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Barclays is closing my brand new account
trient
Posts: 195 Forumite
Ok I've read quite a few horror stories about Barclays around here and so far I've always tended to believe they were rather sketchy, but here's a #metoo.
I've opened a premier account in branch last Tuesday - so 6 days ago. I had applied online earlier but was told I had to bring documents in branch for verification (which had never been the case with other banks before). The rep took copies of my documents, got me set up with mobile banking, gave me the account details and membership number, everything looked good.
In the last few days I proceeded with setting up the account as my primary one. I instructed my company to pay my salary and expenses, I initiated a switch from another bank, I set up a couple of direct debits, and I connected the account to PayPal. I received letters from both Barclays and my old bank confirming the account switch.
Last Friday I also received (to my surprise) a blue Barclays debit card (I was expecting the premier black one). I called the premier helpline to find out what happened. They told me there must have been a mistake when they had opened my account in the branch, they didn't see the correct card application had been filled. After getting my agreement on the new card they confirmed they would send it shortly.
On Saturday I received one more letter - a confirmation of my membership number telling me I could now access online banking. I logged on to the online banking and the account seemed to be fine (although I could not access the debit card personalisation section, nor I could see the debit card PIN - I assumed that was because I had a new card on the way).
A few hours later when I tried opening the mobile app again, I'm getting an error (RG21R) telling me that my account was locked, and that I should call their customer service. On the phone they tell me that the fraud team had locked my account and scheduled it for closing - imagine the surprise. I asked for more details, the rep said he had no more information but he would put me in touch with the fraud team. A few minutes later after the music I get an automated message telling me that the bank carried their usual investigations and found out that I no longer complied to the rules of the premier bank account product, and since I no longer qualified for it they decided to close my account. They gave me the option to speak to someone - which I chose. Robot says it would take about 10 minutes. Music plays...
Obviously I am completely shocked - this is a brand new account, I didn't even get a chance to use it (the only transaction was the PayPal 1p authorisation). I went and called my premier relationship manager on the other line. He told me that there was "a notepad" on my account saying that they picked up a fraudulent transaction on my debit card (the one that they wrongly sent in the first place, and had been sitting in a drawer ever since it arrived - I didn't even activate it). Not that there were any funds in the account anyway.
Back to my initial call - about 45 minutes later, I get connected to a gentleman in a country far, far away. He begins to explain how "the notepad" tells him that they reviewed my account and decided I no longer qualified for the product (the same thing the robot had told me earlier, but nothing about the debit card the PRM had mentioned). I told him that I was opened the account in the first place, so they seemed quite satisfied at that point and did not have any problems qualifying me for the product -- I work for a big IT company, my income is well over the threshold, have been building my credit always paying on time, am registered with the electoral roll, have recently bought a house etc. He makes a very caustic comment that the review team can only get the chance to review accounts after they are opened, so surely every other bank would do the same (open an account just to shut it in your face a few days later? righhhhht).
So in short I'm told that there is nothing I can do at this point, I should just sit and wait for a letter to arrive; not that it would give me any reasons - it would simply refer me to "section 11" of the T&C's, which basically explains the reasons that will lead to account closures. I won't quote them here but none of them apply to my case, so I strongly believe there is a mixup/mistake being made. Having googled a bit it seems that they do this rather often. But it just feels wrong. Sure, I could appeal to their decision, but (in their words) the appeal is just a complaint, which will not revert the decision (er, I don't think that's what an appeal is, but sure).
Coming home from work I found a couple more letters from Barclays - the Pinsentry device, a chequebook and one more letter confirming my access to mobile banking. Go figure.
I have no idea how this will end but I'm not holding much hope. Barclays seem to have no respect for their customers - not even premier ones. Presumption of guilt, unilateral decisions, opaqueness.. the whole shebang.
I guess I came here just wanting to vent - I'm sure I will be told that I should just move on, that the bank can freely choose its customers, and that this is just how things work and I should stick with another bank that works better. Which I will do of course. But once again - it just feels wrong.
I've opened a premier account in branch last Tuesday - so 6 days ago. I had applied online earlier but was told I had to bring documents in branch for verification (which had never been the case with other banks before). The rep took copies of my documents, got me set up with mobile banking, gave me the account details and membership number, everything looked good.
In the last few days I proceeded with setting up the account as my primary one. I instructed my company to pay my salary and expenses, I initiated a switch from another bank, I set up a couple of direct debits, and I connected the account to PayPal. I received letters from both Barclays and my old bank confirming the account switch.
