why is my account closed

wynnj

I have had a bank accounts with barclays for over a year. I have an overdraft and have kept a good account paying direct debits and have not gone overdrawn. Two weeks ago I saw the personal banker to open serparate account for my bills to come out of.. The personal banker agreed my bank account had been run well and suggested I applied for a Barclycard to give sum credit rating. I am on incapacity/ income support and receveive child tax credit for my only child of 5months. Within two days I had the card for the new account and the barclaycard. Imagine my surprise when i went to use my current account card and found it was not accepted. i phoned barclays and was told a letter was on its way to tell me all my accounts were being closed (including Babies savings account) as i didn,t meet their criteria and that Barclays would not offer me any sort of account with them. I went to the branch and made a complaint to head office spent ages on the phone but they will not tell me why or what their criteria is. I have no other bank account and have had to phone all my direct debits up to cancel them. I have tried to get a credit report online but they need you to log a card on for payment which i havn't got. I used the Barclaycard for a purchase and it was succesful so I thought at least i have that only to find they cancelled it today. I want to open an account elsewhere but I am worried that this will go against me. I have made an appointment for tommorow at another bank.
I just want to know why this has happened and what to do.
Can anyone help me.

KingElvis

Sounds like they suspect fraud to me.

You really do need to check your credit files. You can send a cheque or postal order to get them through the post.

http://www.experian.co.uk/consumer/statutory-report.html

wynnj

Thanks it was not fraud everthing ok with credit report. Barclays just answered my complaint and said i just do not fit their critera to have any sort of account with them. I have now opened a new debit visa account elsewhere. I still have money in account at Barclays but they would not let me draw it out and told me it could take up to 4 weeks before they send me a cheque for the amount. they also closed my babies savings account.
I am very upset about all this as I still have no answer as to why this happened. I did notice that on Martins main site it suggests Barclays and Co-op for basic accounts So what Barclays critera is I still don't know.

Mark_In_Hampshire

That's really disappointing, especially when it was your apparent "good record" that led to the upsell in the first place for the card.

I suspect that the Bank, having now run a credit check on you, has decided you don't meet the scoring criteria for "any account" given that the scoring criteria has changed a bit now. A few years ago, even a dog could have got a mortgage, and we're ALL paying for that madness now.

To Hell with "this customer has been with us for a while and managed their affairs competently", computer says no. But at least you've got a new account. Can anyone shine a ray of light which would force Barclays to hand over your cash immediately?

The point about fraud stands, though, worth checking out in your credit history.

missile

I tend to agree with Mark. It is more than likely nothing more than a system designed by some spotty IT geek to score clients which has rejected you and the jobs worths in your branch can't or will not correct this. It seems strange that they will not release your funds, this would tend to suggest there is another issue?

This must be distressing for you. You obviously have internet, may I suggest you apply on line and favour your business with a bank who treats their customers better.

jonesMUFCforever

I disagree with the other posters - if she did not meet the criteria they would have at least let her have a basic account.
There is more to this than OP has posted - it is probably Barclays thinking that there is something amiss going on but they won't (and don't have to) tell the customer why.

wynnj

I do not know why the account has closed and have explained all that happened to me. I have now got account with another Bank with no problems. I had asked Barclays if they had made a mistake but they would not give me a answer. It is just frustrating not to be told why. The fact that Experian cannot give me a reason why a Bank would close an account like this as there is not a problem with my credit report. They suggested I could take it to the Ombudsman. I did ring them and was told that I should have been given 30 days notice of closure but the Bank have the right to close an account if they want to with no explanation.
I hope I do not have to go through this again.

Experian_company_representative

Banks are perfectly entitled to decide which people they want to do business with but they should always treat customers fairly. If you think you've been treated unfairly then you may have grounds for a complaint. Banks certainly use credit report data to rate customers but they also use their own internal behavioural data, such as how you have run your accounts. As long as your credit record is fine you should have no problem opening accounts elsewhere and this sort of thing can actually be a blessing in disguise as it gives you the opportunity to shop around and compare interest rates etc.

James Jones

wynnj

Thank you for your reply. Yes I do think I have been treated unfairly by Barclays. I have wriiten to them and they said they have the write to close accounts and not give a reason. If I wish to take it further do I contact Ombusman? The other problem I have is a payment was made into my account prior to it being closed although I had contacted the company it was too late for them to stop the Payment. I went in to draw out it out and was told I would have to wait till after account was closed. Today i received closing statements, but no cheque was sent for outstanding balance
. When I phoned Barclays I was told that the account was closed and I would have to wait for any balance on my account. I live on a very tight budget and I feel it very unfair they can keep my money when an account is closed. I have never been overdrawn and owe the Bank nothing. In fact as i said the personal Banker had told me only a few days before this happened that I ran a very good account and that's why I was offered a Barclaycard.
I would like any advice on how to proceed further please.

savagej

You could ask Experian if they supplied Barclays with information on you from their Open Account Fraud Monitoring Service, to check if they think (Experian) you are at risk of running away with the banks money (suddenly emptying accounts, running cards to the limit and disappearing), or committing some other fraud on your account or if they provide Barclays with details from their Customer Indebtedness Index, which predicts customers that have no current problems but are possibly, yes possibly, going to get into trouble in future.

The banks take these pieces of statistical software as gospel and often use them to lower credit limits and close accounts, to avoid Experian's idea of "risk".

Perphaps James Jones would elborate to your directly on what his company predicted to Barclays you would likely do to their bad debts?

Experian recommend to the banks that these pieces of software are not used on a monthly basis as that "could be too late", but as often as weekly or daily. I am sure at a nice premium. Someone should possibly point out to the banks and Experian that probability is merely that, it is not certainty which unfortunately as I said once the banks see a flag they often consider it certain.

savagej

How many people actually know that as well as CIFAS, banks use on an on-going basis these pieces of Experian Software to make judgements on accounts and this is why people get letters from Barclaycard for example lowering limits or closing accounts. Things like CIFAS are mainly used at point of application, Hunter is only used at point of application.