Barclays Froze my £19k for no reason - please help !!!

SADIA_3

Hi All,

this is my first post here and i hope i have posted it in the right section...

This is what happened:

- on 19th Jan 09, I had nearly £19k of CLEARED funds in my Barclays current account (£10.5k as cash deposits at Barclays, £8.2k as transfer from my Natwest A/C, £200 from Paypal and the rest from Child Benefits)

- on Tuesday last week, 27th Jan, i went to withdraw £17k from my branch which was preordered over the phone. The counter lady said that the bank is not authorising this withdrawal and its quite strange as you have nearly £19k of available funds. She called the counter manager and branch manager who then called 2 different depts and spent 45 minutes on the phone. The branch manager then asked me to call the fruad dept as they were not authorising the cash advance and handed me their telephone number.

- i returned home and checked my online banking to discover that Barclays had revoked/froze all my money including o/d and reserve amount (from the time of authorisation to me getting home) and "Referral C F (P) advance" was written in the description box. i called the fraud dept and the lady there told me that the branch had made an error and that if i went back after 10 minutes, i can withdraw £17k without any problems and this message on the online banking will be sorted out aswell.

- i returned to the branch and explained them everything and the manager spent another half an hour on the telephone and said, "sorry, the headoffice will not authorise this transaction and she has not been given a reason" i was shocked as this had never happened to me before plus different dept of the same bank were telling me different things.

- after returning home, i spent atleast 2 hours on the phone to a call centre in India who did not have the feintest idea and transferred me to atleast 5 diferent people/departments but in vain.

- i did not give up and called the customer services centre in India the following three days (wed, thurs, friday) aswell but nobody was able to give me any reason for my account suspension...i spent on average an hour/day these 3 days....i was going mad as i really wanted to know and felt that i had the right to know what the reason was as its all i have and its a lot of money for me and i needed it

- On Saturday, a guy in customer services gave me a reference number for my case and a telephone number saying that its an "internal matter" and has been referred to the "Head of Customer Relations" who has started to look into it on 28th (Wed) and it will take 5 working days to resolve.

I called Customer Relation's direct number and left this guy a voicemail.

-on Monday i left him 2 voicemails.
-on Tuesday again, i left him another voicemail. Later on Tuesday, he called me asking, "what had actually happened". I was extremely shocked upon hearing this as i was advised he would resolve this by end of Tuesday ( it was the 5th working day) but he did not even know why the money/account was frozen on Tuesday!!! i briefly explained him the situation as he seemed in a rush and he asked me to wait a day or two.

2 days are now over and my account has not been reinstated !!! i called him again today and as usual he did not answer the phone so left him a voicemail...what sort of customer relations i s that on earth !!! I

am so worried that i cannot even describe in words. I cannot even sleep at night. I have lost my livelyhood and it has had an affect on my day to day life...i cannot think straight anymore. I don't have any other savings or a job. This is all i had and it was for my credit card debts, personal loan and buying a small car. i deposited the money believing it would be safe in a bank but feel as though i have been robbed....its been 10 days and nobody even tells me whats going on. I have not even received a letter from Barclays !!!

Can they keep my money forever? what if they say, they will not give my money back?? i think i am going crazy as its a huge amount of money and i will be bankrupt without it....

can you guys please give me advice on what rights i have with respect to this....

many thanks in advance...
Sadia

milfordmadness

First off, stop worrying. It's yours and they are just protecting your interests, although it doesn't seem like it right now.

So long as it was never received in a fraudulent manner, i.e. refunds onto your debit card that were never spent on it in the first place springs to mind, they will have no right to retain it.

If anything just get the police involved and actually take greivance with the MD of Barclays or at least some of their Board Members (easy to find from Companies House) by writing to them all at their home addresses. The embarrasment will prompt them into kicking ars for you. Usually works. Marcus Agius (Chairman) is a good place to start..... Interestingly enough, he was the victim of ID Fraud! Click to read

To be honest Barclays are wrong here unless you've acted dodgy in any way, report them immediately to the FSA and maybe speak to Citizens Advice about where you stand legally, also ensure you are paid appropriate compo for loss of earnings/time/stress related etc. I'd be looking for at least £500 as a starting figure.

