Frozen bank account after paying in inheritance cheque

Mattb6401

Hi Everyone, 
New to here but would love some advice and support. I deposited a cheque for £18,330 to Nationwide in branch on Wednesday 6th May 2020 and was expected to clear Thursday 7th May 2020.

On checking my account this morning I was locked out of my Internet banking and a message came up to call Nationwide. When I rang they told me that my account was frozen and passed to the fraud investigations team. I have emailed the fraud investigation team evidence of where the cheque came from (inheritance from aunt, cheque was written from her solictor). Although the fraud investigation team confirm they have received my evidence they say there is currently a 14 day backlog and will not be looked at until after this point.

I have no access to my bank accounts now where my salary is paid into and unable to pay my direct debits. What can I do now? I work in frontline anaesthetics for the NHS and Nationwide have left me literally without a penny, I am unable to pay my car insurance so can't even get to work let alone feed myself. I feel completely unsupported by Nationwide and let down during a difficult enough pandemic. Welcome any thoughts and please feel free to ask for any information I have missed. Thanks, Matthew 

Zanderman

First thought (though not immediately helpful I admit) is to suggest you open another current account with at least one completely different bank and always keep some money there.  Then, if this situation ever arose again, you'd have access to at least some funds.  And get a credit card (and maybe more than one of those, also with different banks).

jonnygee2

Although the fraud investigation team confirm they have received my evidence they say there is currently a 14 day backlog and will not be looked at until after this point.

This is completely unacceptable. Although they can (and should really) do AML checks on large incoming balances, freezing your account for 14 days just isn't on. It should be done in one working day, two max.

I would immediately raise a formal complaint about this. But, this will probably only mean you might get compensation later. Right now you need to find another source of funds - maybe an account with an overdraft or a loan from a friend? Or open an account and see if the NHS can advance you something?

inspectorperez

Mattb6401 said:

Hi Everyone, 
New to here but would love some advice and support. I deposited a cheque for £18,330 to Nationwide in branch on Wednesday 6th May 2020 and was expected to clear Thursday 7th May 2020.

On checking my account this morning I was locked out of my Internet banking and a message came up to call Nationwide. When I rang they told me that my account was frozen and passed to the fraud investigations team. I have emailed the fraud investigation team evidence of where the cheque came from (inheritance from aunt, cheque was written from her solictor). Although the fraud investigation team confirm they have received my evidence they say there is currently a 14 day backlog and will not be looked at until after this point.

I have no access to my bank accounts now where my salary is paid into and unable to pay my direct debits. What can I do now? I work in frontline anaesthetics for the NHS and Nationwide have left me literally without a penny, I am unable to pay my car insurance so can't even get to work let alone feed myself. I feel completely unsupported by Nationwide and let down during a difficult enough pandemic. Welcome any thoughts and please feel free to ask for any information I have missed. Thanks, Matthew 

This sounds very much like a bank following money laundering regulations. They could have filed a "suspicious transaction" report and are now awaiting clearance to proceed with the transaction (by crediting your account) and unfreezing the account as a whole. I wonder if you have spoken to your aunt's solicitor to take advice on whether the cheque could be stopped or an alternative form of action? I guess that it will have been drawn on the solicitor's client account and there would be nothing to prevent the solicitor from instructing his bank to cancel it if that was an appropriate course of action. Your solicitor may even offer you to draw against your entitlement for things like car insurance etc in view of the circumstances if that was possible.

digalumps

One thing you should certainly do is contact your solicitor and tell him that a cheque drawn on his client account has triggered anti money laundering systems at Nationwide

Mattb6401

Thanks for all your brilliant advice. I have just spoken to her solictors office and they are due to give me a call back. Also managed to open a credit card which should hopefully arrive in a few days. 

jonnygee2

They could have filed a "suspicious transaction" report and are now awaiting clearance to proceed with the transaction (by crediting your account) and unfreezing the account as a whole.

It's possible but unlikely in my mind they have filed a SAR. If they had, given wait times they wouldn't be saying 14 days or giving reasons - they'd be blanking the OP and giving indefinite timelines. It would also generally be a grevious error of judgement to file a SAR when there's plenty of evidence it came from a family solicitor and is inheritance.

It sounds more like they are going to take 14 days just to get around to their own review before deciding how to proceed. When they do it should be fairly simple to approve a transaction like this, unless there are some significant complicating factors we aren't aware of.