NATWEST closed my account without any notice and consent

usalim

Hi,

Natwest decided to close my account without any prior communication or my consent and they did it overnight.
I have spoken to tele banking, account closure teams and in branch manager but none of them are giving me a reason. They keep telling me that the bank reserves the right which is fair enough but should they not atleast give a reason. On top of that, I have been told that I would not be able to open an account with the whole of RBS group.

It was only a basic step account and I only had a couple of direct debits setup for it with monthly turnover no more than £200 on average.

I am getting very concerned with the way bank is dealing with it and not being able to open any account with RBS. I dont care about closing the account but I need to know why.

Any ideas? What are my options?

Thanks,

pmduk

If they didn't give you any notice it would suggest that they suspect fraud of some sort.

jen245

Yup, definitely sounds like they suspect fraud, you might want to get hold of your credit report, see if there is anything flagging under CIFAS. There have been quite a few posts of this nature recently

usalim

Just checked CIFAS section and there is nothing in it. Zero.
The transactions were simple direct debit payments and I cannot think of any of the transactions which might raise the slightest bit of suspicion.

This is the worrying part for me as I want to know what is going on so I can protect against any frauds or fraudsters.

Is there any way I can get the bank to tell me what is going on?

jen245

I dont think they are under any obligation to tell you why, especially if they suspect fraud. I would try opening a new account with another bank

mostlycheerful

usalim wrote: »

Hi,

Natwest decided to close my account without any prior communication or my consent and they did it overnight.
I have spoken to tele banking, account closure teams and in branch manager but none of them are giving me a reason. They keep telling me that the bank reserves the right which is fair enough but should they not atleast give a reason. On top of that, I have been told that I would not be able to open an account with the whole of RBS group.

It was only a basic step account and I only had a couple of direct debits setup for it with monthly turnover no more than £200 on average.

I am getting very concerned with the way bank is dealing with it and not being able to open any account with RBS. I dont care about closing the account but I need to know why.

Any ideas? What are my options?

Thanks,

Oh dear, what a nuisance. I gather from these boards that Coop tend to accept most applications and I've even seen people saying that Barclays have a lower threshold for acceptance than some other banks so maybe give these try.

Yes, it would be interesting if you could find out. As other posters suggest, there may be some reason for this as they don't particularly generally just willy nilly suddenly close accounts. Could be something unlucky such as your name is the same as someone else dodgy. Or maybe they're doing some sort of profiling exercise so lots of people with certain types of names are being binned. I'm just guessing here, actually that's an unlikely notion, isn't it. Surely not. As other posters suggest, maybe consider whether you're connected to anyone or anything that's dodgy. Or maybe running an account like that just looks dodgy in itself. Maybe. I dunno. Good luck.

pcombo

Incyder wrote: »

your name is interesting if its your real one.
Faint chance you may be on a terrorist/money laundering list or suspected of being an activist/supporter.

I dont think the BNP support discriminating, But I do know what you mean by the name.

I recon OP needs to a subject access request from CIFAS to see if there is a record held against them cost £10 and you need to prove your ID and address.

RBS closed my account aswell overnight/followed by santander (must be bad if they closed my account) never got a reason to why, I cant be bothered to find out why. I may have a cifas record but cant recall any fraudulent activity i may have done.

stclair

It may not be what you want to hear however natwest do not have to give a reason for the account closure.

The best way forward would be to just open another account elsewhere outside the group.

ts_aly2000

Simple fact is this : You don't have a bank account!

Co-Op or Nationwide for you. They're the ONLY banks that take naughty people.

Flyboy152

jen245 wrote: »

I dont think they are under any obligation to tell you why, especially if they suspect fraud. I would try opening a new account with another bank

I think they are.

Flyboy152

stclair wrote: »

It may not be what you want to hear however natwest do not have to give a reason for the account closure.

The best way forward would be to just open another account elsewhere outside the group.

I think the ombudsman would disagree.