Trans woman’s bank account blocked because she ‘sounded like a man’
A transgender woman in the UK has said that her bank account was blocked “because she sounded like a man”.
Drew Dalziel Santander account was blocked off by a customer service representative who misgendered her upon hearing her voice.
Dalziel is currently in vocal training and had phoned up the bank to query a charge she had incurred on her account.
She said that when answering security questions, she was told that her account would be blocked for a week because “she sounded like a man”.
Dalziel said: “While I can see why this happened, it has been stressful.
“I haven’t had access to my money and have had to borrow to get by.
“I personally told the bank that I was transitioning and gave them my new deed poll papers, so they knew of my situation.
“I hope this doesn’t happen to other transgender customers.”
Since the incident, Dalziel has tried to lodge a complaint with Santander but came to no avail as she was told that gender is part of their security checks and the representative was just “following procedure”.
Dalziel had told Santander that she was starting her transition earlier this year in March.
She had provided deed poll papers and ensured that her gender was noted on her records.
She was told that to unblock her account she would need to provide photographic ID but it was being replaced.
This led to Dalziel relying on family financially. However, Santander has since unblocked her account following outrage.
Santander told The Telegraph that they had worked with contact centres to develop a process for offering support for trans customers but in this instance the process had failed.
A spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, the process was not followed and we caused distress and inconvenience.
“We have offered Miss Dalziel a gesture of goodwill and since being able to verify her identity correctly we have unblocked her account with immediate effect.”
