Barclays closed acc:no reason given

bigjat

I had a letter in addition my statements this month.

About your account (1 savings 1 current paid for @£3 per month)

"Unfortunately we now need to give you formal notice that,14 days from today's date -(date) your account with us will be closed and our contrct with you ended.

It is therefore important that you repay what you owe to us in full before the closure date and make alternative arrangements for your banking straightaway.......

Please also note that if we recive any request for a ststus report about you and your account, we will reply that we regret we are unable to to express an opinion."

The accounts were set up 4 months ago, the current account came with a £3 a month charge and £100 intrest free overdraft. I didn't want a savings acccount but for £1 was givven one anyway (by taking the £1 from my intrest free OD from the current account). Looking at my credit rating i was instantly offered a Barclaycard with a good amount of credit. (i have a mortgage paid by SO, bills are all paid by DD or SO and around 12k in overdraft and credit availibility).

I had around £90 a month on the Barclaycard, the balance being paid before the due date each month. The current account was -12 OD, due to just the account charges and nothing was paid into the savings account.

I tried online banking and phonebank after recieving the letter. Online told me my login was ok (using PIN Sentry) but then kicked me out on clicking login, spoke to an advisor on phonebank and was told they couldnt bring up my account and wait 24 hrs or go into a branch with 2 forms of ID.

Went into branch today and luckily met the lady who set up my accounts. She read the letter and said she couldnt understand why no reason was given. She rang a few people and was told that they could not (or would not) give a reason but Barclays had 'reviewed my accounts and i do not fit their critera'. I asked to pay the £10.31 i owed them and close my accounts and also take the barclaycard.

I was told to go to the counter, with my current account card and pay the OD (the OD that was there for the £3 per month Barclays charged me to have the account in the first place).

I was told i am fine to keep the Barclay card and use my credit limit. Upon going to the cashier and bringing the account to 0, the cashier said there was a note on the system basically saying if they got their hands on my connect card to destroy it. I didn't mind this as i had taken scissors to do this to my Barclaycard too (but was told they cant stop that account and i need to talk to Barclaycard direct).More than anything, it was the embarassment due to the rest of the people in the bank watching this (i live in a small village) that really got my goat.

To add insult to injury I will probably now have this strange entry on my credit report that says Barclays felt the need to close my accounts (but unable to express an opinion as to why), and i am in no position to add my personal comments to this.

(PS to pre-empt anything i read online about such cases)

1. I have no fraud record.
2. Have no ties to any countries that may come under anti-terrror legislation.
3. Have not mis-represented my identity in any way.
4. Have no issues with Customs and Excise.


Q1:can anyone tell me why this would happen?
Q2:Will this affect my credit record in any way?

Extant

bigjat wrote: »

Q1:can anyone tell me why this would happen?
Q2:Will this affect my credit record in any way?

Q1: Yes. You opened an account with a monthly fee, never used it, and allowed it to sit overdrawn for the period of no less than three months, by the sounds of it. That counts as a default, and that's likely why we closed.

Q2: Yes. We will report that we closed an account on you.

s1lvercloud

"BarclaysManagerQuote:
Originally Posted by bigjat
Q1:can anyone tell me why this would happen?
Q2:Will this affect my credit record in any way?

Q1: Yes. You opened an account with a monthly fee, never used it, and allowed it to sit overdrawn for the period of no less than three months, by the sounds of it. That counts as a default, and that's likely why we closed.

Q2: Yes. We will report that we closed an account on you."





Q1. Not using your account counts as default! How come?

Q2. Simply closing an account does not effect your credit record, surely!

BarclaysManager - are you real manager at Barclays?

exel1966

As you question the reply given, I'll question your post.

Silvercloud - Is your tale actually true as you seem to have missed out all the important facts.

WhySoHard_2

exel1966 wrote: »

you seem to have missed out all the important facts.

Such as?

Original poster: did you ever actually pay any money into your accounts?

sscott5581

Whilst I sympathise with you . . .

