Strange letter from Santander.

[Rachelle123]

I have some payments going in from a friend who lends me money, didn’t know wether to include this as there no loan agreement. And it’s not large amounts.


I transfer between myself and my daughters account now and then don’t know if i need to tell them that too.

[Amethyst]

Wow looking at the form, they want your inside leg measurement basically... I'm just redacting and I'll post up.

[Amethyst]

[Amethyst]

[Amethyst]

I have some payments going in from a friend who lends me money, didn’t know wether to include this as there no loan agreement. And it’s not large amounts.


I transfer between myself and my daughters account now and then don’t know if i need to tell them that too.

So are the transfers like a couple hundred or thousands ?

I'd guess if the friend who lends you money is transferring in a couple thousand and then you're sending back lower amounts regularly it might flag up a potential issue - money laundering/tax issue etc. But if it's the odd £100 I can't see why it would cause an issue. Do you have other monies going in, like pension, wages etc and 'normal' stuff going out - like mortgage, electric bills, council tax etc ?

[Rachelle123]

Hundreds not thousands

[Amethyst]

I think I would go into your local branch ( maybe make an appt with the bank manager - do they still exist? ) and sit down with them to fill the forms in. There's an awful lot of into needed and I'm not sure I'd be happy sending those documents in the post. You could gather everything up and take it in with you and you should be able then to find out what it's all about.

It's a hell of lot of work for you to have to do without any kind of explanation, and I certainly don't think "everyone" has received the same letter.

[Rachelle123]

Pension goes in.

I pay home insurance on the account, mortgage etc

[Amethyst]

Sounds completely normal. The only thing might be your friend lending you money but it's not huge amounts, and everyone has odd amounts going in and out of their accounts all the time without flagging stuff like this up. I hope, in a way, it is a anti money laundering check and not some dodgy way of collecting data for marketing retirement/investment type products... suspicious as I am.

I'd go into your branch if you possibly can xxx

[Rachelle123]

I’ve got someone from executive complaints calling back. They aren’t aware of what it is at the minute asked us to send copies of the letter over which I’ve done.

[Amethyst]

Brill, let us know what they say xxx

[Rachelle123]

Just got off the phone, he said it’s a letter hats sent to x amount of customers, to keep their records up to date. It can be to do with money laundering or anti crime but didn’t actually say if it was specific to us or to keep up with laws and regulations.

[Amethyst]

Threatening to restrict access to your account because THEY want to update their records is slightly out of order... the form does seem to be worded like a new customer ID application, and it does seem to be an awful lot of information they are asking for - although you do only have to complete the parts which are a current source of funds or income, so I'd just complete the minimum - I don't think there's any need to go into money from/to your daughter or friend - they'll just want to know where the main income going into your account comes from.

[Rachelle123]

That’s what I thought, he said on the phone it says we could doesn’t mean we would.

hes emailed me the following


This letter is a very small part of a wider mailing to our customers to ensure your details are up to date. You are not alone.

This is a standard letter to selected customers to ensure your details are up to date, which forms part of our legal obligations.

Return the form as you are doing and we will be able to update our records accordingly.

I will now diarise to email you on 16 August 2018.

You should have received a prepaid envelope with this letter with the address on. Please send to this address.

Kind Regards

[Amethyst]

Well, it seems you don't have much choice, you have registered your complaint - and hopefully 'next time' they'll word the letters so they aren't quite so worrying for people. Might be worth making a formal complaint about the threat to restrict access if you don't complete the form in 30 days without giving you full information and causing you all this stress.

I've just had a quick look at the FCA banking conduct of business rules as I thought there was something in there about retalitory closures of accounts but I can't find it now so may have imagined it.