NatWest randomly closed my account

thewafflesofdestiny

I've seen a few posts of this nature before, and I'm fully well aware they have the right to close my account without notice whenever they please. However this situation is different. 


On the 28th of February, after two weeks of waiting once I'd applied for their 175 cashback switch offer, my account was finally open. My credit score isn't fantastic, so I didn't qualify for that offer, and got a regular account instead. 

Some waiting and ID verification bs later I finally got my account at 6:43 am Friday (payday). I therefore put most of my salary into this new account to get us into a good start with them, waiting for them to complete their switch. 

About an hour later at 9:38 am (literally not even being a customer for three hours) I sent £500 back to my Barclays account to cover some direct debits as the switch hadn't been completed yet. Exactly 30 seconds later I get the infamous text saying everything is now blocked. £1500, and money very much needed for my bills and everything was now locked. 

They wouldn't discuss over the phone. In the branch office they said they won't even be able to begin the procedure of discussing what had happened until 14 days later, with no clue how to actually get my money back. 

So my credit card payments, council tax, car insurance, rent and many other essential things are all going to be late now.

As I'm still recovering from debt (after divorce) I don't have much if any savings. 

What should I do? Any advice or guidance is welcome here. I've got £40 left to my name as we speak and I've got no clue how I'm going to pay for anything or even buy food in the interim.

Surely after 3 hours of being a customer a bank can't just hold my money against my will for 2 weeks or more??

[Deleted User]

Yes, they can.  The duration of your custom with them isn't a factor.

If you don't have any back up accounts, speak to friends or family to see if they can lend you some money to tide you over.

mwarby

You've triggered thier fraud or money laundering systems. To them it probably looks a bit suspect that a brand new account has £2k sent to it, then £500 transferred back out within hours. If they suspect money laundering they can't tell you this, nor can they release the money until they comlete thier checks

thewafflesofdestiny

mwarby said:

You've triggered thier fraud or money laundering systems. To them it probably looks a bit suspect that a brand new account has £2k sent to it, then £500 transferred back out within hours. If they suspect money laundering they can't tell you this, nor can they release the money until they comlete thier checks

CAn only hope the checks will go quicker since it's only two transactions...

[Deleted User]

Why is ID verification "BS"? 

Thrugelmir

Where did you transfer your salary from? 

thewafflesofdestiny

camelot1971 said:

Why is ID verification "BS"? 

Them going back and forth about me til they finally accepted a passport and a council tax bill as sufficient proof of address and identity. Hence the whole process took about two weeks. 

thewafflesofdestiny

Thrugelmir said:

Where did you transfer your salary from? 

From the Barclays current account that I'm switching away from, or rather will probably stay with after everything. 

My salary was deposited there as the NatWest account wasn't active yet and they had no estimate when it would be ready for use. 

thewafflesofdestiny

Deleted_User said:

Yes, they can.  The duration of your custom with them isn't a factor.

If you don't have any back up accounts, speak to friends or family to see if they can lend you some money to tide you over.

I would but unfortunately there's nobody I can rely on for such things, which is sad, but it is what it is..

Ed-1

thewafflesofdestiny said:

I've seen a few posts of this nature before, and I'm fully well aware they have the right to close my account without notice whenever they please. However this situation is different. 


On the 28th of February, after two weeks of waiting once I'd applied for their 175 cashback switch offer, my account was finally open. My credit score isn't fantastic, so I didn't qualify for that offer, and got a regular account instead. 

Some waiting and ID verification bs later I finally got my account at 6:43 am Friday (payday). I therefore put most of my salary into this new account to get us into a good start with them, waiting for them to complete their switch. 

About an hour later at 9:38 am (literally not even being a customer for three hours) I sent £500 back to my Barclays account to cover some direct debits as the switch hadn't been completed yet. Exactly 30 seconds later I get the infamous text saying everything is now blocked. £1500, and money very much needed for my bills and everything was now locked. 

They wouldn't discuss over the phone. In the branch office they said they won't even be able to begin the procedure of discussing what had happened until 14 days later, with no clue how to actually get my money back. 

So my credit card payments, council tax, car insurance, rent and many other essential things are all going to be late now.

As I'm still recovering from debt (after divorce) I don't have much if any savings. 

What should I do? Any advice or guidance is welcome here. I've got £40 left to my name as we speak and I've got no clue how I'm going to pay for anything or even buy food in the interim.

Surely after 3 hours of being a customer a bank can't just hold my money against my will for 2 weeks or more??

So are they closing it (as the title of the thread says) or is it just blocked?

born_again

thewafflesofdestiny said:

Thrugelmir said:

Where did you transfer your salary from? 

From the Barclays current account that I'm switching away from, or rather will probably stay with after everything. 

My salary was deposited there as the NatWest account wasn't active yet and they had no estimate when it would be ready for use. 

Why move wages to a non active account? Then transfer funds out? So account was active...
Why not simply wait for the switch to work?