bank account shut no warning

freda11

my friend banks with nat west,its a business account as hubby self employed both her and husband salary paid into each month. she went to pay for something in a shop today and card was declined, as it had been de activated, she went into bank and no one on the counter could tell her why it was closed, she has money in the account around £200. the bank tried to contact the business manager but his mobile went to answer phone, no reply in branch and no reply to email, she is now worried sick as to what could of happened aand now cannot get any money out, i went to myl local nat west to try and pay some money onto her account but the cashier went into back room came out and said they couldnt accept the money and for my friend to contact her BDM. any ideas???

chanz4

sounds like the suspect fraud or money laundering

freda11

I have now found out more. As it was a business account and business not running anymore they just shut it, no warning nothing! account now deactivated. the account was still used as both their salaries are paid in and dd's go out each month. As stated previously I tried to pay some money in and it would not let me. 4 days later the bank accepted her salary, but she still cannot access the account as it is still deactivated. so how can they accept salary!! They are in credit in bank, so the bank now has several hundreds of pounds of their money, she is now worried as she also has a pension of around £300 per month and is worried this will also get accepted although she is trying to contact the pension people to hold payment. Are they allowed to shut an account with no warning and even more disgusting still accept salaries. Why accept her salary but refuse me when i tried to pay money in her account?? She has now incurred penalties from her car insurance as the direct debit was refused so instead of £30 she has had to pay £60 and has several more dd due out over next couple of days. She is going to ring who she pays the dd's to tomorrow, hopefully she will be able to open a new bank account with someone else, but as they both have default and ccj's it's not easy.

madgagoo

It sounds like the account has a no-operations mark on it, which means no money in or out without manual intervention (which is how the salary has still gone in - someone has looked at the credit coming in and allowed it to go through). They wouldn't be able to allow a third party to pay in though and wouldn't be able to tell you why - data protection act prevents them. There is probably more behind this than just the business stopped trading, it sounds like a partnership account and these would keep running ad infinitum unless the customer requested otherwise. You say your friend has CCJs etc, do they owe money to any part of the RBS group that they have fallen behind on payments with?

Has your friend actually been to see their relationship manager to discuss why this has happened? Would be the first place to go.

Think about opening up a basic current account instead. Seems a bit silly to pay charges for a business account when it's just got personal money going through it.

freda11

thanks for reply, they did try and speak with business manager as did the staff when it first happened but no-one could get hold of him. My friends have tried on several occassions to contact him. They were told account now deactivated but any money going into account would be frozen until October. they do not owe any money to NW and have always stayed in credit in the account. To me this sound like NW are stealing their money why can they accept money coming in to a deactivated account but not pay any monies out. You would of thought if the account was closed then no transactions either way can be made. She now has no salary to live on this month, how can a bank expect pople to survive on no money. Hopefully she will have a basic account opened today with the co-op.
It seems like NW are toding this to a few people after reading about them on other sites and one guy whose mothers money they took, took them to court where NW did not turn up so he now has a wind up petition next wednesday! Scarey stuff.

Joe_Bloggs

Consider researching the legal term 'garnish'. This often follows a CCJ.
J_B.

freda11

Mmmm is Halifax part of RBS group?

Joe_Bloggs

Mmmm is Halifax part of RBS group ?

No, Lloyds. HBOS stood for Halifax and Bank of Scotland which was not linked to the Royal Bank of Scotland.
J_B.

freda11

she had a house repossessed about 18 months ago and she has come to an agreement to pay £x per month for 6 months and is 2 month into it. Before it was repo'd the house was on market for £105k and they had an offer of £94k wrote to the Halifax to see if they could accept this but never heard back, in the meantime the buyers went elsewhere as it was taking too long. Then it got repossed and sold for £72k meaning she now owes the difference.

freda11

she has just been looking through the paperwork, and found a letter she wrote to her solicitor informing him of the £94k offer, but it doesnt seem as if the solicitor informed the halifax, she is going to ring the sol shortly to see if he holds any letters on file. she also has the formal letter from the estate agents of the offer plus another letter from them stating (this one was dated after the repossession order) that the buyers still wish to purchase at £94k.

izools

How confident are you that the mortage shortfall default didn't turn into a CCJ? Could the CCJ paperwork have been posted to the repo'd house?

It does sound like a garnishee order has been placed against her salary.