Lloyds Bank gave me 60 days notice to switch to an other bank

ismail1980

Hi everyone
First of all many thanks in advance for all the advises.

I have three bank accounts. One of them for savings, the other one is for salary and Lloyds account I use for everyday bills (supermarket, restaurants, buying things online etc) and for my small telephone card business.
Last week I received a letter saying Lloyds can not maintain banking relations with me and I have to move to an other bank within 60 days as they will close my account.

I called and call center guy had no info on system so after reading online i was scared that they suspect something malicious but after reading their Terms and Conditions I discovered that they would immideataly close my account is they suspected fraud or other illegal activities and would not have given me 60 days notice. I was and still scared they will put me on black list somewhere so I wrote an email to complaints department saying that if they suspect something dodgy they should ask me, nice lady called and arranged an appeal for me with the local bank manager who turned out to be even nicer and asked me all the financial details and I did disclose literally everything. He said they at HQ probably suspect money laundering because a lot of payments come in and little stay in and I said yes that was the idea to use your bank for bills and small transactions and my small business that makes me 150 GBP a month. I also did send two western union payments to my mother abroad in the last 6 months (small amounts like 300 gbp and 500 gbp). I also told him that I buy cards using PayPal, Skrill and UK bank transfer and sell those through my website using paypal, skrill and UK bank account. Bank manager wrote an email to trouble makers and told them every detail and added that he is convinced i am genuine customer and account should remain open.

My question is this:

1. Do they take appeals seriously at HQ in the light of my total disclosure about all account activities?
2. Any chance I will be allowed to stay at Lloyds?
3. Can they put me on Cifas for just a suspicion? Because they did not use immediate account suspension as their account terms claim?

Thanks again for taking time to read and advice.

jonesMUFCforever

You are running a business through a personal account - they have you bang to rights.
Check the credit reference agencies to see if they have issued a CIFAS marker on you - if they have you may lose the other accounts too.

ismail1980

But according to HMRC and other web based small business advice sites using personal account for small business is not a crime. I checked Noodle and there is no CIFAS marker there. You think they want me out for violating their newly published terms (new ToRs are out this month)?

KJSmith

It's still prohibited in the current terms and conditions of your bank account though and has been for a long while. The Western Union payments are potential red flags too - which country were you sending funds to?

john1002

I would hope that lloyds let you keep the account but on the assumption that it is no longer used for business. I doubt they would raise a CIFAS marker but if they did you need to raise a subject access request as the CRA would not show it, they only show identity related ones. Hopefully yours is a warning to others that you should not use a personal account for business no matter how long your have got away with it.

Keep the thread posted

John

ismail1980

Hi, I sent Western Union payments to Georgia. Bank manager did not make much of using it for small business transactions (I told him most of it goes through paypal and Skrill) but said they may view it as money laundering however if they had any evidence they would freeze the account right-away.

ismail1980

One more thing...why would Bank manager put in appeal that account should remain open? I think he is more of common sense that we can get this guy into our business account and make money from him. They all said it is Risk assessment guys those pulled the plug.

jonesMUFCforever

ismail1980 wrote: »

One more thing...why would Bank manager put in appeal that account should remain open? I think he is more of common sense that we can get this guy into our business account and make money from him. They all said it is Risk assessment guys those pulled the plug.

Too late now IMO.
The time to open a business account was when you started the business.

SurfKing

It seems rather short-sighted of Lloyds to cut off their relationship with a customer just because they ran a small business using a personal account. I'd have thought that a more productive way forward would be to get in touch with the customer and tell them to transfer to a business account.

MABLE

ismail1980 wrote: »

Hi everyone
First of all many thanks in advance for all the advises.

I have three bank accounts. One of them is Santander 123 for savings, the other one is for salary and Lloyds account I use for everyday bills (supermarket, restaurants, buying things online etc) and for my small telephone card business (selling cards to people to make cheap international calls).
Last week I received a letter saying Lloyds can not maintain banking relations with me and I have to move to an other bank within 60 days as they will close my account.

I called and call center guy had no info on system so after reading online i was scared that they suspect something malicious but after reading their Terms and Conditions I discovered that they would immideataly close my account is they suspected fraud or other illegal activities and would not have given me 60 days notice. I was and still scared they will put me on black list somewhere so I wrote an email to complaints department saying that if they suspect something dodgy they should ask me, nice lady called and arranged an appeal for me with the local bank manager who turned out to be even nicer and asked me all the financial details and I did disclose literally everything. He said they at HQ probably suspect money laundering because a lot of payments come in and little stay in and I said yes that was the idea to use your bank for bills and small transactions and my small business that makes me 200 GBP a month. I also did send two western union payments to my mother abroad in the last 6 months (small amounts like 300 gbp and 500 gbp). I also told him that I buy cards using PayPal, Skrill and UK bank transfer and sell those through my website using paypal, skrill and UK bank account. Bank manager wrote an email to trouble makers and told them every detail and added that he is convinced i am genuine customer and account should remain open.

My question is this:

1. Do they take appeals seriously at HQ in the light of my total disclosure about all account activities?
2. Any chance I will be allowed to stay at Lloyds?
3. Can they put me on Cifas for just a suspicion? Because they did not use immediate account suspension as their account terms claim?

Thanks again for taking time to read and advice.

So the nice Bank manager thinks their HQ suspects you of money laundering. Certainly not the wisest thing to say.

mapk

MABLE wrote: »

So the nice Bank manager thinks their HQ suspects you of money laundering. Certainly not the wisest thing to say.

A sackable offence?