Halifax and BOS closing my accounts

tg99

alternate wrote: »

Bizarre. I have no idea why this happened to you but I very much doubt they banned you for life/25 years because you were unprofitable or had too many accounts. Goes way beyond that.

It seems pretty clear they think you are a very dodgy individual for whatever reason.

Yes the lady at LBG Complaints did say this was not normal and the fact that they have closed down my investment account, savings accounts etc imply this is nothing to do with profitability. Hence my guess that I have come up as too 'risky' or whatever once they e reviewed my accounts, however given what access to my personal information, credit history etc then the only things that could possibly be looked as at as non-standard or cause for concern:

- transferring money in and out of the accounts on same day to meet pay in requirements for interest / rewards

- having opened a fair few accounts with LBG within c6 months and then switching away a couple of these (Halifax) not long after opening; and also opening a number of accounts with other providers during same period

- never using debit cards for any of the accounts or putting through any normal day to day transactions (other than for my Club Lloyds where the two DD were proper ones (mortgage and utility bill)

Nothing on my credit file (other than number of searches given the above) is unusual and all my employment / income / homeowner application data is not something that would raise suspicions.

tg99

smjxm09 wrote: »

Wonder if you ever used your debit cards which might have triggered something? I got a letter from Santander about me not using my debit cards with them not even for a mini statement.

No didn't use any of the debit cards though I would have activated them when they came.

fun4everyone

Thank you for the update tg99. In particular I found the stuff about increased searches on your files just before closure interesting. Usually with these kind of threads the person with the closed accounts is not 100% truthful. However in your case I really do feel you are telling us the truth and its a bit disconcerting.

The only thing I can see that is slightly non standard in my opinion is this

tg99 wrote: »

having opened a fair few accounts with LBG within c6 months and then switching away a couple of these (Halifax) not long after opening

Even that should not really be justification for closure. The only other things that come to mind that could have flagged your account would be.

A lot of cash deposits/withdrawals in branches. Did you ever deposit/withdraw cash?

Other things on your credit file. Has there ever been a mismatch on the voters roll information and the address you gave? Were you ever double registered on the electoral roll? Have you got a high frequency of address movement? How long had you been at the address you opened the accounts at? Have you ever had a dispute with an insurance company? Have you had trouble with fraud on your accounts with other banks?

It does sound like they thought you were risky for some reason rather than just unprofitable.

tg99

fun4everyone wrote: »

Thank you for the update tg99. In particular I found the stuff about increased searches on your files just before closure interesting. Usually with these kind of threads the person with the closed accounts is not 100% truthful. However in your case I really do feel you are telling us the truth and its a bit disconcerting.

The only thing I can see that is slightly non standard in my opinion is this



Even that should not really be justification for closure. The only other things that come to mind that could have flagged your account would be.

A lot of cash deposits/withdrawals in branches. Did you ever deposit/withdraw cash?

Other things on your credit file. Has there ever been a mismatch on the voters roll information and the address you gave? Were you ever double registered on the electoral roll? Have you got a high frequency of address movement? How long had you been at the address you opened the accounts at? Have you ever had a dispute with an insurance company? Have you had trouble with fraud on your accounts with other banks?

It does sound like they thought you were risky for some reason rather than just unprofitable.

No never did any branch transactions. Other than my two Club Lloyds DD, only payments in and out of my accounts were always to another one of my bank accounts (eg to withdraw interest, monthly cycling of money in and out to qualify for interest / rewards etc).

Re your other qu's, 'No' to all of them, never had any issues with other of my non-LBG bank accounts of which I have quite a few among various providers, never had any disputes, accounts hacked for fraud, etc, never missed a credit payment, gone into overdraft etc. Well over 5 years at current address.

My accounts all remained fully open and functional for the two month notice period rather than being immediately frozen, the latter which is sometimes the case if bank suspects fraud or suspicious activity.

fun4everyone

tg99 wrote: »

My accounts all remained fully open and functional for the two month notice period rather than being immediately frozen, the latter which is sometimes the case if bank suspects fraud or suspicious activity.

Yes thanks for answering tg. I do realise the above and given that fact have you done a full SAR to them? Specifically asking to see everything relating to your account closure. I have sent a SAR to several companies in my time, although never a bank. They do not have to tell you anything relating to criminal activity but as what you say is true regarding account suspension, and they never did that to you, perhaps it might reveal something to you.

Ed-1

tg99 wrote: »

My accounts all remained fully open and functional for the two month notice period rather than being immediately frozen, the latter which is sometimes the case if bank suspects fraud or suspicious activity.

Were they all closed on the advised date?

tg99

fun4everyone wrote: »

Yes thanks for answering tg. I do realise the above and given that fact have you done a full SAR to them? Specifically asking to see everything relating to your account closure. I have sent a SAR to several companies in my time, although never a bank. They do not have to tell you anything relating to criminal activity but as what you say is true regarding account suspension, and they never did that to you, perhaps it might reveal something to you.

No but I do intend to do one shortly (though if I want to cover all 3 then need to do one to Lloyds and one to HBOS I believe) but can't see them shedding much light on the matter.

The lady from Complaints office did leave me her details and said I could call her with any questions once I had received her final response letters so may do so regarding the closing of my iWeb account since she had previously indicated I might be able to keep long term investments (though only 'might' so guess they've decided not!). At the time of my complaint to her I was not aware of the iWeb account being closed as had not received notice at that point.

fun4everyone

tg99 wrote: »

but can't see them shedding much light on the matter.

You would be surprised what light they will shed. They don't have to reveal anything to do with a crime or anything to do with another person - apart from that you will get to see all internal data and notes on you, with full descriptions of internal codes. Please get it done.

tg99

Ed-1 wrote: »

Were they all closed on the advised date?

Yes, I kept my money in there up until the day before the two months was up in order to maximise interest and then online transferred it out to my other non-LBG accounts and changed / cancelled my DD and SO. I tried logging in the day after closure and all the accounts had indeed been closed. I received the interest they owed me (as accounts were closed day before interest is paid) via cheque a few days later.

System

This definitely highlights the need to retain a (backup) bank account unconnected to a main account.

tg99 wrote: »

Yes, I kept my money in there up until the day before the two months was up in order to maximise interest and then online transferred it out to my other non-LBG accounts and changed / cancelled my DD and SO. I tried logging in the day after closure and all the accounts had indeed been closed. I received the interest they owed me (as accounts were closed day before interest is paid) via cheque a few days later.