how long before bank can close your account?

juanmanuelmarquez

how long is it before the bank can close your account for inactivity?

is it 6 months? 1 year? 3 months? 2 years?

missindecisive

it seems to vary from bank to bank.

juanmanuelmarquez

missindecisive wrote: »

it seems to vary from bank to bank.

i knew i would get that as an answer...lol i suppose each bank is different but roughly at the top 5...barclays, halifax, lloyds, santander, and natwest?

meer53

It can also vary from customer to customer within the same bank. Ours are flagged up after a month. They wouldn't necessarily be closed though. Depends on lots of things.

meer53

juanmanuelmarquez wrote: »

i knew i would get that as an answer...lol i suppose each bank is different but roughly at the top 5...barclays, halifax, lloyds, santander, and natwest?

Refer to post #2 again !

le_loup

juanmanuelmarquez wrote: »

is it 6 months? 1 year? 3 months? 2 years?

Ooh! I love quizzes.

Anthorn

The problem with inactive accounts are the charges which are starting to creep in. For example, First Direct's £10 banking fee is pretty much well known. But not so well known is that accounts which have been inactive for 3 months which have a balance over £10 will be subject to the £10 banking fee. Wise to check bank T&Cs and table of fees.
http://www1.firstdirect.com/1/2/rates-and-charges/charges

In theory, banks should not close dormant accounts which have a balance. They are obliged to return funds to the rightful owner although banks can turn over funds to the government so they must keep some sort of records.

stclair

Is their a reason for the line of questioning? or is it just out of curiosity?

You could recycle X amount of money through the account every so often to keep it active.

juanmanuelmarquez

what do you mean banks turn over money to gov? what about the women that lost 25k in the santander account that was closed without her permission and was never refunded? no one is ever refunded when the account is closed! thats why i was wondering around when is it when the account is classed as inactive? i know ive had my hsbc inactive for 4 months before withdrawing and depositing money, im not sure about anyone else, and after my experience with santander about depositing change....i dont trust them to be honest!

noizeuk

juanmanuelmarquez wrote: »

what do you mean banks turn over money to gov? what about the women that lost 25k in the santander account that was closed without her permission and was never refunded? no one is ever refunded when the account is closed! thats why i was wondering around when is it when the account is classed as inactive? i know ive had my hsbc inactive for 4 months before withdrawing and depositing money, im not sure about anyone else, and after my experience with santander about depositing change....i dont trust them to be honest!

Well don't say no-one when I'm fully aware of the dormancy process at NatWest.

Different accounts have different expiries. If its a fee or interest bearing account, this probably won't close. If it's a business account, it usually gets mopped up through portfolio management and other legal entities may never expire. Who knows.

The funds however will be kept by the bank unless there is a legal charge brought or they are owed to the treasury solicitor. Any other funds are owed upon claiming them.

dalesrider

juanmanuelmarquez wrote: »

no one is ever refunded when the account is closed! thats why i was wondering around when is it when the account is classed as inactive?

15 years before it goes to the Gov and even then you can get it back.

Your bank will send you a letter or several letters to advise you of account dormancy.

So. Keep your contact details upto date and you won't have a issue.

I would not expect any bank to do anything for at least 12 months.
But a dormant acc is a security risk.
As that case you stated. Clearly she had no idea on the account status.
Any change of ownership of the bank would have seen letters being sent out.
So that 25K has to have some serious doub'ts as to if the account had been closed before changeover of bank took place.