Santander UK Plc · DRN-6165505

The complaint Miss R is unhappy with Santander UK Plc. Miss R applied to switch to the Santander current account and collect the £180 switch incentive. Initially Miss R said she was informed that she qualified during a telephone call with Santander. Miss R said when she was then told it hadn’t gone through she had no opportunity to correct it or pursue an alternative switch. Miss R said she missed out because of this on taking up other switching offers. What happened Miss R said she was told during the call on 3 November 2025 the switch payment of £180 would be in her account by 5 November 2025. She said Santander accepted in its final response letter this was incorrect and it offered her £30 as compensation. Miss R doesn’t think the £30 reflects the seriousness of the situation. Santander apologised. It said it hadn’t provided the level of service it would have liked. It said initially it didn’t know what type of account Miss R held with the other bank “N.” Santander said N declined the switch as the type of account wasn’t valid to switch. Santander noted when it spoke to Miss R she confirmed it was a savings account rather than a current account she had been trying to switch. It confirmed the switch was only for a current account. It accepted Miss R had been incorrectly informed she would be getting the incentive when she spoke to the adviser during the 3 November telephone call. It confirmed the offer of £30 compensation for the incorrect information being given. Miss R didn’t accept this and brought her complaint to this service. Our investigator didn’t uphold the complaint. He said the switching criteria wasn’t met. He didn’t think it would be fair to ask Santander to pay £180 for the incorrect information being given on the call. The incorrect information had no impact on the outcome, the switch could never have completed as the wrong type of account had been put forward for the switch. Our investigator thought the £30 compensation offer was fair. In terms of a loss of opportunity to switch, our investigator said, there was no evidence provided to show Miss R had lost any other opportunity. Miss R remained unhappy and asked for her complaint to be passed to an ombudsman for a final decision. What I’ve decided – and why I’ve considered all the available evidence and arguments to decide what’s fair and

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reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint. There’s been a lot of detailed correspondence around the evidence for which I’m grateful. But this is an informal service so I’m not going to comment on everything included within this complaint. Instead, I’m going to stick to what I think are the central points that apply here. I can confirm all the evidence provided by both sides has been considered. I understand the issues Miss R has. As far as she’s concerned, she had done everything required for the switch and she rang Santander to confirm it. So, it was a disappointment to her when the switch was declined. I also understand her feeling that this means she missed out at the time of taking out other switch incentives that may have been available elsewhere. But I do accept Santander’s point that it wasn’t aware of the type of account with N that Miss R was trying to use to switch. It’s also clear that it wasn’t Santander that declined the switch it was N. So, it’s hard in such circumstances for this service to say Santander has acted unfairly or unreasonably over the switch being declined as this wasn’t an action it took. I’ve checked the details provided by Santander when it offered the switch and I see the opening line of its correspondence said: “Switching your account. We can switch your current account in just 7 working days.” Within the same documentation it also said: “Current Account Switch Guarantee. We have a simple, reliable, and stress-free way to switch your current account to a new or existing Santander account.” So, I do think Santander had made sure customers were aware of what type of account they could switch. This clearly shows Santander was looking only for current accounts and this is why N didn’t allow Miss R to switch over her savings account. The terms and conditions went on to state: “2. Can l switch my savings account? No, we can’t switch savings accounts or lSAs.” On this point I don’t think Santander has acted unfairly or unreasonably. I think it was clear from the outset what accounts could be switched. Regarding the loss of opportunity I do accept Miss R’s point. But the account in question would have to be a current account. And I do agree with our investigator there’s been no evidence provided to show what else Miss R missed out on. I think when Miss R told Santander during her second call that it was a savings account she had been trying to switch it was quick then to inform her that wasn’t possible. So, I do think Santander acted as soon as it knew the reason why the switch had been declined. In terms of a loss of opportunity Santander did make a further offer to Miss R. It said:

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“Miss R was offered the opportunity to switch over a current account to our new incentive offer of £200.00 that was on offer at the time, again customer would only be eligible if she met all the set criteria, however the customer was not interested and declined the offer on 12 November 2025.” It might be that the different terms of this switch offer didn’t suit Miss R. But it looks a slightly better offer than the original one Miss R wanted to go ahead with. And based on when she asked it why she hadn’t received the original offer (3 November), I think this was a timely attempt to rectify the situation for Miss R by Santander. I think that was a fair and reasonable attempt by Santander to make sure Miss R’s issue had been considered and a further option offered to her. Santander had already written to Miss R on 3 July 2025 confirming the switch had been rejected on that day. It also said N is likely to have also informed Miss R at the time that the switch didn’t complete. Miss R wanted to ensure that the compensation offered to her was reasonable. Based on the information I’ve seen and the calls I’ve listened to I do think the offer of £30 is fair. There’s no doubt incorrect information was provided on the call. But I think it’s a reasonable offer and I note Santander has confirmed the £30 offer is still available to Miss R. My final decision I don’t uphold this complaint. I make no further award against Santander UK Plc. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Miss R to accept or reject my decision before 21 April 2026. John Quinlan Ombudsman

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