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Barclays Personal Account Frozen
4MD4MD
Posts: 5 Forumite
Over the last two days I have sold 1 Bitcoin worth on LocalBitcoins to a number of buyers on the exchange having verified their ID.
Today when I tried using my debit card, I was told that the account if frozen and is under review. I visited the bank with my ID and was informed to read T&Cs and that you will be contacted in 48 hours by phone or in writing.
I have no idea what I have done wrong when I only received my payment for the bitcoin sold after verifying buyer's id on local bitcoin exchange.
Bitcoin is legal in this country, so why would they freeze my account?
What is under review mean? Could Barclays action triggered by a possible chargeback claim of one of the buyers?
What do I need to do to take my money out?
Who do I turn to?
What should I do?
Today when I tried using my debit card, I was told that the account if frozen and is under review. I visited the bank with my ID and was informed to read T&Cs and that you will be contacted in 48 hours by phone or in writing.
I have no idea what I have done wrong when I only received my payment for the bitcoin sold after verifying buyer's id on local bitcoin exchange.
Bitcoin is legal in this country, so why would they freeze my account?
What is under review mean? Could Barclays action triggered by a possible chargeback claim of one of the buyers?
What do I need to do to take my money out?
Who do I turn to?
What should I do?
0
Comments
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Incase your account is being used for illegal activity.
There!!!8217;s more illegal activity involving bitcoin than legal activity.
Buying and selling bitcoin is essentially seen as a business activity and not allowed with a personal current account either.
Google is your friend for other stories similar to yours0 -
How much did you receive into the account?0
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In the region of £4000 over multiple transactions from different buyers. It's worth mentioning all buyers are using LocalBitcoin exchange platform and I have requested for ID before I sold it to them.0
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That would be why then
0 -
OK, what's wrong with that and what could happen next? All transactions are genuine as a just sold my asset of bitcoin.
Selling bitcoin is not illegal and have every proof of every transaction.
What could happen next? Will they ask me to take my money elsewhere or freeze my account indefinitely?!0 -
As already mentioned above:
Incase your account is being used for illegal activity.
There's more illegal activity involving bitcoin than legal activity.
Buying and selling bitcoin is essentially seen as a business activity and not allowed with a personal current account either.
Google is your friend for other stories similar to yours0 -
Gary_Dextor
My story is almost identical to a story I found on The Guardian
The difference is my account is with Barclays rather than HSBC and is still under review.
The person on the story I read about was not told this activity is not allowed on his personal current account. They blocked his account but later his account has been reinstated.
I do not do trading for living and only sell the coins I bought a few years back when I need the money, so why on earth would I need to have a business bank account?0 -
There is not much point in arguing back with all the suggestions being made here. Whilst we can all advise you that selling Bitcoin could be considered business use of their personal current account, it cannot be known for certain what the reason was or its outcome until conclusion. Generally, Barclays will probably withhold specifics regarding the trigger of the review, to protect circumventing it in the future.
The outcome of their review can range from no further action to closure of the account. It depends on the risk of the activity exhibited, whether it breaches the terms of your account and other factors used internally to reach a conclusion.
It would be interesting to know the outcome, so update us here when it has been decided.Advice provided from this account does not consist of any professional knowledge. For professional debt advice, please contact either National Debtline or StepChange. Advice may consist of personal experience, opinion and/or informational sources.0 -
Barclay's don't know that though.
HSBC, Barclays, Santander (I believe there's a story on there from someone who banked with them in a similar way) will all do what they think is necessary to block any potential fraudulent transactions.
You need to wait until they have completed investigation before they re-instate (or close) your account.0 -
In the region of £4000 over multiple transactions from different buyers. It's worth mentioning all buyers are using LocalBitcoin exchange platform and I have requested for ID before I sold it to them.
Do you have the facility to check ID - under GDPR what checks are you undertaking and how are you keeping the data?
How many transactions in total?
One transaction I can understand but many - I can see why the account is blocked.0
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