(17 July 2025 – United Kingdom) Santander customers have accused the bank of misrepresentation after it announced it would start charging for business accounts it had promised were “free for ever”.
Thousands of small business owners have been informed they face charges of £9.99 a month from October despite a written guarantee that they would never incur fees. The free accounts were withdrawn for new customers in 2011.
Santander took over the bank previously known as Abbey National in 2004 and, after the acquisitions of the building societies Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester, it rebranded everything as Santander in 2010.
It was forced to U-turn on proposed charges to its forever accounts in 2012 after customers threatened legal action. It claimed that it had been responding to customer demand for upgraded services.
A spokesperson said: “The business banking landscape has changed significantly over the last decade. As such, we are simplifying our business banking offering as the first step to ensure that we can sustainably and efficiently evolve to better meet the needs of our business customers in the future.”