Barclays account "under review"

VLIT

Good morning! I know this theme has already been talked about extensively on this forum, but please bear with me. My situation seems to be slightly different from all others that have been already discussed, and therefore I was hoping someone could me advice pertinent to my specific case.
On the 6th of December I tried to use my debit card without success two times. I tried to open my mobile banking app and found that I could no longer access my account. I therefore called Barclays and was told that my account had been put under review. Noticing the unwillingness of the person at the other end of the phone to help me in any way, I decided to just visit my branch, where an extremely sympathetic teller was far more helpful. Talking to him, he did not know why my account was under review or how long it would take. However, he suggested that it could be connected to a bank transfer that I had received a few days earlier. At that point, he asked if I could provide him with a payslip to prove that the funds actually belonged to me. I explained that I could not, because I am a university student and the funds on my account had come from my mother. This surprised him, as he said that for a student it is normal to receive funds from a parent, especially when the student in question is from another country like I am, and that this should not be a suspicious transaction. He then asked if I could provide the receipt from my mother's hand of the bank transfer, which I did immediately, and he sent it to the fraud department. However, 20 days have now gone by and I still have no access to my funds.
I am extremely stressed by this situation, as I have been borrowing money from friends for the past three weeks and still have no idea when I will be able to access my bank account again. If anyone could give some helpful suggestions, I would be very grateful.

grumbler

VLIT wrote: »

Good morning! I know this theme has already been talked about extensively on this forum, but please bear with me. My situation seems to be slightly different from all others that have been already discussed, and therefore I was hoping someone could me advice pertinent to my specific case.
On the 6th of December I tried to use my debit card without success two times. I tried to open my mobile banking app and found that I could no longer access my account. I therefore called Barclays and was told that my account had been put under review. Noticing the unwillingness of the person at the other end of the phone to help me in any way, I decided to just visit my branch, where an extremely sympathetic teller was far more helpful. Talking to him, he did not know why my account was under review or how long it would take. However, he suggested that it could be connected to a bank transfer that I had received a few days earlier.

I don't see any difference from endless similar stories here. The same paranoid suspicions and the same arrogance towards an innocent customer.

At that point, he asked if I could provide him with a payslip to prove that the funds actually belonged to me. I explained that I could not, because I am a university student and the funds on my account had come from my mother. This surprised him, as he said that for a student it is normal to receive funds from a parent, especially when the student in question is from another country like I am, and that this should not be a suspicious transaction. He then asked if I could provide the receipt from my mother's hand of the bank transfer, which I did immediately, and he sent it to the fraud department. However, 20 days have now gone by and I still have no access to my funds.

I don't think that any 'receipt' from an alleged relative, especially from abroad, can satisfy the 'detectives' from the bank.

I am extremely stressed by this situation, as I have been borrowing money from friends for the past three weeks and still have no idea when I will be able to access my bank account again. If anyone could give some helpful suggestions, I would be very grateful.

Complain formally and demand compensation, especially if there was some money in the account before the transfer. Any suspicious transfer can be suspended and investigated without blocking the account and leaving the customer without access to any money.
For the future, consider opening a spare account with another bank and keeping some money there.

MyOnlyPost

I can't help you with your problem, sorry

I can only say that Barclays are notorious for this behaviour. A friend of mines son who was at uni was taken into a back room and interviewed without an appointment when he went in branch to complain, then they made him deal with the central fraud team whilst there. Made him feel like a criminal and locked his account for weeks. Strongly recommend splitting money between accounts and not using Barclays

VLIT

First of all, thank you for your reply. I will be sure to open another bank account as soon as this whole thing is over, like you suggested, so that in the future I do not find myself in this situation again.

grumbler wrote: »

I don't see any difference from endless similar stories here. The same paranoid suspicions and the same arrogance towards an innocent customer.

I agree with you that the course of events is the same as those reported by many other people. The only thing is, I had never read about a student having the same experience, and I somehow thought this could make a difference, given that non-working students will have to receive at least some money from their relatives to pay their expenses.

grumbler wrote: »

I don't think that any 'receipt' from an alleged relative, especially from abroad, can satisfy the 'detectives' from the bank.

I again agree with you, and that's why I offered to provide my birth certificate to prove my relationship with the person who had made the bank transfer in the first place, but they told me that they would not accept any other document apart from that receipt.

JuicyJesus

VLIT wrote: »

I again agree with you, and that's why I offered to provide my birth certificate to prove my relationship with the person who had made the bank transfer in the first place, but they told me that they would not accept any other document apart from that receipt.

