Nat West letter saying accounts are to be closed??

helentay_2

I hope that I am on the right forum.

Just a quick question about my brother. He is married with two small children.

He has a sole business account with Nat West that has a current balance of debit £578 with an agreed overdraft of £500.

He also has a joint (with his wife) current account credit £1277 and a joint savings account with credit £3966.

They have just received many letters this morning telling them that the business account is to be closed with a demand that the whole overdraft be repaid within 30 days.

On top of that the bank have told them that they will be closing the joint current and savings accounts also within 30 days.

Can they do this for being £78 over the agreed limit on his business account that is in his name only?

If so, he will have to look very sharpish and open new accounts somewhere else before he loses his business banking facility - and their personal accounts which have money coming in every week and DD's going out.

grumbler

helentay wrote: »

..
Can they do this for being £78 over the agreed limit on his business account that is in his name only?

Generally, they can close accounts without any reason, although he can try complaining.
All overdrafts are repayable on demand.

If so, he will have to look very sharpish and open new accounts somewhere else before he loses his business banking facility - and their personal accounts which have money coming in every week and DD's going out.

That's why they give a 30-days notice. 1 month is enough for switching.

Sommer43

I don't think the closure of the accounts is to do with being over the overdraft limit. It sounds like there has been some kind of marker on his accounts. For example, a fraud marker. Has he been a victim of fraud? That would be enough to justify a bank closing accounts down. It happened to someone I know, she was told all her accounts were being closed down and she had seven days to withdraw her funds. She had four accounts and it was because she was a victim of identity fraud. It has now been rectified, but it took a while before she could access another bank account.

Advise your brother to pay off the overdraft and withdraw his funds from all his accounts. Cancel his DDs for now, that's not an issue, he can re-set them up and tell him to apply for a Subject Access Request from CIFAS. That will tell him what is against his name. The bank are not at liberty to tell him why they have closed his accounts.

InsideInsurance

Sommer43 wrote: »

The bank are not at liberty to tell him why they have closed his accounts.

If it is a fraud issue, if it isnt a fraud issue then they will be. First step is to speak to the bank.

Natwest closed all my accounts with them due to an ex that they still had me financially linked to getting into financial difficulty even though all of my accounts with them were within limits and functioning "well".

As has been said, ultimately they can close any account for any reason that isnt a legislated against "ism" as long as they give you notice.

Sommer43

Insideinsurance

I agree, it depends what the letter states. My friend's stated "We are not obliged to give you any further information on this matter aside from we will not offer you any future banking facilities"

Speaking to the bank first is important, which I omitted to highlight. Their only requirement is to give you notice as you rightly highlight also. If he's innocent of any illegal activity, then there will be recourse for him. Unfortunately, my friend's bank refused to discuss the reasons with her and she had to go via the CIFAS who were very helpful and placed the correct information on her file so that she was able to open an account elsewhere. Her bank was also NATWEST. Absolutely point blank refused to inform her the reason for the closure.

OP, what does the letter say?

helentay_2

Thanks everyone. He has been down there this afternoon and demanded to know what was going on. They referred him to the letters and that was it. It seems that they are at liberty to close any account that he has a financial interest in, hence why all accounts are to close.

After a bit more pushing by him, they said that his overdraft doesn't exist, never has done since April 2012!! It seems that they never renewed it (the £500 overdraft facility) then, nor did they write to him at the time and yet, they have since that date allowed him to use it? They apologised as it was a problem on their part, the business manager should have discussed the situation but didn't in April 2012.

The reason given to my brother at the end of the day seems to lie with the fact that for over 12 months has has floated his business account from considerable credit to a max of £592 Dr. In other words he went over his limit on more than a few occasions, even though a large deposit was then made a day or so later.

They made it clear to him (over the telphone in the bank with the Business Recovery Unit) that they want their pound of flesh by the 23rd March, no ifs, no buts! If not they will take the money off him from his other accounts and send him a cheque for the balance.

So, my brother being himself, told them where they could put there banking facility and intends to withdraw every penny from both accounts and telling them to sue him for the £578 - they might just get £5 a month off him!

He says that his credit records have already been demolished with their actions so whatever he does now won't make it any worse.

