Reclaimed Bank charges - now finding it impossible to open another Bank Account

Orford

caffeine302 wrote: »

, this really wouldn't have anything to do with it, would it?

No, probably not. It was just that they had frozen the a/c because of the large deposit (presumably paranoid about money laundering etc) and you hadn't made clear whether that had been sorted.

natweststaffmember

I would add that being away for two years with a dormant account would not have helped the credit score either. How long have you been back?
Are you using any UK bank accounts or credit cards?

caffeine302

Back a little over 6 months now and only have a Co-Op 'basic' account.

Co-op stated the reason for me only having their basic account was because of a poor Experian credit score. I have signed up to Experian, checked my score and printed off reams of paper detailing many years of history, none of which was negative (my time abroad is not registered on there because I used my paranets address whilst away), and took into the Co-op to show them.

Now their response is 'sorry to disappoint you but we cannot offer you a current account'

Not particularly disappointed - just at a loss as to what to do/improve the situation

Is it far fetched to think that: whilst Banks might be refunding any overly high charges to those that claim, should the claimant slip up in the future (which let's face it the majority of those reading this have done in the past, for whatever reason) then the Banks will be very quick to close in and restrict usage?

natweststaffmember

caffeine302 wrote: »

Back a little over 6 months now and only have a Co-Op 'basic' account.

Co-op stated the reason for me only having their basic account was because of a poor Experian credit score. I have signed up to Experian, checked my score and printed off reams of paper detailing many years of history, none of which was negative (my time abroad is not registered on there because I used my paranets address whilst away), and took into the Co-op to show them.

Now their response is 'sorry to disappoint you but we cannot offer you a current account'

Not particularly disappointed - just at a loss as to what to do/improve the situation

Is it far fetched to think that: whilst Banks might be refunding any overly high charges to those that claim, should the claimant slip up in the future (which let's face it the majority of those reading this have done in the past, for whatever reason) then the Banks will be very quick to close in and restrict usage?

Not for one charge they won't. The issue is that you will have to build up credit since as you have stated earlier, your account was dormant and not used that much. Once your pay is going into the account and your are using it regularly then your credit rating or even internal credit rating will improve.

scared1

After living abroad for a year and then returning to the UK I was still able to use my HSBC bank account but I was declined credit cards due to my credit score. This was because I had no money going into my account for a year. At one point when I was aborad HSBC decided to cancel my overdraft and charge me due to the fact no wage was being paid in. I had to make an emergeny transfer from the country I was living to put funds into my accout or they would have cancelled my overdraft and loans.

Despite me telling them that my loan was to help me live abroad for a year when I first took it out!!! And they had even phoned me in the other country to reply to a query I had with them...

Anyway after I was paid for about a year I reapplied for a credit card and was accepted right away. So it seems it was the missing gap in my credit file which they scored me low on.