Bank account closed- and they are NOT RETURNING MY MONEY

jonnygee2

Ok, but then what's to stop a bank just closing someone's account, steal their money and claim money laundering? There has to be some way customers are protected from this.

All accounts and money in a bank is accounted for and regularly audited. If banks just closed customer accounts and moved the balance to their operational budgets that would be theft, and one that wouldn't be very difficult for the relevant authorities to discover. So unsurprisingly this doesn't happen.

Sorry, at this point I've reached (and probably surpassed) the limit what can be discussed on a forum. Ultimately, the money has gone, there is nothing you should try and do about it, and as someone who knows the inner workings of these systems reasonably well that's my best advice.

You mention legal agreement though- on localbitcoins.com it is common for sellers to request ID from buyers on each specific trade- without any legal agreements or such. Is that somewhat suspect, in your opinion?

It isn't suspect in that it indicates they are criminals, they are probably just kids who don't know any better, but it is very risky in this day and age to collect other people's data, particularly anything highly sensitive such as passports or financial information, and not something anyone should do without a clear understanding of GDPR (or independent advice on this).

fifeken

I agree with the posters that say the UK small claims route is not likely to prove fruitful, but have a look at the European Small Claims Procedure (ESCP) which is meant for cross border situations and may be what you want.

mcplums

IanManc wrote: »

I agree with Masonic that this is a non-starter.

The contract with the bank - to which you are a party and to which you agreed - excludes the jurisdiction of UK courts in a term which provides that German law applies to disputes between the parties.

A contractual term which determines the legal jurisdiction which applies to the contract is an ordinary and normal thing to be present in an international contract, and in order to commence proceedings in one of the UK jurisdictions you would have to establish before the court why the term was unlawful or did not apply in your circumstances.

As it is an explicit term in the contract to which you're a party to and it is you who wishes to have it struck down, then it is up to you to convince the court why the term should be struck down, and then to show why a UK court had jurisdiction.

The bank would simply respond to any commencement of proceedings by relying on the contract, and the court would not begin to look at any other issues in your case until the jurisdiction one was settled.

Unless you have grounds to convince a court in the UK that German courts do not in fact have jurisdiction when the contract says they do, and grounds also to convince the court that a UK court has jurisdiction despite the explicit contract term, then what you have to lose is a wasted and unrecoverable fee that you would pay to the UK court to start the proceedings, plus your own legal costs in pursuing the case unless you do it yourself, plus the legal costs of the bank in disputing your claim should the court award costs.

You've not given any grounds for believing that the term in the contract should be struck down, so unless you can find some compelling ones then you won't win the argument.

Thanks for this. Makes a lot of sense. I will not bother.

mcplums

fifeken wrote: »

I agree with the posters that say the UK small claims route is not likely to prove fruitful, but have a look at the European Small Claims Procedure (ESCP) which is meant for cross border situations and may be what you want.

Thanks- will look into this.

pmduk

mcplums wrote: »

It's a shame I can't use the FOS as they are awesome.

Many would dispute that nowadays, however, if you wish to rely on their services, the time to check is before opening an account.

brianposter

mcplums wrote: »

Thanks for this. Makes a lot of sense. I will not bother.

Turns out that Fidor have no UK office, so for me, they should not be advertising a "full UK current account".
I complained to the ASA who say that they do not have jurisdiction but have passed the complaint to the FCA - who do not reply to retail complaints.

mcplums

Good news! I got my money back! As mentioned I complained via the European Commission portal and following this they will be paying me back the full amount.

This implies that it was NOT AML related. So I wonder why they took it in the first place?

18cc

That is excellent news and many thanks for letting us know

pmduk

Well done, I'm just glad I closed my Fidor account early on.

System

Totally different scenario, but Royal Bank of Scotland "accidentally" made an account of mine dormant. Three years' on, and I am still trying to get them to give me my money back (and I paid a solicitor for a while to try and apply some leverage but she had the same response). Ombudsman fired a warning shot, but still nothing. I am still working on it!

The bank haven't made your bank dormant rather than closed it completely, have they?