreign-owned bank, Santander clearly has a shaky grasp of the English language.

Having acquired Abbey's business banking customers who were offered a "free forever" account, they're now quite happy to change the original contractual terms unilaterally and without our implicit consent, charging a monthly fee from 01 10 25.

Well they'll not be getting a penny in fees from me. I've filed a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman and if that isn't resolved before the 01 10 25 deadline, I'll simply close the account.

As a Santander shareholder, I'll also be selling my holding as I refuse to stay invested in a company devoid of any morals.

Changing the rules on fire banking for life. Seems crazy as they've had access to 20 year's worth of banking from my company while not paying interest. To introduce charges now while there are a host of new operators offering alternatives for free - some whom pay interest - seems shortsighted. I've completed the CASS transfer process out and will take my business to a rival. Would have been nice if they'd responded to my letter before losing me as a customer.

Use another bank urgently as this one is collapsing. I have a business account with Santander. I need to pay contractors and suppliers as a matter of urgency each month. We have paid these members for decades but over the last 3 months, Santander have blocked every transaction and suspended my access to my account each time I try to transfer money, forcing me to call in so they can interrogate my transactions. They ask me questions about my UK suppliers and UK contractors that I simply have no answers for as I do own or run their businesses. I have never paid a bill late in my life but Santader have destroyed my business standing. I cannot run my business without access to my Santander business account so need to terminate this account and bank with my other business account with another provider (who I have never had any problems with). However, Santander wont let me transfer my money because they say that it might be a hacker trying to move the money.

My experience is supported on social media and review sites massively so before you even think about banking with Santander, check the reviews on line and on social media.

To some up what you should expect if you bank with Santander: 1) You cannot access your money. 2) You will be interrogated and then refused access to transfers. 3) It is down to the discretion of the agent on the phone as to whether you hit jack pot. The agent has you bent over a barrel and if you don't do exactly what they say, or question them, they will block your account and you will likely lose your money. 4) Each call takes around 1 hour. Often longer as they always need to call you back. 5) The agents on the phone ask horrid intrusive questions, most of which require unnatural understanding of a banking system. 6) I have experienced severe anxiety and as result of this as I can't even move the money to my other business account.

Can someone please help me.

Really bad, their offers are not really what they offer.

About 3 weeks now I have not had access to my business account. Imagine! I have direct debits bouncing left right and centre and I am having to cover this from savings.
Today I got a letter dated 08/08/25 -saying they blocked my account because they have been unable to reach me. They lied as I have no emails, letter or text messages from them. I have checked again, nothing!
In the letter they included a unique reference number that I am supposed to use to log onto a platform to input a 'full list of the details' they need before they can unblock my account. TELL YOU WHAT? The code does not work. I have a screen shot saying the code is invalid.
They are threatening to close my account, well, I am in the process of voting with my feet anyway. My only concern is when I will be able to access my funds.

Liars, cheats and a greedy money-grabbing institution that puts shareholders before small, struggling, businesses! The contract was 'Free Banking for Life' - I guess I should have asked 'whose life'? If I reneged on a contract I'd be paying dearly. So Santander, enjoy your reputation in the gutter!

Horrendous bank and customer service!! Leave you high and dry with no way to contact anyone that can help. As per some of the other reviews they have blocked a business bank account leaving us unable to make any payments to our suppliers and stopping us being able to order urgent disability equipment for our customers.

Some of this equipment is urgent specialist equipment that requires deposit payments to factories for them to start the build process, we can't do this and even after spending two full says sat with my head in my hands listening to the drone of Santanders hold music whilst being past from one department to the other, being told its not the correct department and the department I need to speak to wont accept direct calls from customers I am no further forward in getting any answer as to when we will have access to the business funds.

Truly disgusted and I have never experienced such lack of care to the situation. Its not as if we havent actively made contact. The requested forms were filled out and submitted 2 days before the deadline date with email proof of confirmation. Why they still restricted we have no idea!!! Stay well away this has made me physically sick and im sat writing this not knowing what to do next!!

Have left a small business unable to trade due to blocking the bank account. They claim they have tried many times to contact us re anti money laundering identity confirmation. We only received the letter that said they had blocked us. Colleague on phone was not on correct account and read wrong contact info. Told us we could not trade until forms filled in. Businesses already struggling and now this. To top it all they want to charge a non profit £4.99 a month for an account. Absolutely shameful.

My letter said free banking for life and interest guaranteed. I fully intend to take Santander to the Ombudsman. I have never agreed to any change and my account has stayed the same.

I am one of many who are raising a complaint against Santander for their broken promise of Free Banking For Ever. When I was finally able to contact a human at Santander they said I would receive a phone call from them to explain the situation and I would also receive a letter from them. It’s been some time now since these “promises” and the result?……NOTHING. Why am I I not surprised! Time to find another free banking service, there are plenty out there.

I opened a fee for life account in 2006 now they want to charge £9.99 a month I have told them this is fraud and deception and against trading standards last Thursday they promised to send me a letter why they believe this is not the case so i can to to the ombudsman still waiting. The original letter was dated the 2nd July rec 16th not sure if this is them or the post office. On hold to post office now.I called today 1st Aug they claim letter was posted on 24th July

Free business banking for life
As one of the many "free business banking for life" customers, the thought of paying for essentially the same service does not sit well. I thought this issue was resolved in 2012. I will be looking for another bank or at the very least keep my working capital down to an absolute minimum.