Trying to save but accused of being a terrorist /fraudster :-(

LeeLoo_2

I've just had a very upsetting meeting at Natwest. I've banked with them for 15 years. In the last year I discovered envelope banking and after becoming uncomfortable with having so much cash in envelopes around the house over the last year I set up 18 instant saver accounts.

I have named the accounts and they are called things like, childcare, takeaway & meals out, petrol, school uniforms and shoes, school outings, groceries, lunch at work... When I get paid I divvy up the money and only spend from the allocated pot and on what it is meant to be spent on. A sneaky pizza means directly taking money out of the school outing account... you get the picture. For the first time in my life I feel like I have control of my spending.

I went to the branch at lunch to try and open more accounts. I had an appointment and was told 'no, you can't have any more'. when I asked why he was quite huffy. I asked for an actual reason and he called his manager who said it was to prevent fraud and terrorism. I told them I only moved money within the savings accounts, I use my current account. I showed them a printout with names on each account of what I use them for, saying it's not terrorism, its just keeping on top of things. They also said they cost too much as some had only a few pounds left in them (e.g) groceries.

So is my only alternative to have piles of cash at home?

paulineb_2

I dont honestly think you need to have 18 savings accounts, surely you can use a couple of the accounts for more than one purpose. Ive got one current account, a couple of online savers and an easycash with the halifax and thats more than enough.

Sorry you were upset and Im sure theres nothing untoward, but I do think you can manage your money and double up on the savings accounts so that one has two or three uses without getting mixed up.

Because where would it end otherwise, you could realistically end up with 30 or 40 accounts. Theres no need to have piles of cash sitting in the house when you have 18 savings accounts.

Atidi

LeeLoo wrote: »

I've just had a very upsetting meeting at Natwest. I've banked with them for 15 years. In the last year I discovered envelope banking and after becoming uncomfortable with having so much cash in envelopes around the house over the last year I set up 18 instant saver accounts.

I have named the accounts and they are called things like, childcare, takeaway & meals out, petrol, school uniforms and shoes, school outings, groceries, lunch at work... When I get paid I divvy up the money and only spend from the allocated pot and on what it is meant to be spent on. A sneaky pizza means directly taking money out of the school outing account... you get the picture. For the first time in my life I feel like I have control of my spending.

I went to the branch at lunch to try and open more accounts. I had an appointment and was told 'no, you can't have any more'. when I asked why he was quite huffy. I asked for an actual reason and he called his manager who said it was to prevent fraud and terrorism. I told them I only moved money within the savings accounts, I use my current account. I showed them a printout with names on each account of what I use them for, saying it's not terrorism, its just keeping on top of things. They also said they cost too much as some had only a few pounds left in them (e.g) groceries.

So is my only alternative to have piles of cash at home?

Surely if it's true that you only have a few pounds in some (or even all) of the numerous accounts you have opened, then those piles of cash at home won't be very big...

... unless you keep it all in pennies :rotfl:

Everynamestaken

lol, this thread has brightened up my friday afternoon.Pure entertaininment. Just a simple suggestion. Catagerorise them, so grocery, pizza, school meals all go into one account. holiday fund is one account, and the rest is savings account 2 etc.Lets be honest, all those accounts are a pain for the bank and a pain for you really in essence. I wouldn't be upset over this.

mgdavid

One customer, 18 accounts?
if ever there was a good case for charging a tenner a year for every account, this is it !

Sinhanada

mgdavid wrote: »

One customer, 18 accounts?
if ever there was a good case for charging a tenner a year for every account, this is it !

Fantastic :-):rotfl:

Archi_Bald

Use a spreadsheet so you can have 18 or 180 or however many virtual accounts?

If you don't know how to use one, look for a tutorial, such as this one: http://www.gcflearnfree.org/googlespreadsheets

alanq

I cannot afford the time now to look for a link but I recall a case where someone was advised to open several (not 18!) accounts by NatWest staff and then had their accounts frozen for suspicious activity BECAUSE they were using multiple accounts.

I can quite understand why a bank would wish to limit the number of accounts but "suspicion of money laundering", "data protection" and "health and safety" seem to be used as cover for all sorts of unrelated decisions.

[Even Barclays Openplan provides (provided?) this facility for only up to 12 pots.]

opinions4u

I'm sympathetic. I used to manage my money the same way, but Halifax eventually reduced the maximum number of Web Saver accounts down to just 5.

If you've ever been involved in investigating a fraud trail you would understand it. Tracking the money moving from account to account is hard enough at the best of times, but when there are multiple transactions across a dozen or more accounts it becomes very, very difficult indeed.

accused of being a terrorist /fraudster

It's pretty clear that you haven't been accused of anything.

Get in to spreadsheets. Then you'll be fine.

alanq wrote: »

I can quite understand why a bank would wish to limit the number of accounts but "suspicion of money laundering", "data protection" and "health and safety" seem to be used as cover for all sorts of unrelated decisions.

A money launderer with fewer accounts will find it harder to "layer" their ill gotten gains. So it stacks up from a money laundering perspective. Even if the bottom line is that they don't want to recruit another shed load investigators to track the money through the multiple accounts.

alternate

From what you said - you were not accused of fraud or being a terrorist. They said their policy was to limit the number of accounts to prevent such misuse.

Tiddlywinks

LeeLoo wrote: »

I've just had a very upsetting meeting at Natwest. I've banked with them for 15 years. In the last year I discovered envelope banking and after becoming uncomfortable with having so much cash in envelopes around the house over the last year I set up 18 instant saver accounts.

I have named the accounts and they are called things like, childcare, takeaway & meals out, petrol, school uniforms and shoes, school outings, groceries, lunch at work... When I get paid I divvy up the money and only spend from the allocated pot and on what it is meant to be spent on. A sneaky pizza means directly taking money out of the school outing account... you get the picture. For the first time in my life I feel like I have control of my spending.

I went to the branch at lunch to try and open more accounts. I had an appointment and was told 'no, you can't have any more'. when I asked why he was quite huffy. I asked for an actual reason and he called his manager who said it was to prevent fraud and terrorism. I told them I only moved money within the savings accounts, I use my current account. I showed them a printout with names on each account of what I use them for, saying it's not terrorism, its just keeping on top of things. They also said they cost too much as some had only a few pounds left in them (e.g) groceries.

So is my only alternative to have piles of cash at home?

Good grief... banks are businesses and need customers that don't cost them money. Why should they provide you with 18 accounts - that is just ridiculous.

As someone else said, used less accounts and use spreadsheets for managing the balances.

As to being upset about accusations of terrorism... let's not be a drama queen... they don't want to provide you with any more frivolous accounts because they are too costly.

I agree with the bank entirely.