Fidor UK Bank smart account Frozen, advice needed please

grumbler

bery_451 wrote: »

I did sold couple of things online but they were like under £200 and I got paid by bank transfer by the buyers.

Well, in the real world accepting bank transfers from strangers is a dangerous business. E.g. the buyer makes a transfer from a hacked account and you instantly get suspected of being a link in a ML chain for stolen money.
FYI, ML is not only about "drug dealers, illegal businesses and mega corporations paying 0% tax".

agrinnall wrote: »

You really need to get a grip. ... Perhaps you should focus your efforts on working out which of their terms and conditions you have broken...

Is it not odd that a customer has to "work out" this? If it's really just the broken T&C, then there is no reason for making a secret of what exactly terms were broken.
Most likely it's a Black Cat in the Dark Room, i.e. no terms/conditions were actually broken and it's a typical outbreak of paranoia.

JuicyJesus

bery_451 wrote: »

So i'm classed as a businessman now because let's say for example I sold my PS4 for £200 and the bank close my account for lets say money laundering BS or tax evasion BS lol because I didn't pay her majesty HMRC tax when I sold the PS4? Absolutely ridiculous. For God sake are banks acting like this nowadays?

It's probably not that. Have Fidor said what is going to happen to the money in your account?

Reason I ask is that my guess is one or both of the buyers for your things have disputed the bank transfer transactions as fraudulent. It's a sadly reasonably common thing for people to have happen now - they offer to buy goods, you receive the bank transfer as payment and then little !!!!!! buyer disputes the transaction, leaving recipient without goods or money. Meanwhile the bank (fairly reasonably) locks down the receiving account as being one that received fraudulent funds.

I can absolutely guarantee however that the bank doesn't give the slightest toss about your income tax on selling your PS4, and HMRC don't give much of a toss about it either, for that matter - unless you're buying and selling goods for a profit, and if you're selling a PS4 for £200 you're probably not, they couldn't give a monkeys. They have bigger fish to fry than dealing with your £40 of income tax.

bery_451

Lets see if I get the balance back and I keep you guys updated on that matter.

Secondly I can't think of any terms and conditions that I broke. Apart from the possibility of a buyer transferring money from a hacked account or buyer fraudulently disputing the transaction.

I though bank transfers are one of the safest payment methods and isn't reversible like paypal, credit card etc.

So you telling me if a buyer does the dodgy things above then the seller has to suffer with a frozen account and risk losing the payment as well?

Ok if i were to sell stuff in the future online then which payment methods are safe to accept and are non-reversible?

grumbler

bery_451 wrote: »

So you telling me if a buyer does the dodgy things above then the seller has to suffer with a frozen account and risk losing the payment as well?

It can be even worse. A fresh thread: Cifas advice

Ok if i were to sell stuff in the future online then which payment methods are safe to accept and are non-reversible?

For ebay - paypal or, if collected personally, cash.

Unlike arrogant banks, PP has, at least, buyers and sellers protection procedures.

Thrugelmir

bery_451 wrote: »

Secondly I can't think of any terms and conditions that I broke. Apart from the possibility of a buyer transferring money from a hacked account or buyer fraudulently disputing the transaction.

So it was used as a business account rather than personal.

bery_451

Thrugelmir wrote: »

So it was used as a business account rather than personal.

So if you were to sell your used socks on ebay then you class yourself as a business man lol?

bery_451

What seller protection procedures that paypal have? Paypal eat alot of fees though.

What about buyer directly goes to the seller's bank and make a cash deposit into seller account, Is this safer than bank transfers?

grumbler

bery_451 wrote: »

What seller protection procedures that paypal have?

Any problems with google?

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/paypal-safety-and-security

What about buyer directly goes to the seller's bank and make a cash deposit into seller account, Is this safer than bank transfers?

I think, yes, although big cash deposits also are known to provoke paranoia

JuicyJesus

grumbler wrote: »

Any problems with google?

https://www.paypal.com/uk/webapps/mpp/paypal-safety-and-security
I think, yes, although big cash deposits also are known to provoke paranoia

Nobody's going to care about £200.

bery_451

grumbler wrote: »

It can be even worse. A fresh thread: Cifas advice

For ebay - paypal or, if collected personally, cash.

Unlike arrogant banks, PP has, at least, buyers and sellers protection procedures.

Fidor say they dont do credit checks so they don't have access to customers credit reports.

If they can't access customers credit reports they how is it possible for them to put a CIFAS marker on the customer's credit report?