Bank of Scotland, Halifax and now TSB have closed my Accounts

Archi_Bald

saintalan wrote: »

Do we have any idea how many MSEers bother do this

I don't but I would think there is a vast number of people now doing this. Not only because it figured in the MSE Newsletter that goes to 4+ million people but also because interest paying current accounts have recommended for several months now by the Telegraph, the Daily Mail and other websites such as savingschampion. The sometimes excessive handholding and step-by-step instructions on the MSE forum are certainly not conducive to keeping good offers alive for long times. I am as guilty as others.

It is quite inevitable that there will be/has been a point at which some of the banks will just no longer play the game.

joe134

saintalan wrote: »

This is what I was trying to get at.

Do we have any idea how many MSEers bother do this and is it enough to warrant closing them?

Not sure what other sites/sources may suggest this as well.

Cheers

Alan

I don't think any of us knows the score, we are just guessing.Try as we might to stay under their radar, until we know why they target certain a/cs, we will never know if the letters are coming. the only sure way is, close them all,or some, their software can pick up anything we do.To them, it's a numbers game, and we are only pawns.One shouldn't have to play cat,n,mouse with banks to get a decent return on ones money.I for one am just about fed up with it all.Most of us just do it for fun, not the money, hardly going to make you rich, but,now


It's not fun,and, the consequences can have a serious affect on ones financial status, just closing A/cs for spurious reasons.

Sea_Shell

I'm just waiting and holding my breath on this....wait and see.

Why can't the banks just go back to offering a decent rate on a 'normal' saving account. I'd just as happily let my money sit in any of their accounts at 4 or 5% etc (even if on a restricted balance basis), rather than all this cloak and dagger stuff with Current Accounts.

Surely a standard on-line savings account is less cost for the bank too, as no debit cards to issue etc.

saintalan

Who knows the potential HSBC move and Spain's Sabadell will stir things up and we will get more offers:)

mapk

joe134 wrote: »

It's not fun,and, the consequences can have a serious affect on ones financial status, just closing A/cs for spurious reasons.

Just wondering whether a series of account closures by banks would have an adverse effect on an individual's credit rating..?

colsten

Sea_Shell wrote: »

Why can't the banks just go back to offering a decent rate on a 'normal' saving account

Because the Base Rate is still 0.5%, as it has been for years now?
Because inflation still runs at less than 1%?
Because the Funding For Lending Scheme is still running and nobody need savers' money?
Because if when savings rates rose, lending rates would rocket, and the still fragile economy would collapse?

saintalan wrote: »

Who knows the potential HSBC move and Spain's Sabadell will stir things up and we will get more offers:)

How would either of these impact UK interest rates (saving and borrowing) in the UK, and why?

colsten

mapk wrote: »

Just wondering whether a series of account closures by banks would have an adverse effect on an individual's credit rating..?

Only if these were recorded on their credit files, or if a CIFAS marker go placed.

AFAIK, there is no record on anybody's credit file that says a bank closed an account. If there was a CIFAS marker, it would be visible on the credit files and a bank would need to justify why they placed it if the customer challenged the CIFAS marker. "Customer not profitable", "customer abused account in our opinion", "customer upset Jim and Jane in the Jobsworth Team" etc etc etc is not a valid reason for a CIFAS marker.

Banks will be a lot smarter than recording any defaults or any CIFAS markers. They can do as Lloyds and FD (and probably any other bank) have been doing for many years and keep a record of those customers they don't want to take on again.

This is the same as you keeping a record - written or mentally - of places you will never grace with your custom with ever again. In a free market economy, no company and no individual can be forced to do business with somebody they don't want to do business with.

saintalan

colsten wrote: »

How would either of these impact UK interest rates (saving and borrowing) in the UK, and why?

I didnt say that. Just saying they might offer some current account deals like the others.

norm_

Haven't 3x BOS Vantage accounts been the linking factor in all the closures we've seen on here?

Jsscmm

colsten wrote: »

AFAIK, there is no record on anybody's credit file that says a bank closed an account.

AIUI this is true. What is also true is that the status of each account is updated monthly. So if someone had say 5 CA's closed by a banking group, this would show up as five closures, even if it doesn't say who initiated the closing. It would be up to other organisations to decide how to interpret that data.