Little help. Thanks

mrssk15

Hi everyone. I had a transfer into my account from a friend for some holiday savings ask was purchasing our holiday money and my bank was frozen as suspicious activity. I sent proof etc and they just said they will let me know the outcome after the fraud team look into it. So j've waited nearly 2 month now to hear back and i've just received a letter this morning, it says

"Your account has been referred to our investigation team for further review. We use different sources of information to help protect our customers from fraud and a number of factors are taken into account when deciding the outcome of our investigation. Following a review of the information, we've decided to withdraw your banking facilities with immediate effect. Your accounts have now been closed."

I do have another account so I'm not too fussed about it being closed although slightly annoying, but I don't fully understand the letter , are they still investigating it as it says my account 'has been referred' to the investigation team or am I reading it wrong and that it has now been investigated and the account are closed and that's is it?

Thanks in advance if it's a daft question !

lopsyfa

What it means is they have finished their investigation/review and have decided to close your account. Do you know the source of money from your friend? It seems your account has been closed due to money laundering/fraud suspicion.

It is also possible the bank may have a CIFAS against your name. If this is the case, the next time your other bank(s) perform a credit check on you, they will also close your account and you may struggle to open account with another bank or get credit. Send a SAR to CIFAS (https://www.cifas.org.uk/contact-us/subject-access-request) to make sure there is no marker against your name. If so, you need to resolve this by proving the money is genuine and have the marker removed.

PRAISETHESUN

Sounds to me as if they are saying that your account was referred and they have subsequently finished their investigation, and now are closing your account - personally if you're adamant that it was the wrong decisions then I'd formally complain, although I'm not sure how far this'd get. Did your friend get the money sent back to them? That'd be what I'd be most annoyed about....

EDIT: As above, I'd also recommend checking your credit reports (all 3 CRAs) and submitting SARs to CIFAS and National Hunter, just in case.

mrssk15

Thanks for your replies. The money was already withdrawn by the time they froze the account as it was a few weeks later. I showed the bank proof of friends account and her savings account etc so through it would be a simple have a look and unblock but obviously not.

How do I send an SAR ? What are CRA? I haven't a clue about any of this sorry lol. money laundering or fraud sounds scary. What happens if I'm suspected of this? Or is that just it now with closing the account?

Edit. Ok, i have an account with credit expert I will check that and then follow your link thankyou

mrssk15

PRAISETHESUN wrote: »

SAR is a subject access request. Essentially you are asking for a copy of your personal information held by these companies under GDPR laws. If anything unusual is on your files it will be recorded by these agencies.

CRAs are the Credit Reference Agencies (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion). Make sure to request a copy of your reports from them and go over the contents of them with a fine tooth comb. Ignore the scores/ratings and focus on the history. Look for any accounts that are not yours, or any negative markers such as CIFAS, etc. If the banks have reported anything like this to the CRAs it may get picked up during subsequent credit applications, or even your existing providers if they periodically check your files, and could cause other things to get closed down.

I've checked the credit expert nothing shows on there today I suppose it may take a few days if I've just received the letter? I will do the SAR in the meantime and keep an eye on my credit file. I don't have anything else except one other bank account, most things are in my husband's name as my credit rating is terrible from when I was younger anyway so never usually apply for anything in my name. Thanks for your reply

PRAISETHESUN

mrssk15 wrote: »

I've checked the credit expert nothing shows on there today I suppose it may take a few days if I've just received the letter? I will do the SAR in the meantime and keep an eye on my credit file. I don't have anything else except one other bank account, most things are in my husband's name as my credit rating is terrible from when I was younger anyway so never usually apply for anything in my name. Thanks for your reply

So I accidentally double posted and then deleted both of them instead! Whoops.

Some changes may take a while to filter through and can be 4-8 weeks in some cases, so keep an eye over the next few months, particularly since you only got your letters in the last few days.

I'd also recommend you ignore your "score/rating". These numbers are basically meaningless, as most people on the forums will tell you. Records only go back 6 years on your files, so anything older then that won't be visible to lenders. You may find moving forward that your problem is not poor credit history but actually a lack of credit history.

lopsyfa

The kind of marker applied for fraud or money laundry will not be visible on your credit report - only protective marker will be visible. Submit SAR to CIFAS using the link below:

https://www.cifas.org.uk/contact-us/subject-access-request/subject-access-request-form

Ben8282

A friend transferring some money into your account should not cause your account to be blocked for 2 months!
Did you actually manage to get your holiday money? I suppose as most people would purchase their holiday money close to the date of your holiday, did you have anything to spend while on holiday or did you both have to cancel the holiday because the account was frozen?

Just how much was transferred into your account?
Curious of what ;proof; you sent the bank.