NATWEST closed my account and not returning my money.

andygb

Placitasgirl said:

It appears to me that the closure could well be due to the fact that you appear to have been using personal accounts for business use, which is probably a breach of Nat West's account Terms and Conditions. You refer to your "business" in your original post so should probably have opened a business account rather than use a personal account for this purpose. 

This, coupled with the numerous transactions could have flagged the account for potential fraud or money laundering. The bank is not permitted to tell you this as that is an offence called "tipping off". 

Either way it appears that the bank considers that you have in some way contravened their terms and conditions or used the account in a way which they are unhappy with. They are perfectly within their rights to close your account and to hold your funds until any investigation is complete. Whether they are ever returned to you will depend on the outcome of that investigation. 

Banks would like people to use business accounts, because the charges are usually higher, but as I and others were told at a chamber of commerce meeting last year, there is absolutely no compulsion to do so.

You can simply set up another current account.

https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2016/11/do-i-need-a-business-bank-account/

Thrugelmir

Whether you have your Grandmothers permission or not has no bearing. Does not overide the Terms and Conditions that your Grandmother herself signed up to. This isn't the wild west where you can make rules up as you go. With a reduced workforce investigations will taking longer. You brought the whole matter down upon yourself. Unfortunately you are now paying the consequences. Interesting that you are raising complaints against the bank when it's you that's totally in the wrong! 

Herzlos

How many transactions and how much money are you talking about?

John_

andygb said:

Placitasgirl said:

It appears to me that the closure could well be due to the fact that you appear to have been using personal accounts for business use, which is probably a breach of Nat West's account Terms and Conditions. You refer to your "business" in your original post so should probably have opened a business account rather than use a personal account for this purpose. 

This, coupled with the numerous transactions could have flagged the account for potential fraud or money laundering. The bank is not permitted to tell you this as that is an offence called "tipping off". 

Either way it appears that the bank considers that you have in some way contravened their terms and conditions or used the account in a way which they are unhappy with. They are perfectly within their rights to close your account and to hold your funds until any investigation is complete. Whether they are ever returned to you will depend on the outcome of that investigation. 

Banks would like people to use business accounts, because the charges are usually higher, but as I and others were told at a chamber of commerce meeting last year, there is absolutely no compulsion to do so.

You can simply set up another current account.

https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2016/11/do-i-need-a-business-bank-account/

And there is no compulsion on the next bank to allow it either.

colsten

andygb said

Banks would like people to use business accounts, because the charges are usually higher, but as I and others were told at a chamber of commerce meeting last year, there is absolutely no compulsion to do so.

You can simply set up another current account.

https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2016/11/do-i-need-a-business-bank-account/

There is absolutely no compulsion for banks to allow business transactions on personal accounts. It's the banks who create the T&Cs for their accounts, and neither the Chamber of Commerce nor any Law can force them to remove the clauses that limit the use of those accounts to personal use only.

Whilst most business accounts are chargeable - (for good reason, why should non-business customers pay for the extras businesses require) - there are free of charge business accounts, suitable for sole traders and small businesses. 

Your linked article is no proof that personal current accounts can be used for business purposes. In actual fact, it says that people shouldn't.

It's quite irresponsible to suggest people should ignore the T&Cs that come with bank accounts.

notveryeducated

jonnygee2 said:

My question is how long can a bank hold your funds legally?

Not long, at this point the bank is unlikely to still have your money.

In these instances the funds will have been returned to source, that is to say, they will have been returned to wherever the payments originated from.

There's no point contacting or complaining to the bank because they will no longer have control of your money. There is nothing further you can do, the money is gone.

You'll just have to wait until the Ombudsman investigates your case and if they uphold your complaint you'll get the money back.

The ombudsman has no jurisdiction at all over this, they cannot initiate any return of funds here.

You are talking absolute nonsense. "The funds will be returned to source" so either the OP's PayPal or his Grandma's PayPal/bank account? The Ombudsman definitely has a jurisdiction and a say over this, they have the power to make banks do whatever they say in terms of reimbursements, refunds or compensation.

