RBS Student Bank Account Closed

Twink0_0

My daughter has had both an RBS current account and a savings account with over £3k in it since she was about 3 years old. When she went to university 3 years ago she converted her current account into a Student Account and went paperless. Last Sept she & another student opened a NatWest current account for the rented 8 person student accommodation and then went to study in the US from Jan to June. There must have been some irregularity with the account, albeit it was in credit at closing, because on 12 August she received two letters, one from NatWest and one from RBS closing all three of the accounts on 8 August, though dated and sent on the 9th August. This was the first written contact she had from either banks. She contacted NatWest Fraud Dept in Edinburgh explained the position and they reviewed the case and three weeks later confirmed that they would not change their position but her credit rating would not be effected. We have phoned and visited many banks trying to open another student account. I believe that there is a problem opening a student account as a third year student though HSBC think it might be possible. All other High Street banks say they do not offer this.We now have to wait 2 weeks for an interview with another Bank to open a Student Account and as a local Bank manager has stated until they run the enquiry, because NatWest/RBS have refused to give a specific reason we will not know if other Banks will accept her. I am retired and my daughter received an enhanced loan from Student Finance England. However, they will only pay that money into a Bank Account registered in her name. Whatever occurred in the NatWest account she should not have had her RBS account effected. There had been a problem with the energy supplier for the student house but we are told that it was the mistake of the supplier and was rectified. NatWest/RBS would be able to check that my daughter had not accessed any of these accounts from January to June. If she fails to open an account how is she to receive her Student Finance loan to continue at university? This has caused and continues to cause great stress and anxiety for both my Daughter and my wife and I. We feel she has been penalised by this Bank group and is a victim of the system that no one wants to help. Due to the fact that she does not pay Utility bills/ Council Tax or have a credit card at her family address and does not hold a full driving licence it is not even possible to open a normal current account with another High Street bank as this is an electronic requirement and it is not possible to change this. We are at a loss to know how she can continue her final year at University without these funds or an account to pay them in to.

sheramber

Has the other student she opened the account with also had her accounts closed?

Dobbibill

Twink0_0 wrote: »

There must have been some irregularity with the account, albeit it was in credit at closing, because on 12 August she received two letters, one from NatWest and one from RBS closing all three of the accounts on 8 August, though dated and sent on the 9th August. This was the first written contact she had from either banks. She contacted NatWest Fraud Dept in Edinburgh explained the position and they reviewed the case and three weeks later confirmed that they would not change their position but her credit rating would not be effected.

What sort of irregularity?

How did you know you needed to speak to the fraud dept? Was this in the letter regarding the closure of the account?

Chapuys

If she just needs to receive her student loan then she doesn't need a specific branded student account. She should just open a current account or a basic account.

Banks do not just close accounts for no reason. Either she did something to spring the bank into closing the account or the financial relationship she entered into with her flatmate linked her by her credit file to the wrongs of her flatmate (I had a financial relationship listed within my credit file 10 years after I closed down a joint account before I noticed it).

She just needs to open any account for her to get her student loan.

Twink0_0

The other student does not bank with the RBS Group so is currently unaffected albeit she may well have a problem in the future.

Twink0_0

They refuse to detail the reason for their actions quoting their Clause 7.1 :-
7 CLOSING OR CONVERTING YOUR ACCOUNT
7.1 Closure by us
7.1.1 We can close your account immediately if:
(a) we reasonably suspect that you have given us false information;
(b) we reasonably suspect that your account is being used for an illegal purpose;
(c) you behave in a threatening or violent manner towards our staff; or
(d) you were not entitled to open your account.
7.1.2 We can also close your account by giving you not less than 60 days’ notice before we
close your account.
7.1.3 If you have a Foundation account, please refer to your Account Specific Terms.

Since she has had her RBS accounts for over 17 years and has had no communication with Bank through the first 6 months of 2017 whilst she was in the US we are a loss to know which clause she had contravened.

The problem with opening a basic account is that they usually require two forms of ID such as Credit Card statement, Council Tax Bill, Utility Bill, Payslip or FULL driving Licence. Since she is a student, living at home with a Provisional Licence she does not meet most banks requirements. We have had the same problem with Equifax etc.

The letters came from Fraud Operations Account Closures, Drummond House, Edinburgh on both RBS & NatWest letterhead.

Dobbibill

They are able to close accounts with little/no notice - on the flip side, you are also able to close your account with a bank without justification too.

Do you have the most recent statements showing all activity on her account?
Are there any transactions different to normal that may have spooked them?

As they are unable to give you a specific reason you will need to do some digging.

Have you checked with CIFAS?
https://www.cifas.org.uk/contact-us/subject-access-request
This normally costs about £10

Also get her to check her Credit Reports with all 3 CRAs
That can be done free with MSE Credit Club, Clearscore and Noddle.

For opening other accounts, if there is a CIFAS marker on her file, depending on the category, she may struggle to open a new account.
If not then some of the below may help.

If she has been to the US I am going to assume she has a passport which can be used as ID.

A provisional licence can be used in some instances as 'proof of address' rather than proof of ID. Like this list from Lloyds

A letter from HMRC confirming her tax code too.

There are quite a few things she can use.

There are also pre-paid debit cards and while a credit check is not needed with some of them, I believe they still do fraud checks as part of the ID checks - once you have confirmed information from CIFAS, you will have a better idea of where you/she stand.

Let us know how it goes.

IanSt

Twink0_0 wrote: »

The problem with opening a basic account is that they usually require two forms of ID such as Credit Card statement, Council Tax Bill, Utility Bill, Payslip or FULL driving Licence. Since she is a student, living at home with a Provisional Licence she does not meet most banks requirements. We have had the same problem with Equifax etc.

To add to Dobbibill's list, did she get paper statements from her bank? I know that they've closed it, but if she did then that could possibly be used as proof of address, and some banks will accept online versions if you are using a passport as the other form of id.

Twink0_0

Thank you Dobbibill & IanSt for your constructive comments. Although we obtained a printout of her two RBS accounts (Savings & Student) which had had negligible movement since Xmas 2016 we were unable to access the NatWest current account to understand exactly the sequence of events prior to the closure, All we know is that it was in credit at the time of closure. We will complete the CIFAS request as it appears that she does have enough documentation for them. We have. indeed. successfully purchased a pre-paid Debit card for her everyday use. Barclays would not accept a bank generated statement stamped and dated by the local branch since they claimed it was the same as an internet statement even though it was generated by the branch using their intRAnet. They also rejected a UK photo card provisional licence. It does appear that Lloyds are more flexible. CIFAs can take up to 40 days to come back and she needs to pay rent and eat in the interim. We have an appointment with HSBC in 10 days and are wary of making too many applications for new accounts because of the potential effect upon her credit rating. I believe we fail with all the Credit agencies because we cannot provide enough information as proof of address Council tax, Utility Co, Credit Card statements etc. We do with Equifax.

System

It's very common for these type of decisions to be made on a group wide basis - not just the single bank.

Open an account elsewhere (outside the group) and move on.

nyermen

Have you checked with CIFAS?
https://www.cifas.org.uk/contact-us/subject-access-request
This normally costs about £10

Do this.
I'm afraid this quote here:

Last Sept she & another student opened a NatWest current account for the rented 8 person student accommodation

is probably the issue. if there's been any mischief on the account (joint account? was it just used by those two students or did others in the 8 use the account as well?) then natwest may have decided there was fraud and left a marker. If that's the case you will have problems until the marker is removed (6 years or more, depending on the type of marker). I'm pretty sure all banks check CIFAS prior to opening an account (either directly or indirectly).