Barclays holding my business money, 500k overdrawn!

socialchaos

I'll try to keep this short and simple. 
Received a letter at my business address whilst I was on leave due to bereavement asking for more info surrounding my account and its transactions. This is because I went over my estimated 80k turnover due to a spike in sales.

All information was provided albeit a day late as the request by date was only a few days away and was the date of my dads funeral.

The account had only been used for bills inbetween. I then applied for and received a 40k bounceback loan, a few days later a payment from a customer in greece. Within the hour the account was 500k overdrawn and all funds have been marked as to reconcile.

I believe due to the location of the withdrawal, Coventry, my account is being investigated due to aml. 
No contact has been made with myself and the one conversation I've had with the bank they've been clueless as to what's happened.
I spoke with the lady who has requested more info and shes assured me that it wasnt anything to do with the info they've asked for and advised to call telephony team.
In totally I've now been on hold for 22 hours, including 7.40 hours on saturday, they eventually hung up.

I've tweeted several times and dm'ed and they've ignored me. Most people are receiving responses within the hour. I have little money for food and I'm supporting my widowed mother with bills etc. I just need to know what's happening and an ETA on my funds. My rent is due on business and home premises, bills are due before courier accounts get frozen and need to pay myself and partners salary. 

Is there any other course of action I can take?

colsten

I am afraid, all I can say is that you will have to wait until Barclays remove the overdraft, and the block on your account. The reason in your case may or may not be that you are using a personal account for business reasons, as you appear to rely entirely on one account for both, your business and your personal finances. Using personal accounts for business purposes is against the T&Cs you agreed to. You can raise a formal complaint with Barclays but I doubt this will speed up the investigations that are now underway.

Your post reminded me of a post a few years ago - Barclays have put a £500k overdraft on accounts before. As in many blocked account cases, we have never heard the eventual outcome of this one.   https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5337065/barclays-took-2-million-from-me

eskbanker

If you're saying that a massive unauthorised withdrawal was made then it doesn't seem surprising that they'll need to conduct an investigation into what's happened and that this won't be a quick and straightforward process.  If it's turned into a full-scale AML one then they're legally prevented from giving you (via any channel) any details of what's going on or how long it'll take so you'll just need to sit tight, frustrating though that undoubtedly will be....

jonnygee2

I don't fully understand - your account went to -500k in an hour? How?
From some sort of withdrawal in Coventry? How was that even taken out? You can't easily transfer that amount in an hour. 

Robin9

Has your partner or you not  got a separate personal account to pay the home rent ?   

socialchaos

Robin9 said:

Has your partner or you not  got a separate personal account to pay the home rent ?   

Hi yes we have but rent is paid from salary which I cannot pay right now. The account has only been used for business, the only one personal payment I've made was for my dads funeral. It just seems funny though that the account was frozen within an hour of receiving money in from my customer in greece. The account was used very little inbetween otherwise.

Have now received an email also from the rep that asked for transactional information:
I have been advised that the bank is complying with its legal and regulatory obligations. Due to the nature of these obligations, I’m afraid that I’m unable to share further information with you at this time. I will let you know as soon as we are able to proceed with the transaction, although I’m afraid that I’ve not been advised of the nature of these issues so I cannot give you any further clarification.

jonnygee2

Hi yes we have but rent is paid from salary which I cannot pay right now. The account has only been used for business, the only one personal payment I've made was for my dads funeral. It just seems funny though that the account was frozen within an hour of receiving money in from my customer in greece. The account was used very little inbetween otherwise.
Have now received an email also from the rep that asked for transactional information:
I have been advised that the bank is complying with its legal and regulatory obligations. Due to the nature of these obligations, I’m afraid that I’m unable to share further information with you at this time. I will let you know as soon as we are able to proceed with the transaction, although I’m afraid that I’ve not been advised of the nature of these issues so I cannot give you any further clarification.

Okay, but this doesn't explain what to me would be the main issue - why did the account suddenly become 500K, shortly after a loan and a payment came in?

Banks might freeze accounts for regulatory reasons, but they certainly don't remove £0.5mil from an account in an hour for regulatory reasons.

MoneySavingNovice

If £550k disappeared from an account any bank would be correct in blocking the account and investigating.  Have you contacted the bank's Fraud team?

jackjones01

Was the bounce back loan paid into a personal or business account? If it’s a personal account that’ll be why the accounts been blocked. 

Shakin_Steve

Drip, drip, drip....these posters really do annoy me. A nonsensical post followed by silence.

DCFC79

I'm hooked and can't wait for the next update.