A major bank has been refusing to let me withdraw £10k of family savings for over one month

Marchitiello

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Can you clarify if your bank account was "hacked" or not? If it was presumably all the money went and was then replaced by the bank. That would be rather a major thing to omit.
If it wasn't and you were just making stuff up then all you've done is muddy the waters

I think it is pretty clear that the OP only ever mentioning Hacking as something (a probability) that COULD have probably happened for the bank to lock his account as he could not think about other reasons, but also added that it would be unlikely.

The OP also clearly stated that he found the account locked BEFORE he could go in and do anything with his saving. He was not making stuff up as he CLEARLY stated that was the only assumptions he could think of, not that was a fact...

So, the posters that are failing to read properly the OP posts are the only ones causing confusion and risking “muddy the water”

Terry_Towelling

You wouldn't answer my last question (I don't understand why) so how about these questions. When was the last time you paid into the account, how much did you pay in, and did this pay-in come from your usual source?

AnotherJoe

Marchitiello wrote: »

I think it is pretty clear that the OP only ever mentioning Hacking as something (a probability) that COULD have probably happened for the bank to lock his account as he could not think about other reasons, but also added that it would be unlikely.

Its way beyond unlikely !

It was hacked but all the money was left there and the hackers did nothing to it? He might equally speculate than Aliens gained control of it or soemthing.

boo_star

nyermen wrote: »

1) Whomever you spoke to sees very little - as the compliance department can't control every call center employee they won't risk putting any more info on the main bank systems. Ditto FOS's information at this stage - they can't just pick up the phone to the bank and get all the details of your account from them, there's a process.

This is 100% correct. When money laundering was suspected by a staff member at the bank I really did work at (I promise!) we had an internal system to report it with which left no footprint to anyone other than the AML team. We were also forbidden from telling the customer or leaving a note to say we had reported them for money laundering (because they could be "tipped off" via an SAR.)

Ben8282

snowqueen555 wrote: »

I have noticed a from recent threads of frozen accounts that the first insinuation is that the OP is suspicious. I don't think that line of tone is particularly nice or helpful!

I would agree with you if it were not for th fact that the situations described are often implausible and the OP themselves often mentions some sort of suspicious activity that they have conducted on the account.
Now take for example the current thread. The OP writes

User1234567 wrote: »

I have approximately £10,000 of savings in an account with a major UK bank. The savings come from my (public sector) salary, paid in over the last ten years. One month ago I was locked out of the account and was told it was "under review" and that no further information would be given.

Don't you find this just a little bit odd? After all banks don't do this sort of thing on a whim. Something must have caused this action on their part. Has this happened to you? No.

Marchitiello

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Its way beyond unlikely !

It was hacked but all the money was left there and the hackers did nothing to it? He might equally speculate than Aliens gained control of it or soemthing.

Again, failing to read the OP message properly: He does not know what may have happened to the account nor to the Money in it, as he cannot access it or see the balance.

Some sensible suggestion has come from the poster talking about political flagging.

For those in the know, it could have also been from one single unusual transaction (which the OP already said not to have done) or, in my experience, from someone cloning his/her identity and opening a fraudulent account with the same bank

User1234567

Thank you everyone for all the advice so far. Just an update to say that I still don't have access to the funds and that last week they offered me £50 compensation for the (now over five weeks) delay. I don't know whether to accept this or not at this stage...

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser

OP, having been in a similar situation in the past, the only thing I will suggest is diligently following the complaints route - complain to the bank, wait for 8 weeks or final response - then take it to the FOS and wait for them to rule on it. Of course our circumstances are unlikely to be the same but mine ended in an apology and a not-unsubstantial amount in compensation from the bank, enforced by the FOS. Banks are expected to TCF (treat customers fairly) and that includes handling these sort of matters with urgency and not leaving customers in limbo for longer than they need to.

If you accept any compensation in the interim, PLEASE make sure that it does not stop you from going to the Ombudsman or indicate that you are satisfied with whatever action the bank has taken.

Unfortunately, due to how the AML laws are written and interpreted, the bank will not provide you any useful information and once an algorithm flags something as "suspicious", the humans who need to bring matters to a close can take a long time to make a decision. The best thing you can do to speed their "investigation" along and bring it to a close will be to pursue your complaint.

I wish you luck and patience, you will need it!

User1234567 wrote: »

Thank you everyone for all the advice so far. Just an update to say that I still don't have access to the funds and that last week they offered me £50 compensation for the (now over five weeks) delay. I don't know whether to accept this or not at this stage...

polymaff

This site works on data, not emotions. If you don't provide data - like the Bank and the type of account - and who are named signatories - just because you don't want to, you seriously limit the advice you'll receive

PensionNs

This is good and helpful advice, keep plugging away.

Unfortunately, the way these things go, the case will need to reach someone high enough in the compliance team to sign off that things look legit. Understandably so, the grunts aren't usually willing/able to take that responsibility. The automated systems they use depend on patterns to raise flags, most of which are overturned but need someone to manually to sign it off.

And this is from my experience working in compliance at LBG for 32 long years!

Retired_Mortgage_Adviser wrote: »

OP, having been in a similar situation in the past, the only thing I will suggest is diligently following the complaints route - complain to the bank, wait for 8 weeks or final response - then take it to the FOS and wait for them to rule on it. Of course our circumstances are unlikely to be the same but mine ended in an apology and a not-unsubstantial amount in compensation from the bank, enforced by the FOS. Banks are expected to TCF (treat customers fairly) and that includes handling these sort of matters with urgency and not leaving customers in limbo for longer than they need to.

If you accept any compensation in the interim, PLEASE make sure that it does not stop you from going to the Ombudsman or indicate that you are satisfied with whatever action the bank has taken.