Has your bank closed your account?

nel

yep alliance and leicester will be closing my account on 11th April so they informed me...oh well i got my money back

Twinkly

I just stumbled across this article dated 4th March 2007 which may be of interest. It states you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman about closure of accounts and may be awarded compensation.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/money/consumer_affairs/article1466228.ece

Something else in the article that is ever so interesting is that, apparently, you can obtain copies of your recorded telephone calls that the banks have made. This is something I didnt know.

*goes off to google on this *

Paul_Herring

Twinkly wrote: »

I just stumbled across this article dated 4th March 2007 which may be of interest. It states you can complain to the Financial Ombudsman about closure of accounts and may be awarded compensation.

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/money/consumer_affairs/article1466228.ece

I think you'll find the article says you can complain to the FOS if the bank threatens to close your account as part of the process of reclaiming fees to try and stop you claiming.

Note that this is different to doing so after a claim, but they didn't make a threat to try and stop you claiming.

Twinkly

Paul_Herring wrote: »

I think you'll find the article says you can complain to the FOS if the bank threatens to close your account as part of the process of reclaiming fees to try and stop you claiming.

Note that this is different to doing so after a claim, but they didn't make a threat to try and stop you claiming.

I think you will find that it doesnt.


Copied and pasted straight from the article it says this:

"However, the FOS made it clear last week it will not tolerate banks intimidating customers who have legitimate grievances. In a landmark ruling, it awarded £200 compensation to a customer whose account was closed after he won a refund of £105."

Paul_Herring

Twinkly wrote: »

I think you will find that it doesnt.

I think you'll find we're interpreting the article differently

Copied and pasted straight from the article it says this:

"However, the FOS made it clear last week it will not tolerate banks intimidating customers who have legitimate grievances. In a landmark ruling, it awarded £200 compensation to a customer whose account was closed after he won a refund of £105."

Emphasis mine.

There's a world of difference between someone claiming back £100's in charges because they went into the red by a couple of quid (a legitimate grievance), and someone claiming back £1000's in charges because they were substantially in the red (less legitimate.) [And before anyone jumps on this, yes, I'm conveniently ignoring cases where charges beget more charges.]

Just as there's a world of difference between saying they'll close the account if the claim continues (intimidation) during the case, and the bank deciding to close the account after the fact because they feel the customer will continue to use their unauthorised overdraft (not intimidation.)

I don't know the specifics of the case cited in the article, but I find it hard to beleive that people are proposing that a bank MUST, under ALL CIRCUMSTANCES continue to hold onto a customer that is likely to incur further charges.

On the flip side, the banks should also not be allowed to dump ALL customer(s) who claims charges back, reagrdless of the 'reason' given.

Twinkly

Paul_Herring wrote: »

I think you'll find we're interpreting the article differently


I don't know the specifics of the case cited in the article, but I find it hard to beleive that people are proposing that a bank MUST, under ALL CIRCUMSTANCES continue to hold onto a customer that is likely to incur further charges.

Perhaps you are interpreting the article to suit your own opinion given the rest of your post. I simply read it as it is in print and copied accordingly giving no opinion on that particular point.

"People" arent proposing anything. The FOS is stating you can complain if the bank close your account. Interpret it as you will but I have no interest in discussion of the right or wrongs. My purpose in posting the link was to pass on information which may help those in need of it.

oldwiring

Twinkly wrote: »

Perhaps you are interpreting the article to suit your own opinion given the rest of your post. I simply read it as it is in print and copied accordingly giving no opinion on that particular point.

"People" arent proposing anything. The FOS is stating you can complain if the bank close your account. Interpret it as you will but I have no interest in discussion of the right or wrongs. My purpose in posting the link was to pass on information which may help those in need of it.

Hi Twinkly:D You are I would say a very nice person, but surely you realise that your iinterpretation is unreasonable. You seem to be averring that the banks will be unable to close accounts without having penalties awarded against them if they dare close an account of someone who has claimed, however the account has been conducted. As a comparison would you allow a builder, who had wrecked your home to do further work for you? Likewise should a bank be compelled to kep a customer who had not conducted his account properly? Please get real.

Twinkly

oldwiring wrote: »

Hi Twinkly:D You are I would say a very nice person, but surely you realise that your iinterpretation is unreasonable. You seem to be averring that the banks will be unable to close accounts without having penalties awarded against them if they dare close an account of someone who has claimed, however the account has been conducted. As a comparison would you allow a builder, who had wrecked your home to do further work for you? Likewise should a bank be compelled to kep a customer who had not conducted his account properly? Please get real.

Hi Oldwiring & thanks for the compliment

I think both of you have entirely missed the fact that I wasnt making any interpretation at all and was simply providing information in the form of a link and a bit of copied text.

That you can complain to the FOS about closed bank accounts and my be entitled to compensation is simple, correct and the sum total of my comment/opinion. I made no comment on the circumstances of issue of such compensation and wont be doing so.

2cats_2

Hi, I am currently claiming for charges on both my husbands and my own accounts. Natwest have totally ignored me but have sent my husband a letter stating that the Customer Services Dept are dealing with his request (this was sent 3 weeks ago and nothing has been received since although I have sent the letter threatening court proceedings), but 2 days ago he received a letter stating that they were going to close his account, which is currently £307 overdrawn, apparently according to the letter they have written to him (not so as confirmed during a telephone conversation, but they had had sent 2 text messages to a wrong mobile number), where do we stand with this it does not seem fair, can we take it to the Financial Ombudsmen? We cannot afford to put money into this account as he is between jobs at the moment although if they refund his charges it would more than cover it as they amount to £2875 before interest.

Thanks for any help

2cats_2

Hi, I am currently claiming for charges on both my husbands and my own accounts. Natwest have totally ignored me but have sent my husband a letter stating that the Customer Services Dept are dealing with his request (this was sent 3 weeks ago and nothing has been received since although I have sent the letter threatening court proceedings), but 2 days ago he received a letter stating that they were going to close his account, which is currently £307 overdrawn, apparently according to the letter they have written to him (not so as confirmed during a telephone conversation, but they had had sent 2 text messages to a wrong mobile number), where do we stand with this it does not seem fair, can we take it to the Financial Ombudsmen? We cannot afford to put money into this account as he is between jobs at the moment although if they refund his charges it would more than cover it as they amount to £2875 before interest.

Thanks for any help