Last Friday I also received (to my surprise) a blue Barclays debit card (I was expecting the premier black one). I called the premier helpline to find out what happened. They told me there must have been a mistake when they had opened my account in the branch, they didn't see the correct card application had been filled. After getting my agreement on the new card they confirmed they would send it shortly.
On Saturday I received one more letter - a confirmation of my membership number telling me I could now access online banking. I logged on to the online banking and the account seemed to be fine (although I could not access the debit card personalisation section, nor I could see the debit card PIN - I assumed that was because I had a new card on the way).
A few hours later when I tried opening the mobile app again, I'm getting an error (RG21R) telling me that my account was locked, and that I should call their customer service. On the phone they tell me that the fraud team had locked my account and scheduled it for closing - imagine the surprise. I asked for more details, the rep said he had no more information but he would put me in touch with the fraud team. A few minutes later after the music I get an automated message telling me that the bank carried their usual investigations and found out that I no longer complied to the rules of the premier bank account product, and since I no longer qualified for it they decided to close my account. They gave me the option to speak to someone - which I chose. Robot says it would take about 10 minutes. Music plays...
Obviously I am completely shocked - this is a brand new account, I didn't even get a chance to use it (the only transaction was the PayPal 1p authorisation). I went and called my premier relationship manager on the other line. He told me that there was "a notepad" on my account saying that they picked up a fraudulent transaction on my debit card (the one that they wrongly sent in the first place, and had been sitting in a drawer ever since it arrived - I didn't even activate it). Not that there were any funds in the account anyway.
Back to my initial call - about 45 minutes later, I get connected to a gentleman in a country far, far away. He begins to explain how "the notepad" tells him that they reviewed my account and decided I no longer qualified for the product (the same thing the robot had told me earlier, but nothing about the debit card the PRM had mentioned). I told him that I was opened the account in the first place, so they seemed quite satisfied at that point and did not have any problems qualifying me for the product -- I work for a big IT company, my income is well over the threshold, have been building my credit always paying on time, am registered with the electoral roll, have recently bought a house etc. He makes a very caustic comment that the review team can only get the chance to review accounts after they are opened, so surely every other bank would do the same (open an account just to shut it in your face a few days later? righhhhht).
So in short I'm told that there is nothing I can do at this point, I should just sit and wait for a letter to arrive; not that it would give me any reasons - it would simply refer me to "section 11" of the T&C's, which basically explains the reasons that will lead to account closures. I won't quote them here but none of them apply to my case, so I strongly believe there is a mixup/mistake being made. Having googled a bit it seems that they do this rather often. But it just feels wrong. Sure, I could appeal to their decision, but (in their words) the appeal is just a complaint, which will not revert the decision (er, I don't think that's what an appeal is, but sure).
Coming home from work I found a couple more letters from Barclays - the Pinsentry device, a chequebook and one more letter confirming my access to mobile banking. Go figure.
I have no idea how this will end but I'm not holding much hope. Barclays seem to have no respect for their customers - not even premier ones. Presumption of guilt, unilateral decisions, opaqueness.. the whole shebang.
I guess I came here just wanting to vent - I'm sure I will be told that I should just move on, that the bank can freely choose its customers, and that this is just how things work and I should stick with another bank that works better. Which I will do of course. But once again - it just feels wrong.
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Comments
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Anything in your financial history that would give them pause for thought?0
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Nothing surprises me about barclays anymore,I applied for a current account a couple of weeks ago online and got the message to make an appointment in branch with the community banker to verify my ID. I was surprised to get a text message a few days later saying my account was open and my card and pin arrived a few days later. I also received an email saying my statement was available to view online but the last 4 digits of the account number had no relation to my new account number. I visited the branch today with my ID and they had no idea what account the email was referring to and as I only have the last 4 digits could do no more. I agreed to get in touch if I received any more correspondence about it and this is only the latest in a number of problems with Barclays.0
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The usual Qs: have you checked your credit file, have you requested a CIFAS SAR?
Have you raised a formal complaint?
Have you considered raising the matter with their Head of Consumer Banking, Mr. Ashok Vaswani? I would, if I really wanted to stay with Barclays. Ashok.Vaswani at barclays.com0 -
The only thing that might ring an alarm bell (from what you've written) is the 1p auth. You say that they sent you the wrong card (blue), but you presumably went ahead and set this up with PayPal, hence the auth (unless we have a different understanding of what an auth is).
