Natwest is closing my 3 accounts without a justified reason!!

Mari87

Hello,
I hope I am in the right forum to discuss my issue!
I have had a Natwest bank account which was temporarily blocked on 22 July. after calling the bank they told me they are doing some investigations on a transfer that was made to my account in June by my sister from Afghanistan. I initially agreed because there was no reason behind it. For that time, I had another Natwest account through which I made my payments and other purchases. On Saturday when I was buying some groceries, my debit card was rejected. I went to the bank afterwards and they told me that it is because your previous account which was under investigation may be closed in 30 to 60 days period. they also told me that I may receive a Letter on Monday about the decision.

My concern here is that Natwest should't have reported my name to CIFAS as that would unable me open an account else where. I really want to learn from experiences of any one who had the same experience or who had their name in CIFAS. How were they able to remove it and how were they able to get things back to normal??

I am really tensed right now and I know how I have spent 2 days without access to any money and surviving with just £5.

Thrugelmir

Mari87 wrote: »

I initially agreed because there was no reason behind it. /QUOTE]

There's always a reason behind it. Why didn't you find out and let the bank know.

Brock_and_Roll

Mari87 wrote: »

Hello,
I hope I am in the right forum to discuss my issue!
I have had a Natwest bank account which was temporarily blocked on 22 July. after calling the bank they told me they are doing some investigations on a transfer that was made to my account in June by my sister from Afghanistan. I initially agreed because there was no reason behind it. For that time, I had another Natwest account through which I made my payments and other purchases. On Saturday when I was buying some groceries, my debit card was rejected. I went to the bank afterwards and they told me that it is because your previous account which was under investigation may be closed in 30 to 60 days period. they also told me that I may receive a Letter on Monday about the decision.

My concern here is that Natwest should't have reported my name to CIFAS as that would unable me open an account else where. I really want to learn from experiences of any one who had the same experience or who had their name in CIFAS. How were they able to remove it and how were they able to get things back to normal??

I am really tensed right now and I know how I have spent 2 days without access to any money and surviving with just £5.

This is going to be a big issue going forward. The banks are running scared of the regulatory authorities and are basically becoming very risk adverse and closing (or not opening accounts) where there is even a whiff of non-financial risk. Obviously in this case the "risks" relates to transfers to/from Afghanistan. Furthermore, the PEP (politically exposed persons list) is growing rapidly and if you are unfortunate enough to have the same name as someone on it (and some names for example in the Asian community are as common as "John Smith" then you are going to run into problems. Mark Carney recently warned banks no to leave some people/companies unbankable, but the banks are more scared of the regulators.

Candyapple

Similar thread here:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5279801


Basically, if you don't get the CIFAS marker removed, you can pretty much forget about having ANY credit, bank account or otherwise for the next 6 years, including basic bank accounts.

GingerBob_3

Thrugelmir wrote: »

Mari87 wrote: »

I initially agreed because there was no reason behind it. /QUOTE]

There's always a reason behind it. Why didn't you find out and let the bank know.

That is true. Often the reason is blatant stupidity on the part of the banks.

Thrugelmir

GingerBob wrote: »

Thrugelmir wrote: »

That is true. Often the reason is blatant stupidity on the part of the banks.

You'd be surprised how stupid some people are. As if one has never heard it before. Banks are people too. With rules and regulations to conform to. Some customers are simply too much trouble to deal with.

Brooker_Dave

Yet another unregulated black list of everyday British people?

It seems the financial sector who got the massive taxpayer bailouts see accountability as a one way street...

n15h

It seems actions like these by banks have been ongoing for some time. I remembered reading an online article about some customers who this had happened to.

Most recently, Natwest closed the account of an MBE despite having accounts with them for 40 years http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/mar/07/natwest-shut-customers-accounts

Here's another article from a few years ago where a customer's accounts were closed and he was also declined a banking reference by Natwest. The reporter informs the customer to get his file from CIFAS to investigate and possibly look at getting in touch with FOS. Unfortunately, I could not find any information on the outcome of this case.
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/experts/article-2196771/NatWest-shut-sons-accounts-wont-say-why.html

You may also want to put forward a Subject Access Request to Natwest / RBS to provide you with all the information they hold on you. May be this may unearth something. It costs £10 and the business has 40 days to respond back to you.

Just a quick Google search shows you are not the first person for this to happen to, and I seriously doubt you will be the last!

Madbags

Natwest did the same thing to me some years ago. Just had a letter stating my account will be closed within x amount of days for no reason at all.


It even said on the letter if you ask us why, we will not be able to provide you with an answer. Thought it was kind of odd, I never had any international dealings or did anything "dodgy" at all, I just used it as one normally would.


I checked CIFAS and all that but nothing on there so it couldn't have been to do with anything fraudulent.


Oh well it's their loss, if they don't want my money it's their problem.

uncreative

Am I right in saying that CIFAS shouldnt stop you getting credit for 6 years, in fact you can voluntarily register with CIFAS yourself!

Is it not a fraud prevention measure to introduce additional scrutiny to the credit process?

gunsandbanjos

uncreative wrote: »

Am I right in saying that CIFAS shouldnt stop you getting credit for 6 years, in fact you can voluntarily register with CIFAS yourself!

Is it not a fraud prevention measure to introduce additional scrutiny to the credit process?

It entirely depends what category of CIFAS is loaded, there are victim and perpetrator categories.