They are concerned about the source of the funds rather than the relationship to you of the person the funds have come from. Your birth certificate doesn't actually prove anything to them.


You should raise a formal complaint with Barclays and enclose any documentary evidence that you have. Do this in writing.

VLIT

JuicyJesus wrote: »

They are concerned about the source of the funds rather than the relationship to you of the person the funds have come from. Your birth certificate doesn't actually prove anything to them.


You should raise a formal complaint with Barclays and enclose any documentary evidence that you have. Do this in writing.

It was mostly to prove that the person sending me the bank transfer was not a random stranger, but I get your point. I will try to send them a proof of where my mother funds' came from then, although I will first need to get an official certified translation, given that all of these documents will be in Italian. But thanks, I did not think about sending the documents together with my complaint!

grumbler

I wouldn't waste money on certification. If they need this document, they are capable of translating it themselves, but they rejected your offer of providing any extra proofs and keep the account locked for 20 days and counting.
Don't forget to mention this in the complaint. You are a victim of their arrogance and weren't even informed about anything and can only guess about what triggered their paranoia.

JuicyJesus

grumbler wrote: »

I wouldn't waste money on certification. If they need this document, they are capable of translating it themselves, but they rejected your offer of providing any extra proofs and keep the account locked for 20 days and counting.
Don't forget to mention this in the complaint.

I agree with this. Don't bother getting the documents translated. If they want them translated then ask them to pay for/reimburse the cost of it.

lee1johny

Hi,
I am in the same situation. On 13th February 2017 I received a amount from a investor ( I am trying to start a restaurant and my brother in law sent me some money ). The money entered my account and the next day I did not had access to my online. I called the bank they said that my account is under review and I need to go to the nearest branch.
I went to the branch I opened at and they said they requested documents to confirm the money. I explained that it is a investment, I give them documents from my restaurant and they said that once the review department is done I will receive news and that I should return in 5 working days to the branch for updates.
Since that moment I received the same answer from Barclays Bank, either return in 5 days or 48 hours.
Does anyone know how long does the review process take to complete?
How can I speed up this ? Or what can I do to get the money from the account that is currently under review? I even asked them to return it to the sender ( my brother in law ) but i got now answer.
Also, something that I find strange is that they told me my current balance is 0 until the review process is over. Does anyone know why they toke the money our of my account?

VLIT

Hi,
I am in the same situation. On 13th February 2017 I received a amount from a investor ( I am trying to start a restaurant and my brother in law sent me some money ). The money entered my account and the next day I did not had access to my online. I called the bank they said that my account is under review and I need to go to the nearest branch.
I went to the branch I opened at and they said they requested documents to confirm the money. I explained that it is a investment, I give them documents from my restaurant and they said that once the review department is done I will receive news and that I should return in 5 working days to the branch for updates.
Since that moment I received the same answer from Barclays Bank, either return in 5 days or 48 hours.
Does anyone know how long does the review process take to complete?
How can I speed up this ? Or what can I do to get the money from the account that is currently under review?

The short answer is: I have no idea. My account is still under review and it has been almost three months since it was first blocked. Since from what you are saying it seems that you have already provided all relevant documents to prove the origin and legitimacy of the funds, my main suggestion would be to start an official complaint, but don't get your hopes up. Once you open the complaint, they will have up to 8 weeks to come up with an answer to it, and if you are not satisfied with the answer or they do not give you an answer at all within this time period (which is likely, given that they should respond to mine by the 30th of March and I have not received any update yet) you can contact the Financial Ombusman. They will contact Barclays on your behalf and try to resolve the situation. They will not proceed until the 8 weeks are up though, so it is still an extremely lengthy wait. I am really sorry you are in this position and trust me when I say I completely understand your frustration, the best you can do is try opening a complaint and if you have any more documents to support your argument just bring them to the branch or post them along with your complaint.

Also, something that I find strange is that they told me my current balance is 0 until the review process is over. Does anyone know why they toke the money our of my account?

I can tell you that this should not be happening. Unless they have a court order they cannot just take away your money, they can freeze your account and keep it frozen for as long as they see fit, but they cannot take the money out of your account. From my experience, Barclays employees have no idea what they are saying half of the time, I had been told that my Direct Debits would not have gone through and yet they have been going out every single month, so you should probably double check that they have in fact taken the money from your account.

lee1johny

I went into the bank and asked for a balance slip, they said that my current balance is 0 because my account is under review. When the review will stop the money will return to my account. I find that really strange.
Does anyone know, if I ask them to close my account and return the money to my brother in law, will this be possible if account is under review?