So from their perspective, it might look as though you opened a new account, canceled the card they sent you, but then tried to use it anyway. Not saying this is what happened, but it's a possibility that this sequence of events might lead them to think they didn't want to do business with you.0 -
Kentish_Dave wrote: »Anything in your financial history that would give them pause for thought?
Two things which I both explained to the branch rep.
1. In my home country we have two first names which the utterly visionary and incompetent authorities decided to link with a hyphen, therefore converting them to what for all intents and purposes looks like a single (double barreled) first name. Barclays' IT system (both internal and external) only allows 14 characters, and my name is 15. I thus applied with the first portion of my first name, but the branch rep insisted she should put the second part as well (in the middle name field) and put a note on my file explaining this. I wasn't sure if this would produce any mismatches when running credit score checks.
2. Equifax (but not the other two CRAs) seems to have botched my home address. I found out a few weeks ago that my previous address was still listed as current, while my new address was coming up as a previous address. I called them and requested they corrected it, but I'm not sure if this left any traces that Barclays could have picked up.
More detail on my initial application; due to the above issues, I applied online multiple times - as combinations of either my first or second first names, or putting my second first name as a middle name, and with the old and new addresses. In some cases I would get a "we will contact you later" message, in others I would get the "please bring ID into the branch" -- which I thought I could avoid (since I never had to do this with other banks as I mentioned). Eventually as I said I just made an appointment and went into the branch and they had no trouble opening the account there and then. She didn't see any issue in my multiple applications, but I guess the "review team" might have, even after the fact?!The usual Qs: have you checked your credit file, have you requested a CIFAS SAR?
Have you raised a formal complaint?
Have you considered raising the matter with their Head of Consumer Banking, Mr. Ashok Vaswani? I would, if I really wanted to stay with Barclays.
1. Thanks for the pointer, will raise a DSAR. I have checked my statutory report from Equifax before applying, everything was in order there.
2. I've just filed a complaint through Resolver. Barclays conveniently only allow electronic complaints if you are a (valid) customer, from your account. With no access to the online banking I can only phone them (they wouldn't tell me anything of use) or write them a letter, which I'm sure will get an answer on the lines of "this is our decision as a result of a process we can't divulge".
3. Thanks for the tip, will write that gentleman.
I really wanted to stay with them as (for a status quo bank) they looked quite well in all the polls. Plus I'm a sucker for the English Heritage membership.The only thing that might ring an alarm bell (from what you've written) is the 1p auth. You say that they sent you the wrong card (blue), but you presumably went ahead and set this up with PayPal, hence the auth (unless we have a different understanding of what an auth is).
So from their perspective, it might look as though you opened a new account, canceled the card they sent you, but then tried to use it anyway. Not saying this is what happened, but it's a possibility that this sequence of events might lead them to think they didn't want to do business with you.
Thanks but I haven't set the card up with PayPal - I linked the account directly. I've never used the cc number anywhere (just on the phone with them for ID).0 -
Personally I think this is the most likely root cause - multiple applications with various permutations of names and addresses will look very suspicious, regardless of the rationale you had for trying this....I applied online multiple times - as combinations of either my first or second first names, or putting my second first name as a middle name, and with the old and new addresses. In some cases I would get a "we will contact you later" message, in others I would get the "please bring ID into the branch" -- which I thought I could avoid (since I never had to do this with other banks as I mentioned). Eventually as I said I just made an appointment and went into the branch and they had no trouble opening the account there and then. She didn't see any issue in my multiple applications, but I guess the "review team" might have, even after the fact?!0 -
And the faceless police didn't think there was a valid reason that their own staff was already aware of, and had already approved. :huh:Personally I think this is the most likely root cause - multiple applications with various permutations of names and addresses will look very suspicious, regardless of the rationale you had for trying this....
(not saying that's the reason - the PRM seemed to think otherwise)
What worries me is that this basically proves that you can't rely on an account being yours until.. when? 7 days? a month? what do you need to do to make sure there are no more internal policies you can trip?0 -
It's never "your" account - it belongs to the issuing bank - much like the debit card isn't "yours" - it's property of the bank.
And they can choose to close your accounts when they wish and without reason, sometimes even without notice.0 -
It's never "your" account - it belongs to the issuing bank - much like the debit card isn't "yours" - it's property of the bank.
And they can choose to close your accounts when they wish and without reason, sometimes even without notice.
Fair enough you're being technical but you know what I mean. That's not a healthy climate if they can pull the rug at their discretion and with no notice. I would call it borderline abusive but hey..0 -
No - they have rules and guidelines that they are bound by law to follow.
It's perfectly within their rights to do it.0
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