Can you just walk in and close an account?

Cat695

Can you just walk into any branch and close your account?? (branch of your bank)

can they refuse?

I have plenty of funds in it....no bills to pay....I just want all my money out as quickly as possible(have opened a new account elsewhere).

Dave_®f©

Of course you can. Maybe best to take ID if it's not your actual branch that the account is held at. Why do you think you couldn't close an account you no longer want?

Cat695

Dave_®f© wrote: »

Of course you can. Maybe best to take ID if it's not your actual branch that the account is held at. Why do you think you couldn't close an account you no longer want?

I just thought they would make it as hard as possible

Dave_®f©

Don't worry Cat.....I've never had a problem or been pressurised when closing any accounts. You'll be fine.

Kavanne

They may ask for your debit card, cheque book and paying in book before they will let you close.

sofa_surfer

Ring them to book an appointment - so they can't just say 'you need to have one to see an advisor' And as Kavanne says - take with you anything given (cards , chequebooks etc).
One last note - if you've banked with them for a significant amount of time, you might want to withdraw the funds and keep this account open, so you can use it on financial applications (creditors like to see stability).

oldagetraveller

They'll possibly leave the account active for a few days in case there are any transactions in the pipeline, cheques etc. Although you say there's funds and no bills to pay, they don't know what might be pending for certain things. But this should hopefully be explained when you request closure. Make sure there are no continuous payments authorised to your debit card, if so these can only be cancelled through the payee.
That's what's happened to me previously when I've closed a current account.

hstudent

If you're under 21 you can normally give them a signed letter, any unused cheques, plus your card cut through the magntic stripe and the chip and don't even need to speak to anyone (you could do it by post.) If your over 21 you'll probably be asked for proof of identity e.g. passport or driving licence that the bank will want to photocopy.

Some accounts may need you to give notice, but usually only savings accounts.

They'll probably return your balance by cheque straight away, but if there's any problems then the cheque they give you may not clear.

TotallyBroke

You may have to speak to them. If you have a considerable amount of money in the account, they would have to arrange to have a cheque written out for you. Or if you wanted it in cash, they would need to make sure they had enough cash on the premises.
I think (in Barclays) if you want to withdraw more than £4,000 in cash you need to ring them first giving 24 hour notice so they can arrange to have the cash sorted and ready for pick up.
Would it not be an idea to transfer or withdraw the money first and then close an empty account?

olly300

Cat695 wrote: »

I just thought they would make it as hard as possible

They do.

However it depends on what sort of account it is.

The best course of action is to transfer virtually all the money elsewhere.

If you can do this online you are laughing as then you can leave a £1 in the account.

ShelfStacker_3

Done it personally many times.

Barclays went through a short Q&A session and then confirmed the account was done for. NatWest, both times, were able to close both accounts after IDing me and pulling them up. Lloyds TSB, last time, when I had full details and ID, spoke to me like sh*t on their shoe and made it a pain in the hole to get my money (£50, no interest earned, but apparently I had to get it from a cashier rather than the cashpoint...)

In general, banks won't try and get in your way unless you can't ID yourself or you're overdrawn or you have charges due to come out. The worst they can do is try and offer you a better deal and/or persuade you to stay.