NatWest suspended online banking - won’t tell me why

ratherPerturbed

Yesterday (Friday) evening, on my way home from work, my Natwest banking app stopped letting me in you eh account. I tried logging in via my mobile browser and it told me my account was suspended and to use live chat to unlock it.
Tried that, got told I needed to speak to the fraud team. This was at around 7pm.
I rang them as soon as I got home, and was told a team in Natwest needed to speak to me about my account because of activity in it. I was given a direct number, but was told they aren’t open until Monday. They said I could try calling the number today just in case.
I’m fairly sure the activity is me sending a payment to a different one of my accounts (ie in my name and held elsewhere). That payment still hasn’t gone through (it was for £250, half the balance of the account)
They wouldn’t tell me why the other team wanted to speak to me, and no one has tried to call me, so they apparently thought I could just find out when I tried to use my account and then work it out for myself.
I tried ringing the number today and no one answers. I can’t guarantee being able to call between 9 and 5 on Monday because I’m at work, meaning this potentially won’t be resolved until Wednesday when I have a day off, and that’s if they can fix it over the phone instantly.
I’ve told them I suspect it’s that payment and that it’s legitimate. They won’t even confirm why this has happened. Until this is resolved I can’t access £500 of my own money (it’s a new account and I don’t have the debit card pin yet so I can’t even use that).
I was hoping to use that money to make payments this weekend (paying off the final payment on a loan, and a payment towards my debit card). I now have just about enough in my other accounts to cover food and travel until this is resolved (assuming Wednesday). I was meant to be going on a date tomorrow which I now can’t afford because Natwest won’t give me access to my cash.
The money was in there because I was using the switch incentive - which requires paying in £1500 before July. So after I got paid, I sent most of the money into the Natwest account, and then tried to send it back out to another of my accounts after letting it sit in there for a few days. That shouldn’t even be suspicious.

Do I have any options? Or any basis to complain? I wouldn’t even care if they could just confirm why they won’t let me use my money. And they don’t even seem empathetic - when I rang they seemed confused that I might actually want the £500 in the near future.

ratherPerturbed

Sorry, I’m on my phone and can’t seem to edit.

It should of course say “to my account”, the payment is towards my credit card, not a debit card, and the incentive requires payment before about half way through July but I can’t remember the exact date.

jonnygee2

Monzo wrote a blog which explains pretty well why accounts get frosen and what happens next https://monzo.com/blog/2019/04/04/why-we-block-freeze-close-monzo-accounts/

In general, I think it's a bad idea to move money around your own accounts like this. Setting up new accounts and then rapidly transferring money in and out looks a lot like money laundering. Rapidly moving funds around their own accounts is exactly what money launderers do, so it does look suspicious and is reasonable grounds for freezing your account.

I know it's also common practice to get switching bonuses, but if it's money you may need access to it's risky.

Basically, you will have to wait. The timeline could be between a few days and several weeks. You have no real recourse for a complaint because the bank is following its legal obligations. You may need to start seeing if you can borrow money etc until this is over.

18cc

Funnily enough I had the same problem a year or so ago. I switched to NWest to get the switching incentive and after registering for internet banking etc I tried to make a payment for £10.50 (last of the big spenders, I know). It was blocked and I called the number and was told I had to go into the branch with ID. This I did of course but wasn't impressed to say the least, so switched away as soon as my switching bonus had been paid. Never got to the bottom of why it happened.

[Deleted User]

They’re not obliged to tell you why.

Do you not have a lunch break at work? I would call them during that time rather than leaving it until Wednesday.

Do you not have other current accounts with money in to use in the meantime?

Terry_Towelling

Is it possible to make payments from a (new) NatWest account without a card reader and a card/PIN? Please confirm, ratherPerturbed.

If it is, it is odd that they would suspend your account rather than simply blocking the payment in question.

Chino

jonnygee2 wrote: »

In general, I think it's a bad idea to move money around your own accounts like this. Setting up new accounts and then rapidly transferring money in and out looks a lot like money laundering. Rapidly moving funds around their own accounts is exactly what money launderers do

Like many posters on this forum who glibly throw the term "money laundering" around, you clearly do not have any idea how one might go about laundering money.

Moving money across accounts all in one's own name does not result in the money being "laundered" and is the last thing anyone attempting to "launder" money would do. In order to "launder" money, one must first remove one's name from any association with that money. Moving money within the banking system using accounts in or associated with one's name is never going to achieve that.

Terry_Towelling

Chino wrote: »

Like many posters on this forum who glibly throw the term "money laundering" around, you clearly do not have any idea how one might go about laundering money.

Moving money across accounts all in one's own name does not result in the money being "laundered" and is the last thing anyone attempting to "launder" money would do. In order to "launder" money, one must first remove one's name from any association with that money. Moving money within the banking system using accounts in or associated with one's name is never going to achieve that.

Yes, we know it isn't money laundering but how does your bank know that you are sending money to another of your own accounts? They don't (even if you make it look that way by using your name as the payee). So it can easily look like money laundering - which is what jonnygee appears to be saying.

Also a 'launderer' might want to move the cash around quickly after it's been laundered.

Anyway, we still need to know from OP how they've managed to set up a payment and have it all blocked when they haven't yet got a card/PIN and a card reader for their new NatWest account.

Zero_Sum

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

Yes, we know it isn't money laundering but how does your bank know that you are sending money to another of your own accounts? They don't (even if you make it look that way by using your name as the payee). So it can easily look like money laundering - which is what jonnygee appears to be saying.

Also a 'launderer' might want to move the cash around quickly after it's been laundered.

Anyway, we still need to know from OP how they've managed to set up a payment and have it all blocked when they haven't yet got a card/PIN and a card reader for their new NatWest account.

They have card just not pin. So you can still make an online debit card payment and you can make a payment under £500 via app without reader (apparently)

Sea_Shell

But don't you need the pin/reader to set up the new payee on a new account?

18cc

In online (desktop) banking, if you don't have the debit card pin you can't set up a new payee - you can use another bank's card reader though.

https://supportcentre.natwest.com/TELEPHONEBANKINGCHATAO/913226242/How-do-I-add-a-new-payee-using-Online-Banking.htm

On the banking app you can pay up to £500 to a new payee without a card reader.

https://personal.natwest.com/personal/ways-to-bank/mobile-app/payments.html