Could it be that because you did not credit the account with funds a requirement most banks have if you have an overdraft with them this is the reason why Barclays have closed your accounts?

However I disagree that the account would be marked as default as there was an arranged overdraft set up on the account and this arranged limit was not breached.

WhySoHard_2

sscott5581 wrote: »

Whilst I sympathise with you . . .

Could it be that because you did not credit the account with funds a requirement most banks have if you have an overdraft with them this is the reason why Barclays have closed your accounts?

However I disagree that the account would be marked as default as there was an arranged overdraft set up on the account and this arranged limit was not breached.

It seems odd they'd close it in such a dramatic way though. I'd have expected them to write to her and remind her to credit her account?

Extant

s1lvercloud wrote: »

Q1. Not using your account counts as default! How come?

Q2. Simply closing an account does not effect your credit record, surely!

BarclaysManager - are you real manager at Barclays?

Q1. The account was left with no credits to it, and allowed to go overdrawn. Whether it's from our account fees or not, it makes no difference - and the poster would have had to agree to said fees, anyway.

On top of that, we're a business - the process of opening a current account, issuing a card, cheque book, letter, etc. cost us about £6 the last time I checked. So, if this sort of scenario comes up, the customer has just wasted our money and our time, so we'd probably be more inclined to close.

Q2. Unless I'm very much mistaken, it will show on your credit score as being in arrears and then closed by bank. Which doesn't look good.

And yes, I am a manager for Barclays, although I suppose you have to take my word for it. Unless there's some bizarre way you'd like me to prove it, I suppose.

Gliggy

bigjat wrote: »

I had a letter in addition my statements this month.

About your account (1 savings 1 current paid for @£3 per month)

"Unfortunately we now need to give you formal notice that,14 days from today's date -(date) your account with us will be closed and our contrct with you ended.

It is therefore important that you repay what you owe to us in full before the closure date and make alternative arrangements for your banking straightaway.......

Please also note that if we recive any request for a ststus report about you and your account, we will reply that we regret we are unable to to express an opinion."

I got the exact same letters! One from Fraud operations in Birmingham saying they were going to close them in 7 days (this never happened) then one about a month later saying this time from head office in London but this time saying in 28 days. They closed 4 of the accounts, but have left one open strangely enough.. The woman I spoke to on the phone also said I didn't meet the 'criteria' and when I asked her what was meant by that she said that she didnt even know what the criteria was as its supposed to be a secret or something lolz/

~Scott~

bigjat

Thanks for the replies guys, just back from Turkey. To answers a few points. No i did not pay any money into the account but, as i was clearing my barclaycard each month i thought this would hold me in good stead. I realise now that that is a seperate entity even though all cards were issued at the same time.

I did not pay any money into the account, mostly due to running around setting up a new business, but surely charging me every month would make the bank money in the long run as the admin work, card issuing etc had already been done. As long as i was within my agreed overdraft limit the bank is still making its £3-a-month as that will have to be repaid at some point, and even more in charges had i gone over the limit.

I hope it will not affect my credit rating as the letter does state that if they are asked about the account they will 'decline to comment'.

Seems to me that Barclays offered a £100 interest free overdraft for just £3-per-month. I think it was a case of pulling the plug due to the bank not having cash reserves to honour that.

If there were another million account holders who paid nothing in and could potentially withdraw £100 intrest free thats £100 million that they would not get a penny for, hardly pocket change in the current climate, even for a bank.

I can understand the pressures and reasons why they may have closed the account but i just wish they had been a bit more honest, open and not so patronising when they shut the door on me. Had i been asked to do so i would have been more than happy to clear the overdraft and pay in a small amount by standing order each month.

PS I have to smile at the bit that said they could not offer me any other banking services in the future, guess Barclays don't need me or the interest from my business :T, now where to best open a business account.......

bigjat

BarclaysManager wrote: »

Q2: Yes. We will report that we closed an account on you.

The original letter says
"Please also note that if we recive any request for a ststus report about you and your account, we will reply that we regret we are unable to to express an opinion."