Lloyds and my wife the money launderer.

vacheron

Lokolo wrote: »

Yes I did, I misread one word and I have already posted a response, perhaps you should read replies before then repeating what someone else has?

...........

Lloyds asked them to come in and have a chat, they then apologised and unlocked everything. If Lloyds had closed their accounts, not told them then refused to give them their accounts back after, then yes, I would be venting like the OP, but they didn't. They were being cautious.

No they didn't, they force closed her account and banished her from their doors forever despite admitting she had done nothing wrong!

Azari

vacheron wrote: »

No they didn't, they force closed her account and banished her from their doors forever despite admitting she had done nothing wrong!

This is the weirdest part of the whole business.

Yes, you can understand some individual incompetence or systemic problem causing an upset such as this but that they then close the account is incomprehensible.

It's almost as if they are punishing your wife for having been involved in their mistake.

I think you should write to the MD of Lloyds and ask for an explanation.

pelirocco

Lokolo wrote: »

So if someone had got into your account and had been sending money overseas without your knowledge, I am sure you wouldn't be complaining Lloyds didn't stop the account.

I don't see why increasing amounts going abroad over a a random period wouldn't cause alarm bells to ring. It sure would with me.

I believe it was 3 relatively small amounts coming into the account from abroad , the sender had full knowledge of them

meer53

It doesn't sound like a mistake to me, it sounds like Lloyds standard Money Laundering procedures (same across all banks)

Money laundering transactions can be for very small amounts. It doesn't have to be a transaction for £1m, it can be several smaller transactions. The other trigger may have been the country where the money is coming from. Lloyds wouldn't have been able to call to ask your wife about these transactions as this would be classed as "tipping off"

vacheron

qetu1357 wrote: »

The problem of course is that money laundering is so rife and the fines if banks do not monitor adequatley for it are so large, that innocent customers will get caught up every now and then.

This is why we're looking to find her a new account with a small local building society rather than a multinational. Hopefully they may have a more personal approach and a little common sense.

We don't really care about changing banks, despite the inconvenience. But our main concern now is that this somehow ends up damaging her, and even perhaps my (by our financial association) credit rating which has always been perfect.

Lokolo

vacheron wrote: »

This is why we're looking to find her a new account with a small local building society rather than a multinational. Hopefully they may have a more personal approach and a little common sense.

We don't really care about changing banks, despite the inconvenience. But our main concern now is that this somehow ends up damaging her, and even perhaps my (by our financial association) credit rating which has always been perfect.

Unless you have been made overdrawn and defaulted on payment then your credit rating will be fine (or as it was before). Although your internal Lloyds rating may be different.

You are unlikely to find service any better at a local building society. Somewhere in the Budgeting board there is a post about customer service, usually topped by First Direct, HSBC and Nationwide I believe. You won't get accounts with First Direct or HSBC without sufficient income though (although I think with First Direct you may get away with it if you open a savings account and shove £1 in it).

You will find all banks are very harsh on money laundering, after all, they don't want to have massive fines after the last few years.

vacheron

Lokolo wrote: »

Unless you have been made overdrawn and defaulted on payment then your credit rating will be fine (or as it was before).

We made great efforts to ensure that no payment defaulted by going into town on Monday and temporarily changing all her direct debits over to our Halifax Joint account until she gets her new account sorted. Though the timing of the Lloyds account suspension only allowed us one working day to arrange this.

Where the staff in the stores weren't convinced that the change would be processed in time we paid this months bill directly by debit card to ensure that everything was up to date. We can always sort out any over/double payment later.

If we were away from home for just 3 days on holiday when it arrived then there would have had 3 defaults to try and sort out when we returned!

Lokolo wrote: »

Although your internal Lloyds rating may be different.

Unsurprisingly, she couldn't care less what Lloyds think of her now as neither of us will ever be banking with them again, but I sincerely hope that the issue remains internal to them.

However, even if it does, I was considering what would happen if the new bank asks, (like insurance products do) "Have you ever been refused elsewhere" in which case we would have to be honest and risk her being unable to open a new account anywhere!

We'll just have to keep our fingers crossed!

Lokolo wrote: »

You are unlikely to find service any better at a local building society. Somewhere in the Budgeting board there is a post about customer service, usually topped by First Direct, HSBC and Nationwide I believe. You won't get accounts with First Direct or HSBC without sufficient income though (although I think with First Direct you may get away with it if you open a savings account and shove £1 in it).

As she has no salary income at the moment we were looking to getting her just a basic account for DDs and a debit card facility and the co-op standard current account sprung to mind (and also because this was the closest bank to the Lloyds and we walked past it on the way there.)

She doesn't need a cheque book or overdraft as we already have 2 joint accounts, one with Halifax for household spending and a current account which came with our Barclays offset mortgage which is fully offset and so will hopefully provide all the "overdraft" we'll ever need.

Lokolo wrote: »

You will find all banks are very harsh on money laundering, after all, they don't want to have massive fines after the last few years.

I absolutely agree and feel that all money launderers should be prosecuted and have their assets frozen. However, conversely, those found completely innocent of such accusations should be allowed to continue with their lives as they did before.

I don't even mind Lloyds closing the account, after all, I'm sure their T's and C's have a clause allowing them the right to withdraw their services at their discretion. It is the consequences of the accusations and to whom it is disclosed which troubles us the most.

arcon5

qetu1357 wrote: »

The problem of course is that money laundering is so rife and the fines if banks do not monitor adequatley for it are so large, that innocent customers will get caught up every now and then.

True. I guess you really only know what their level of customer service is like when a problem arises - in this case they have failed epicly!

I can understand their need to investigate op, but what would have been more appropriate is temporarily freezing the account until you have had a meeting with them. The way they treated you is despicable!

Taadaa

Azari wrote: »

This is the weirdest part of the whole business.

Yes, you can understand some individual incompetence or systemic problem causing an upset such as this but that they then close the account is incomprehensible.

It's almost as if they are punishing your wife for having been involved in their mistake.

I think you should write to the MD of Lloyds and ask for an explanation.

In fairness, Lloyds, or any other bank, are within their right to withdraw services from an individual as they see fit. Perhaps they simply felt that the money in the account wasn't worth the aggravation it has caused, if the issue recurrs.

As for temporarily freezing it and inviting the account holder to come in, they are hardly likely to say 'yeah it was me guv, lock me up and throw away the key!' are they.

Most unfortunate, but they have probably done you a favour to be honest. I have been a Lloyds customer for a lot longer than 7 years, and I can't think of a single good thing to say about them.

tocsin

Be very careful that the Lloyds "higher ups" haven't flagged your wife on the shared bank fraud database - there have been cases in the press and on radio recently where a person couldn't get banking facilities anywhere, even though it was the bank's error!

Just checked - R4 MoneyBox in June -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/moneybox/9733474.stm