Also go to Watchdog, they'd love to take this story up I bet (bbc.co.uk/watchdog)

To clarify Yorkshire bank froze my account when I tried to do a CHAPS for £68k into mortgage yet all the time they knew that thiese funds were for the mortgage, they even charged me for the CHAPS but then blocked my account. House almost fell through, they paid me £2500 compo as I used a top lawyer and was not a happy bunny. They did close my account the day after the chaps payment was made as well. You aren't alone.....

BASFORDLAD

troll much?

milfordmadness

BASFORDLAD wrote: »

troll much?

?????

SADIA_3

Hi milfordmadness,

thanks ever so much for a reply and your advice.
No, the money was not received in a fraudulent manner, nor was it a refund. It was cash deposits and transfer from my own other account with Natwest. Even in Natwest, the money came from my own cash deposits so don't know why they are doing this to me...

i will definately be visiting Citizen's Advice Bearau soon but do you think i should report to the police now or wait even more - its been 10 days ???
how long was your account frozen for, if you don't mind me asking?

thanks

rb10

SADIA wrote: »

Hi milfordmadness,

thanks ever so much for a reply and your advice.
No, the money was not received in a fraudulent manner, nor was it a refund. It was cash deposits and transfer from my own other account with Natwest. Even in Natwest, the money came from my own cash deposits so don't know why they are doing this to me...

i will definately be visiting Citizen's Advice Bearau soon but do you think i should report to the police now or wait even more - its been 10 days ???
how long was your account frozen for, if you don't mind me asking?

thanks

Surely the reason why they are doing this is clear ... you have paid in nearly £19k in cash to Barclays accounts. Most people do not run their accounts in this way, which inevetably makes Barclays suspicious of your account.

Nevertheless, it's not fair to keep you hanging on like this. I would make a complaint. See http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?task=articlegroup&value=3657&site=pfs

storminbalder

BASFORDLAD wrote: »

troll much?

Weirdo!!!!

jakemuk

whos dealing with it nicholas williams ?

noh

rb10 wrote: »

Surely the reason why they are doing this is clear ... you have paid in nearly £19k in cash to Barclays accounts. Most people do not run their accounts in this way, which inevetably makes Barclays suspicious of your account.

Nevertheless, it's not fair to keep you hanging on like this. I would make a complaint. See http://www.personal.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?task=articlegroup&value=3657&site=pfs

Plus the op said they attempted to draw out £17000 in cash (im assuming it was in cash as they said they had to preorder it) giving Barclays even more grounds for suspicion.
If Barclays have reported their suspicions under the Money Laundering Act they are not allowed to tell you that they have done so.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/mlr/mlr8.pdf section 10.7
Maybe that is why you are getting no answers from them?

Nigel

PROLIANT

What is it with people on this forum, the OP is not a troll, the OP is in distress and needs support not further abuse from an MSE noob who like many people on internet fora get it in to their heads to call somebody a troll because they either do not understand what the OP is trying to say or maybe they are just blatantly stupid.

Dear SADIA, I am so sorry you are in this situation however I must stress you move your money out of that incompetent financial institution "Barclays" in to a British bank.
Go to the police and make a complaint also approach a solicitor and see if you can sue the !!! of these fools and get as much as you can out of them for your trouble.
That is your money and I could understand a delay in getting that amount out in one lump sum as any bank would take the necessary precautions to prevent fraud but with a few ID and security checks this should not have taken more than 1 - 2 days max.

noh

PROLIANT wrote: »

............ however I must stress you move your money out of that incompetent financial institution "Barclays" in to a British bank...............

When did Barclays cease to be a "British Bank" ?