Barclays accounts frozen - Help!

Steve76

Hi Guys,

I hope someone can offer me some advice on what my next course of action should be but I'll explain the situation as briefly as I can:

I've had a Barclays personal current account for over 20 years (although this hasn't been my main day-to-day account for a couple of years). Back in December I opened a business account with Barclays as I am just in the process of starting my first business. I got a letter from them on 4th January giving me my sort code and account number and informing me it will be a few weeks before I receive my debit card, telephone banking details, etc. This is the last correspondence I received from them.

I called the business banking team in early Feb to say I'd yet to receive my debit card etc and they said they'd chase this up for me.

I used the account for the first time 2 weeks ago to pay a cheque in over the counter (which cleared in the normal amount of time). A couple of days later I phoned the business banking team to chase up my debit card again as I now wanted to start using it and they told me they couldn't access my account as it had been frozen due to a suspected fraud and they couldn't give me any more information.

I went in to my local branch and they again said that they can't give me any information but will get my business manager to phone me - which he never did.

On Friday I got a letter stating that following a review of my account, my personal current account is to be closed in the next 2 weeks.

I called the number on the letter and did finally get some more information. It seems someone paid 2 amounts totaling around £5,000 into my account in January (I don't know if they withdrew the funds too). I was completely unaware of this as I hadn't yet received my debit card or any login details to access my account.

I went to see my business account holding branch to try and find out what the hell is going on and the business manager looked into the account history and said it looks as though my account 'stationary' had been intercepted, but was surprised the fraud team was looking to close all my accounts. He called the fraud team but they wouldn't give him any more details.

Bottom line is, someone has gained access to my new business account in January, used it to make (and I assume) withdraw 2 payments and seemingly left me to be an innocent 'fall guy'. I am completely innocent of any wrongdoing. I'd never even used the account up until 2 weeks ago.

I have been allowed to draw the money out of the account that I'd paid in 2 weeks ago, but both the new business account and my personal account are being closed by the bank.

My question now is what should be my next course of action? I will be getting a call from someone at Barclays in the next couple of days to discuss the situation apparently, but the business manager said he didn't think the decision to close my accounts would be reversed.

Should I go straight to the Financial Ombardsman or get legal advice? I've already raised a complaint with Barclays about this.

Also, will this affect my and my company's credit rating/file?

Any help will be gratefully received as I am completely innocent of any wrongdoing and am staggered that even if someone did intercept the debit card when it was sent, that there is no security procedure to activate it that involves personal info such as date of birth or mother's maiden name?

Thanks for reading this far and hope someone can advise me how to proceed!

Steve

melbell

Banking facilities aint a right, so a complaint/take legal advice wouldnt get you far. As I suspect AML kicked in here and theyve decided they suspect you may have let the details get intercepted. But thats me thinking aloud

Open an accounts elsewhere and credit histories shouldnt be affected

dalesrider

Steve76 wrote: »

Should I go straight to the Financial Ombardsman or get legal advice? I've already raised a complaint with Barclays about this.

Steve

You can't go to FOS till you either get a deadlock letter or 8 weeks has passed since you started the complaint.

TBH. Can't see given that it was not your fault, that the peperwork was never recieved. Why they would not reverse the account closure decisions.

Of course if you are not suing the personal acc. That could be a reason for closing that.

Steve76

Thanks for the replies.

I was told the personal account was being closed as I'm a director of the company and therefore linked to the potential fraud business account.

I did still use the personal account so it wasn't dormant.

Fingers crossed they reverse the account closing decision then!

chanz4

doubt it barclays are poor , along with why I dumped their business account years back

innovate

Check your credit files whether there is anything on them that shouldn't be on. Check again in a month's time and then again a month later, because updates aren't instant. Last thing you want is wrong information on your credit files.

Banks can hide behind Money Laundering Legislation and don't have to tell you anything if you are a suspect in their eyes.

If you are certain you are squeaky clean, raise a written complaint. If it's not resolved to your satisfaction within 8 weeks, you can go to the FOS. It's not a fast process though, and you may never win. So whatever you do, you need to make alternative arrangements for your banking needs.

melbell

innovate wrote: »

Banks can hide behind Money Laundering Legislation and don't have to tell you anything if you are a suspect in their eyes.

If you are certain you are squeaky clean, raise a written complaint. If it's not resolved to your satisfaction within 8 weeks, you can go to the FOS. It's not a fast process though, and you may never win. So whatever you do, you need to make alternative arrangements for your banking needs.

OP makes a complaint, goes to FOS

FOS: Excuse me Barclays why did you close these accounts
Barclays: Well we suspected fraud, and possibly money laundering
FOS: Oh ok.
FOS find in favour of Barclays

Alot of people think Banks are duty bound to offer an account. Matter of the fact is they can choose who to transact with.

Anthorn

Let's put this into perspective: You are under suspicion of money laundering. The bank cannot prosecute you nor find you guilty. They will have reported it to HMRC because they are obliged to do that by law and it's out of the banks hands and in the hands of HMRC. HMRC will no doubt contact you if they think that further investigation is justified. If you can prove where the money came from you're safe. If not, for example you have a business which makes a profit which you have not declared, start worrying and see a solicitor!
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/mlr/

Steve76

Anthorn wrote: »

Let's put this into perspective: You are under suspicion of money laundering. The bank cannot prosecute you nor find you guilty. They will have reported it to HMRC because they are obliged to do that by law and it's out of the banks hands and in the hands of HMRC. HMRC will no doubt contact you if they think that further investigation is justified. If you can prove where the money came from you're safe. If not, for example you have a business which makes a profit which you have not declared, start worrying and see a solicitor!

I obviously can't prove where the money came from because someone else seems to have intercepted my debit card/details and used the account for their own purposes without my knowledge. That's the problem!

I've nothing to hide as I'm a completely innocent party in all this so if the HMRC gets in touch that's fine.

olly300

Steve76 wrote: »

I obviously can't prove where the money came from because someone else seems to have intercepted my debit card/details and used the account for their own purposes without my knowledge. That's the problem!

I've nothing to hide as I'm a completely innocent party in all this so if the HMRC gets in touch that's fine.

Your actual complaint here is about the insecure delivery of your bank card.

The card shouldn't have been sent by normal post but either a courier where you both had to prove your ID with passport/driving license and sign, or delivered to the branch. This is because it's a new business account. The letter with the card normally indicates whether it's a replacement or not so the thief knows to wait for the PIN and cheque book.

I would open up a new personal bank account with a different bank while you are complaining to Barclays so you still have banking facilities. However there will be a marker against your name about money laundering so you need to take your complaint all the way to the FOS. Again emphasis that everyone knows cards and PINs are often stolen in the post and Barclays took insufficient care with delivery allowing the card to be intercepted with ease.