Banned from having a Natwest/rbs etc account

Mortgage2015

I can't find the letter at the minute but a few months ago I my accounts with Natwest were closed and I was told in a letter than I was no longer allowed open a bank account with them ever. A little harsh for not doing anything but nevertheless (and this may be a stupid question) but when they say forever do they really mean it? I've seen mortgage rates that are good for me and while I don't particularly want another bank account with them I would be disappointed if I was restricted from all their mortgage offers.

Is there anything I can do? I have no cifas because I opened accounts no problem with other banks after.

Ps: I'm not exactly sure why they closed the accounts. It may have been to do with who I was financially linked with at the time or it may be that I opened too many at once and then I deposited £1 in each online and £100 a few days later in person. The accounts were closed shortly after that.

USER_NAME

I too had the same letter back in June/July time.

I have tried applying for other products with them since and have all be straight off declined.

Having checked my credit file and CIFAS, no markers have been left.

[Deleted User]

I believe that when you open a NatWest current account online, they soft-search you, give you the account details online, then do a hard search a day or two later.

If they don't like what they see at that point, they close the account.

I can't see why they would close accounts because of you putting money into them.

eskbanker

Mortgage2015 wrote: »

I'm not exactly sure why they closed the accounts. It may have been to do with who I was financially linked with at the time or it may be that I opened too many at once and then I deposited £1 in each online and £100 a few days later in person. The accounts were closed shortly after that.

How many did you open? To be honest it does sound pretty odd to open multiple accounts with the same bank and then fund them the way you did, so I can understand why that might have rung some alarm bells in their internal monitoring processes, but whether that warrants closure and a lifelong ban is another matter.

However, if you've spooked them for whatever reason, I can't see them falling over themselves to lend you a large sum in the form of a mortgage a few months after the closures, so I'd suggest that you'd be best to forget them and move on to the rest of the mortgage marketplace....

Mortgage2015

billbennett wrote: »

I believe that when you open a NatWest current account online, they soft-search you, give you the account details online, then do a hard search a day or two later.

If they don't like what they see at that point, they close the account.

I can't see why they would close accounts because of you putting money into them.

My account was opened and they gave 14 days notice of closure it a month later, that's a bit too long to be a hard search decline then is it?

Mortgage2015

eskbanker wrote: »

How many did you open? To be honest it does sound pretty odd to open multiple accounts with the same bank and then fund them the way you did, so I can understand why that might have rung some alarm bells in their internal monitoring processes, but whether that warrants closure and a lifelong ban is another matter.

However, if you've spooked them for whatever reason, I can't see them falling over themselves to lend you a large sum in the form of a mortgage a few months after the closures, so I'd suggest that you'd be best to forget them and move on to the rest of the mortgage marketplace....

3 Accounts. The £1 was just to set up a standing order from another account, and to make sure it was the right account. Didn't think anything bad of it at the time, wouldn't do it again now.

I'm going with Nationwide for my current mortgage but I wondered what would happen if I wanted to remortgage in 10 years time. Also Natwest have that new 3% account and my mother has it but I can't explain to her why I can't have it.

Mortgage2015

USER_NAME wrote: »

I too had the same letter back in June/July time.

I have tried applying for other products with them since and have all be straight off declined.

Having checked my credit file and CIFAS, no markers have been left.

I suppose its held on their internal records for at least 6 years? I wonder how long though?

eskbanker

Mortgage2015 wrote: »

3 Accounts

A bit off-topic but why did you want three accounts with NatWest anyway? Many people on here open multiple accounts with the same bank but purely as a way of maximising interest, the benefits of doing so with NatWest are less obvious....

Mortgage2015 wrote: »

I'm going with Nationwide for my current mortgage but I wondered what would happen if I wanted to remortgage in 10 years time.

Fair enough, but you did originally say that you'd seen mortgage rates that are good for you which strongly suggested you were attracted to their current rates rather than what they might offer in ten years time! (when you'll need a new user name )

Mortgage2015 wrote: »

Also Natwest have that new 3% account and my mother has it but I can't explain to her why I can't have it.

If you feel the need to explain it, why can't you just say that they won't let you (which is as much as you know anyway after all)?

eskbanker

Mortgage2015 wrote: »

I suppose its held on their internal records for at least 6 years? I wonder how long though?

It could be indefinitely - there have certainly been posts on here about people being unable to get a switching bonus because they'd had an account with the relevant bank (First Direct if memory serves) more than ten years previously, and banks usually have long memories about the likes of defaults (not directly relevant here though), so I wouldn't rely on this automatically dropping off their internal records as a matter of course after x years....

Archi_Bald

You might be able to find out what they don't like about you by doing a SAR https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/principle-6-rights/subject-access-request/

Mortgage2015

Archi_Bald wrote: »

You might be able to find out what they don't like about you by doing a SAR https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/principle-6-rights/subject-access-request/

If I do do that and it says something completely outrageous, do I have any recourse?