And all it needed it seems, was for the bank to ring him up last
April, call him in and discuss what the problem was. All for the sake of less than £100!!!

No there has been no illegal activity, they seem to think that he is unfit to have credit because he has gone over slightly the overdraft a couple of times in a year.

After he came home I asked him what had happened and at the end he had had enough especially when the bank said that they would make this into an official complaint if he wanted it to and that the bank had to negotiate a settlement/way out of it - he apparently told them that the only settlement or agreement that they wanted was there own way!

grumbler

helentay wrote: »

So, my brother being himself, told them where they could put there banking facility and intends to withdraw every penny from both accounts and telling them to sue him for the £578 - they might just get £5 a month off him!

I can't help envying the people that can't care less about their own and their OH's credit histories.

He says that his credit records have already been demolished with their actions so whatever he does now won't make it any worse.

What their actions? Regardless of £500 agreed limit being in place or not, he was over the limit.

helentay_2

grumbler wrote: »

I can't help envying the people that can't care less about their own and their OH's credit histories.

What their actions? Regardless of £500 agreed limit being in place or not, he was over the limit.

No their 'inactions' in not sorting the matter out in April 2012 when they 'forgot' to call him in. And on top of that, all of this legal paperwork.

To him and I after I had read through these letters, this could have been sorted out with a telephone call back last April or maybe earlier when it was clear to the bank that his limit needed to be increased to £600. He has shown me the business bank statements for the 12 months to 31st December 2012 - there was a total of £188,439.98 paid into the account and £131,228.35 drawn out (which includes my sister in laws salary of £45,000). £57,000 was drawn out by him for his own usage, which left £211.63 to start the new year with.

They seem to be trying to crack a peanut with a sledgehammer.
My brother has told me that just by them issuing these demand notices his and his wife's credit rating has dropped through the floor.
He says that no matter what else now happens or how they try to get the £578, their credit rating could not get any worse than it is right now.

He says that towards the end the guy he was talking to at the bank sympathised with him as it seems a bit ridiculous considering the amount of money sitting in the accounts all for no more than a £100 of extra facility for a few days, a few times a year and considering that the bank admitted that they got it wrong in April 2012.

innovate

helentay wrote: »

So, my brother being himself, told them where they could put there banking facility and intends to withdraw every penny from both accounts and telling them to sue him for the £578 - they might just get £5 a month off him!

That's just silly. He owes them £578, and if he doesn't pay it back, his credit record will suffer. He will not hurt the bank, but will hurt himself.

helentay wrote: »

He says that his credit records have already been demolished with their actions so whatever he does now won't make it any worse.

If I were him, I wouldn't be so sure that this is true. Has he looked at his credit records, what is on there that is wrong, what has he done to get the wrong bits removed?

helentay wrote: »

And all it needed it seems, was for the bank to ring him up last April, call him in and discuss what the problem was. All for the sake of less than £100!!!

If that is so, a calm and reasonable discuss with the bank surely can resolve the matter amicably, without trashing your brother's credit records.

helentay wrote: »

..... and at the end he had had enough especially when the bank said that they would make this into an official complaint if he wanted it to and that the bank had to negotiate a settlement/way out of it - he apparently told them that the only settlement or agreement that they wanted was there own way!

Again, this sounds silly and emotional. A formal complaint, in writing, seems to be a sensible way to go about resolving this matter. If your brother does not get a satisfactory answer from NatWest within 8 weeks, he can take his case to the FoS for final arbitration. He has got the law on his side all the way, why would he want to throw his rights away in a strop?

lolavix

Are you sure there's nothing more to this? Business overdrafts are rarely withdrawn without reason, and how did he not notice?

meer53

I don't think the OP has all the facts.

Their brother should make a complaint to Natwest about whats happened. If what they say is true, they have a good case, i feel though that there may be something missing from this story.

Making deposits the day after you go over an overdraft will always be seen as poor financial management. Natwest haven't demolished the credit file, they aren't the ones who have spent money that wasn't there. If, however, Natwest removed the overdraft without letting him know, then they should be looking to amend whatever is recorded. Depends on whether they contacted him or not.

If, as the OP says, he went over the overdraft on more than a few occasions, i can't believe he didn't receive anything from them.