Kicked out by your bank...

18cc

You are right in a lot of what you say but in my post I said that as long as the customer is not using the account illegally or against the terms and conditions than the bank should not be able to just simply terminate the account

not telling the truth, breach of trust , money laundering all come under the heading of of illegality or against the terms and conditions so that aside simply closing an account down for some other often unknown reason should not be allowed and the law should be changed such that banks have to engage more with the customer

Banks need to recognise that bank accounts are in a necessity in life just as much as water or electricity.

Banks are free to set criteria as to who they offer accounts to and to make whatever decision they like as to whether they accept you as a customer

however once they have accept you as a customer and the bank account is up and running in there should be restrictions on their ability to close it provided the customer obeys the law and the terms and conditions

AnotherJoe

born_again wrote: »

These posts we see here, never tell the whole story, or actually include the full facts of what the customer has been doing with their accounts.
Only they have got a letter saying they are having their accounts closed down..
I have sent accounts to be reviewed due to customers simply not telling the truth on situations we deal with on several occasions. Or claiming fraud when it clearly is not.
It's called breech of trust.
Every employee at the bank has a duty of care to report anything they feel is not right. Failure to do so can lead to the sack and a massive fine for not doing so. Al la HSBC.
AML is something that gets mooted here, as to why accounts are being closed. Does not happen very often.
It is the law that says why a bank can't tell a customer why. Which is how it should be. Or banks would be telling customers how to avoid getting caught...

"Never" is a strong term.

There are many accounts if people hav8ng accounts shutdown because someone at the bank made a mistake. Indeed it would be remarkable if this was not the case, they aren't infallible.
What they don't seem to be good at is acknowledging that they might have made a mistake and double checking. So,please don't chuck mud at the OP simply on the basis that the bank cannot possibly be wrong.

lopsyfa

See my thread (https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5990108/lloyds-halifax-and-mbna-account-closure) on my experience on the same issue with the Lloyds banking group.

Even though they ended up reversing the decision on appeal (you can appeal in branch), I ended up using the CASS to close my accounts with Lloyds and Halifax and transfer to Natwest and I'm glad I did.

As above SAR cifas and national hunters to see if they have anything in your name that may have caused halifax to make the decision.

Using the current account switch service (CASS) is simple as all payments to the old accounts are automatically directed to the new account. Don't just let Halifax close your account : in that case any payment to the old account will simply be returned and you will have to manually change all direct debits and standing orders.

alphabravocharli

All what you have said must be true but can you explain if bank suspect fraud or something fishy they will give you 65 days notice so that you can do another fraud. I don't think so. This particular type of closure is just to de-risk or whatever cooked up risk they come up with. i dont think it is anyway fair with the customers. At least give them chance to explain in such kind of situation.

born_again wrote: »

These posts we see here, never tell the whole story, or actually include the full facts of what the customer has been doing with their accounts.
Only they have got a letter saying they are having their accounts closed down..
I have sent accounts to be reviewed due to customers simply not telling the truth on situations we deal with on several occasions. Or claiming fraud when it clearly is not.
It's called breech of trust.
Every employee at the bank has a duty of care to report anything they feel is not right. Failure to do so can lead to the sack and a massive fine for not doing so. Al la HSBC.
AML is something that gets mooted here, as to why accounts are being closed. Does not happen very often.
It is the law that says why a bank can't tell a customer why. Which is how it should be. Or banks would be telling customers how to avoid getting caught...

born_again

18cc wrote: »

You are right in a lot of what you say but in my post I said that as long as the customer is not using the account illegally or against the terms and conditions than the bank should not be able to just simply terminate the account

not telling the truth, breach of trust , money laundering all come under the heading of of illegality or against the terms and conditions so that aside simply closing an account down for some other often unknown reason should not be allowed and the law should be changed such that banks have to engage more with the customer

Banks need to recognise that bank accounts are in a necessity in life just as much as water or electricity.

Banks are free to set criteria as to who they offer accounts to and to make whatever decision they like as to whether they accept you as a customer

however once they have accept you as a customer and the bank account is up and running in there should be restrictions on their ability to close it provided the customer obeys the law and the terms and conditions

Like any company, banks have the right to remove a customer and stop serving them.
As there are many providers, one banks saying they no longer want your custom. Does not stop you setting up with another bank.

I do not think "Never" was to strong. As 1st post does not contain the full facts. Quite often the facts have to be dragged out or the information is drip fed.

There was a recent post on this subject, where the OP found out that they were being removed as the account was not being used. But this fact was never mentioned in the 1st post. Led to posts about AML etc. When it was a simple case of, if you are not using the account, then you don't need it.

I get where you are coming from, as you want to know why they are doing it. Just regulator has said no.

18cc

I agree with you that currently banks have the right to remove a customer and stop serving them

what I am saying (it's only my opinion) is that this situation should be be changed and that banks should be held more to account if they do this

phillw

18cc wrote: »

The law should be changed to mandate the banks to have proper discussions with a customer about the exact reasons for their displeasure before initiating any action such as closure or suspension,

So the criminals can figure out a way through the system?

That is the problem, if they give the exact reason and let you off because you didn't realize, then you're likely to evade detection a second time.

Admittedly what that means is that they train the staff to make sure they never tell you anything, which means you're stuck. I have sympathy for the people who are not at fault and also the ones who do something a bit dodgy but it blows up in their face and they can't get a bank account for years afterwards.

longleggedhair

Halifax did exactly the same to me. I had been a customer since I left school, I had a stocks and shares account with Halifax which I had built up over many years. A couple of years ago I sold around £70,000 of shares and moved into my savings account (all three were with Halifax) not long after I got the same letter. They don't like big payments in or out of accounts. Pathetic really. Just use it as an opportunity to bad mouth Lloyds to everyone you speak to, I've cost them several customers in the intervening years.

deadendwaterfall

longleggedhair wrote: »

Halifax did exactly the same to me. I had been a customer since I left school, I had a stocks and shares account with Halifax which I had built up over many years. A couple of years ago I sold around £70,000 of shares and moved into my savings account (all three were with Halifax) not long after I got the same letter. They don't like big payments in or out of accounts. Pathetic really. Just use it as an opportunity to bad mouth Lloyds to everyone you speak to, I've cost them several customers in the intervening years.

So if I either win the lottery or win a large sum from a scratch card, and opt to have it paid into my Halifax or Lloyd's accounts, I can pretty much expect to kiss goodbye to those accounts? :eek: :rotfl:

schoie81

Well I don't really know what "facts" I missed out of my OP... I certainly didn't intentionally leave any details out to try to hide anything or mislead anyone.. but to have described exactly how I use a current account I've held for 7 years would have taken a long time and I'm sure very few people would have been bothered about reading that, so I included the bits I felt were relevant.



Anyway, upshot is, I checked with Cifas and they have no records for me - didn't bother with the other one as it can't be done online and they wanted me to send off forms of ID etc. and I didn't have the time nor inclination. I am quite happy that I've done nothing with any of my accounts that is illegal or in any way 'dodgy'. Whether Halifax suspect otherwise is their problem, not mine now.



I've switched all my accounts away from Halifax and if they don't want my custom, that's their loss. Interestingly though, my last account switched away from them on 30th September, at which point I deleted the app off my phone and haven't checked any of my Halifax accounts since then. According to their letter, all my accounts should have closed on 21st October - ie. the end of the 65 day 'notice' period they gave. Then last Friday, a letter arrived from them, dated 28th October, identical to the first one I received, telling me that they've decided to close all my accounts and that they will close in 65 days from the date of the new letter. So I don't even think THEY know what they're doing!!