Not upheld: account closure and fraud database recording complaint against Santander UK Plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr A complained that Santander unfairly closed his account and recorded adverse information on the SIRA fraud database. Santander closed the account after Mr A received two payments (£2,000 and £1,000) that were reported as fraudulent by the sending banks. Mr A claimed the first payment was part of a car purchase arrangement where he acted as an intermediary, but later changed his account to say the funds came from unknown third parties. The ombudsman found Santander acted fairly because the account terms permitted immediate closure for unauthorized holding of third-party funds, and Mr A's inconsistent explanations and use of the funds for personal purposes did not persuade the ombudsman to overturn the decision. The complaint was not upheld.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found Santander acted fairly in closing the account because the terms and conditions explicitly permitted immediate closure if the account was being used to hold someone else's money without agreement. The ombudsman was not persuaded by Mr A's explanations, noting inconsistencies between his initial account (knowing the sender) and later account (unknown third parties), and finding his explanation for why funds needed to pass through his account and why he then used them personally was not satisfactory. Given the fraudulent nature of the payments as reported by sending banks, the ombudsman upheld Santander's decision to record the closure on SIRA.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website