Bank account closed- and they are NOT RETURNING MY MONEY

mcplums

So I had an account with Fidor UK. This was closed, which is ok I guess it's up to them whether to close it or not. However they stated in no uncertain terms that the money in the account (fortunately only £395) would not be returned to me.

For reference, I was using the account to buy bitcoins. I was sending GBP to the account and then using Fidor to convert the GBP to EUR and sending them to a bitcoin exchange. The bitcoin exchange's bank is also Fidor. So it's not like what I was doing something shady- I was literally sending money from one Fidor account to another, that's it. Now I was putting through a LOT of volume- maybe too much for a personal account, fine. I am not complaining that they closed my account. I am complaining that they are not returning the money in the account.

Is this remotely legal? At times I had over £15k in the account, to think they could have tried to keep that makes me extremely mad.

Unfortunately since Fidor are not UK based I am unable to turn to the FOS. However I have submitted a complaint via the European Commission (Fidor are based in Germany) so I hope that this gets sorted.

But has anyone heard of something like this before? A bank closing your account, and not returning funds?

JuicyJesus

The obvious implication is that someone has complained that they were hacked and their money was sent to you by a fraudster. If that is the case then no you won't get the funds back.

Did they give a reason why they wouldn't return your funds?

tacpot12

If Fidor won't give you are reason, you can complain to them. Have you read Fidor's legal notice? : https://www.fidorbank.uk/legal-notice

This tells you how to complain. I doubt the European Commission will reply as they don't supervise Fidor. The legal notice tells you who does.

mcplums

tacpot12 wrote: »

If Fidor won't give you are reason, you can complain to them. Have you read Fidor's legal notice? : https://www.fidorbank.uk/legal-notice

This tells you how to complain. I doubt the European Commission will reply as they don't supervise Fidor. The legal notice tells you who does.

Yeah I have already complained, via the EC. I followed the link in the legal notice to start it off. It's a shame I can't use the FOS as they are awesome.

mcplums

JuicyJesus wrote: »

The obvious implication is that someone has complained that they were hacked and their money was sent to you by a fraudster. If that is the case then no you won't get the funds back.

Did they give a reason why they wouldn't return your funds?

This is not the case in this instance, since 100% of the incoming payments were made by me, from another account in my name.

No they did not give me a reason.

I have been in that situation with another bank though- someone paid me money, then later complained it was fraudulent and tried to get it reversed. The bank (Halifax) contacted me and I demonstrated that they got what they paid for and I got my money back. I cannot imagine a bank ever just shutting down an account and keeping their money without even checking the other side of the story? Again however, this is not relevant to this instance it just seems odd that you suggest this as a possibility, as if some banks would behave this way?

jonesMUFCforever

OP you say that you were buying bitcoin - did you ever sell any and get monies returned via your account?
If so it could be this that is causing the problem.

mcplums

jonesMUFCforever wrote: »

OP you say that you were buying bitcoin - did you ever sell any and get monies returned via your account?
If so it could be this that is causing the problem.

Yes I sold lots, but not into the Fidor account. I sold them into a different account, and then sent the money in £10k chunks to Fidor, in order to convert to EUR and send to the bitcoin exchange.

jonesMUFCforever

Have you ever been asked by Fidor to explain where you got the funds to invest with?
Could they have sent you a message and you missed it?

jonnygee2

Is this remotely legal?

Yes, there are lawful ways by which banks can close accounts and withhold money.

You really should give up the Bitcoin trading. Whatever you are making, it's not worth the potential consequences.

Chino

jonnygee2 wrote: »

Yes, there are lawful ways by which banks can close accounts and withhold money.

Would you care to describe one way?

colsten

Chino wrote: »

Would you care to describe one way?

Let's say the money is found to be involved in any form of money laundering. Do you think the account holder would get it back?