NatWest randomly closed my account

PRAISETHESUN

1) The switch incentive is valid for their "reward" and "select" accounts. Did you mean to say you were rejected for these accounts and offered their basic account instead? If you were accepted for one of these accounts then there shouldn't be anything stopping you taking advantage of the switch offer.

2) It sounds like your account hasn't actually been closed, but simply blocked as a anti-fraud measure. From the bank's perspective it could simply be an account security issue, or it could be for suspected money laundering. Either way they are obliged to block your account until their investigations are complete. Let them finish their investigation and you'll get your money back - there isn't really much you can do at the moment anyway. You might have some success formally complaining  about the hardship it's causing you, but I appreciate it probably won't solve your problems at the moment.

db2016

as soon as i read half of original post its clear why, your transferred in / out monies within hours if not mins of the account being live..
it just looks suspicious and triggers automatic "computer says no" stuff. - i'd have waited a few hours, or a day or two.

thewafflesofdestiny

Ed-1 said:

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?

They're closing it and have blocked it as well. So not your typical situation with a notice period, access to my money and some time to collect it. 

thewafflesofdestiny

db2016 said:

as soon as i read half of original post its clear why, your transferred in / out monies within hours if not mins of the account being live..
it just looks suspicious and triggers automatic "computer says no" stuff. - i'd have waited a few hours, or a day or two.

Sure, but I mean, that is what a bank account is for at the end of the day. And surely an automatic software solution that by now should have had enough complaints against it for removal shouldn't result in my money being held like that?

Genuinely when depositing money into my new bank wasn't thinking they'd block my bank because I decided to use the account.

thewafflesofdestiny

PRAISETHESUN said:

1) The switch incentive is valid for their "reward" and "select" accounts. Did you mean to say you were rejected for these accounts and offered their basic account instead? If you were accepted for one of these accounts then there shouldn't be anything stopping you taking advantage of the switch offer.

2) It sounds like your account hasn't actually been closed, but simply blocked as a anti-fraud measure. From the bank's perspective it could simply be an account security issue, or it could be for suspected money laundering. Either way they are obliged to block your account until their investigations are complete. Let them finish their investigation and you'll get your money back - there isn't really much you can do at the moment anyway. You might have some success formally complaining  about the hardship it's causing you, but I appreciate it probably won't solve your problems at the moment.

Yes, so basic account. Good to know I can still get the switch offer that way. 

And yes, it's not a solution for now, but hopefully they'll be aware of the hardship and at least accommodate late fees and whatnot, best I can hope for really. 

thewafflesofdestiny

born_again said:

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?

Let me rephrase this. I had my wages moved into my Barclays, as Natwest wasn't active at the time of my payroll happening. 

However, I then manually moved said money to Natwest when they activated the account, which is when this whole thing happened. The NatWest account was active when I moved money into it. But apparently I must have tripped up the world's shittiest anti-fraud solution in doing so. 

Travisnewman

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??

Hey do you have any updates on this situation? Same thing happened to me. But I transferred money to my revoult account. I have seen the replies in this forum and people are questioning you like you have committed fraud, but have they not seen the reviews of Natwest on trustpilot. So many people complaining about their account being closed. 

bossman1970

Well u seen in 2020 natwest closed  2.3million cutermers acounts taking a camersal  disison 

eskbanker

bossman1970 said:

Well u seen in 2020 natwest closed  2.3million cutermers acounts taking a camersal  disison 

No, dint see ths, do u hv a link?

badger09

eskbanker said:

bossman1970 said:

Well u seen in 2020 natwest closed  2.3million cutermers acounts taking a camersal  disison 

No, dint see ths, do u hv a link?

cud aslo yous a spellchic