Urgent advice please

agrinnall

Hopefully your son will be able to clear everything up at the meeting. Assuming he can then it might be better for him to use an account at another bank as his main account, transferring all his DDs to that one and simply doing a transfer of his salary once it's been paid in. Banks are very keen for staff accounts to be run in a clean way and will place them under greater scrutiny than a customer account, if they don't like the way he has been operating it then moving everything out of their sight stops them worrying.

pqrdef

Savingmoney1 wrote: »

The receptionist told him that the bank was closing all his accounts with two months notice and had put a stop on all his accounts.

And what's the point of two months' notice if they're stopping all payments immediately?

Seems to me the two months' notice of account closure isn't effective in any meaningful way unless normal service is maintained in the meantime.

They're obviously unsure of their ground here.

Savingmoney1_2

agrinnall wrote: »

Hopefully your son will be able to clear everything up at the meeting. Assuming he can then it might be better for him to use an account at another bank as his main account, transferring all his DDs to that one and simply doing a transfer of his salary once it's been paid in. Banks are very keen for staff accounts to be run in a clean way and will place them under greater scrutiny than a customer account, if they don't like the way he has been operating it then moving everything out of their sight stops them worrying.

Thanks. It's not certain that they will call him in, but he is just worried and upset by it all. He know's that he hasn't done anything wrong. I feel that if they do call him in and ask what is happening then they will have no choice but to tell him what they think he has done wrong.

Savingmoney1_2

pqrdef wrote: »

And what's the point of two months' notice if they're stopping all payments immediately?

Seems to me the two months' notice of account closure isn't effective in any meaningful way unless normal service is maintained in the meantime.

They're obviously unsure of their ground here.

That's the weird thing. From talking to my son, if they suspect money laundering, they don't usually stop the account. They let the person carry on using it and file a report.

meer53

Savingmoney1 wrote: »

That's the weird thing. From talking to my son, if they suspect money laundering, they don't usually stop the account. They let the person carry on using it and file a report.

Your son is wrong. If he is suspected of being involved in Money Laundering, all his accounts will be frozen immediately. Once the investigation is completed, if he isn't involved his accounts will be unblocked. If he is suspected of this, they won't tell him anything, they're not allowed to.

Thats why i said it was unusual for them to say his accounts were being closed. Maybe it's just their procedures.

dung_a82

I wonder if the bank mentioned is HSBC. Last May, I also received a letter from them saying they would like to end the bank relationship with me. Going to branch and received no replies at all. And the decision is from the branch manager so I made an appointment with him, demanding an explanation. The manager pointed some cash transactions which unfortunately I put in my personal bank for personal purpose instead of my business bank account and so on. All transactions I could explain and prove its legacy. He has nothing more to say except sorry that is the bank decision and it would not affect my excellent credit and that the activities are not consistent to what they expected to a personal account. Totally rubbish.

Normally it is the system who flags and if you indeed do nothing wrong but only expose potential risks, then HSBC gives you 2 month notice. Otherwise, if they suspect fraud... it would be 14 days notice. And it is how bank protects themselves from potential penalty (and do not care of customers' emotion). That is what a nice lady at the branch explained to me Anyway, what makes me furious is after 6 years banking with them, they do not try to listen to their customer or let them explain, clear their suspicion. Simply do not respect customers and a decision even wrongly made is final. Never ever been treated like that so withdraw all, even business account to Barclays. Screw them!!!

Savingmoney1_2

dung_a82 wrote: »

I wonder if the bank mentioned is HSBC. Last May, I also received a letter from them saying they would like to end the bank relationship with me. Going to branch and received no replies at all. And the decision is from the branch manager so I made an appointment with him, demanding an explanation. The manager pointed some cash transactions which unfortunately I put in my personal bank for personal purpose instead of my business bank account and so on. All transactions I could explain and prove its legacy. He has nothing more to say except sorry that is the bank decision and it would not affect my excellent credit and that the activities are not consistent to what they expected to a personal account. Totally rubbish.

Normally it is the system who flags and if you indeed do nothing wrong but only expose potential risks, then HSBC gives you 2 month notice. Otherwise, if they suspect fraud... it would be 14 days notice. And it is how bank protects themselves from potential penalty (and do not care of customers' emotion). That is what a nice lady at the branch explained to me Anyway, what makes me furious is after 6 years banking with them, they do not try to listen to their customer or let them explain, clear their suspicion. Simply do not respect customers and a decision even wrongly made is final. Never ever been treated like that so withdraw all, even business account to Barclays. Screw them!!!

Hi,

I would rather not say on here which bank it is if you don't mind. Did you find that your credit rating was affected in any way? This is one of the things my son is worried about. Despite them saying it won't.

dung_a82

No, nothing changes to my credit except was not allowed to open bank accounts with HSBC. Funnily that a few months later, my credit card limit was even raised £1500 more. At that time, I also asked them regarding this and was told it was only bank account closure and the bank will not dispose any reasons. 2 months later, still could open other high street bank accounts (Barclays and Santander for cash back), open new credit card. Most funny thing is few weeks after my personal bank account being closed, my personal business banker called to ask why I seems to stop activities on my business bank account. Poor him for full ear of complaints. The inconsistency is there, they told me they would stop all banking facilities with me (the branch manager also told me so) but then still I could use my HSBC credit card (£3K limit), InvestDirect +, business bank account, commercial credit card. Make me laugh.....

MoneySaverLog

The only reason I can think of a bank closing an account like this is if they believe he's defrauding them, or someone else, in some way.

If it's because they believe that he is involved with fraud then the bank could put a CIFAS marker on at the CRA which will block him from getting the most basic bank account. Any bank accounts he may already have may be closed too if the banks hear about it (like what may be happenning here).

Could they suspect fraud elsewhere other than on his account or could there already be such a marker that he may not be aware about? I'm not saying he is defrauding them, but it's possible it could have been put on in error by someone unrelated to the bank and they have since discovered this.

Has he checked his credit file at the 3 CRA's?

Savingmoney1_2

MoneySaverLog wrote: »

The only reason I can think of a bank closing an account like this is if they believe he's defrauding them, or someone else, in some way.

If it's because they believe that he is involved with fraud then the bank could put a CIFAS marker on at the CRA which will block him from getting the most basic bank account. Any bank accounts he may already have may be closed too if the banks hear about it (like what may be happenning here).

Could they suspect fraud elsewhere other than on his account or could there already be such a marker that he may not be aware about? I'm not saying he is defrauding them, but it's possible it could have been put on in error by someone unrelated to the bank and they have since discovered this.

Has he checked his credit file at the 3 CRA's?

Hi,

He hasn't checked them yet, but would they really say that his credit file will be fine if they didn't mean it? Surely, if they did put a Cifas marker they could get into trouble?