NatWest just close somebody's account, keep their money and nope that's it end of story? NatWest could be in the wrong for all we know, yes maybe OP was using a personal account for business but it doesn't mean he isn't entitled to the money. This is why the Ombudsman service exists, in case a company, in this case NatWest, has made a mistake and the Ombudsman can put it right and settle the dispute. 

vitaweat

notveryeducated said:

jonnygee2 said:

My question is how long can a bank hold your funds legally?

Not long, at this point the bank is unlikely to still have your money.

In these instances the funds will have been returned to source, that is to say, they will have been returned to wherever the payments originated from.

There's no point contacting or complaining to the bank because they will no longer have control of your money. There is nothing further you can do, the money is gone.

You'll just have to wait until the Ombudsman investigates your case and if they uphold your complaint you'll get the money back.

The ombudsman has no jurisdiction at all over this, they cannot initiate any return of funds here.

You are talking absolute nonsense. "The funds will be returned to source" so either the OP's PayPal or his Grandma's PayPal/bank account? The Ombudsman definitely has a jurisdiction and a say over this, they have the power to make banks do whatever they say in terms of reimbursements, refunds or compensation.

NatWest just close somebody's account, keep their money and nope that's it end of story? NatWest could be in the wrong for all we know, yes maybe OP was using a personal account for business but it doesn't mean he isn't entitled to the money.

I worked in a lot of banks and I would expect the money to be held in a "suspense account" pending the outcome of the investigation.  The best outcome for the OP is that (s)he gets the money back after a couple of months.  The worst is that they (or dear old grandma) gets done for money laundering and ends up in court or even in jug!

OP - Have you been paying income tax on your earnings?  Declaring them to the tax man in any way at all?  If not and you've been layering the money through your grandma's account then that is certainly grounds to start a money laundering investigation.

nyermen

Only takes one ebay buyer to claim their paypal account was hacked and there is suspicion on the funds receiver.  May be a result of something down that avenue, which would explain the silence (AML investigation where they cant tell you anything). 

notveryeducated

vitaweat said:

I worked in a lot of banks and I would expect the money to be held in a "suspense account" pending the outcome of the investigation.  The best outcome for the OP is that (s)he gets the money back after a couple of months.  The worst is that they (or dear old grandma) gets done for money laundering and ends up in court or even in jug!

It seems like their investigation is actually over because they replied to OP's complaint saying they are denying him the funds, but beforehand they said he has to wait 60 days. 

sheramber

andygb said:

Placitasgirl said:

It appears to me that the closure could well be due to the fact that you appear to have been using personal accounts for business use, which is probably a breach of Nat West's account Terms and Conditions. You refer to your "business" in your original post so should probably have opened a business account rather than use a personal account for this purpose. 

This, coupled with the numerous transactions could have flagged the account for potential fraud or money laundering. The bank is not permitted to tell you this as that is an offence called "tipping off". 

Either way it appears that the bank considers that you have in some way contravened their terms and conditions or used the account in a way which they are unhappy with. They are perfectly within their rights to close your account and to hold your funds until any investigation is complete. Whether they are ever returned to you will depend on the outcome of that investigation. 

Banks would like people to use business accounts, because the charges are usually higher, but as I and others were told at a chamber of commerce meeting last year, there is absolutely no compulsion to do so.

You can simply set up another current account.

https://www.simplybusiness.co.uk/knowledge/articles/2016/11/do-i-need-a-business-bank-account/

You must have stopped reading before you got to this bit

 However, there are several reasons that setting up a business account may still be a good idea. These are some of them.

1. Your bank’s terms and conditions

It’s likely that somewhere in the smallprint of your personal bank account documents it says that your account should be for personal use only. If your bank realises that you’re using the account for your business - particularly if there’s a lot of money passing through or you’re handling a lot of cash and cheques - they may threaten to close your account and tell you to open a business account.