Post Office Money closed my account after using mylostaccount service

penguineater

Bit of a strange one here.

I was curious to know if I had any bank accounts or building society accounts from childhood sitting dormant so I used mylostaccount.org.uk service and chose a bunch of banks/buildings societies for my search criteria. Only choosing ones that I do not knowingly currently have an account with.

One of them that I picked to search is called Bank of Ireland as I figured maybe my old building society was bought out by them. Turns out Bank of Ireland is partnered with The Post Office and there is no listing for The Post Office on mylostaccount, as they go by Bank of Ireland on there.

Anyhow, back in January 2019 I opened a Post Office Money® Online Saver account and deposited some money into it and have left it alone since.

I received a response from a week ago on mylostaccount:

Response from Bank of Ireland
I am pleased to advise you that Bank of Ireland have indicated that they may have traced a dormant account in the name that you have quoted and a letter will be sent to you from the bank, within the next 28 days, to validate your claim.

The letter that I received today came with a cheque containing the closing balance of the account. So instead of informing me that yes, I do have an account there - they instead decided to close the account and cash me out because they consider the account dormant?

For a savings account to be considered dormant, it must not be used for 3-15+ years. My account had been inactive for less than 2 years and all of my contact information is up to date.

I've really no idea why they decided to close the account!

Has anyone had anything similar happen? I did not want my account closed as I have a use for it.

SnowTiger

The account was likely only paying 0.01% interest.

Take the opportunity to pay the money in to an account paying a better rate.

Or open a new Post Office Online Saver account and begin earning 0.35% interest for the next twelve months.

Why did Bank of Ireland return your money and close your account?  Perhaps a mistake?; a misunderstanding?  They happen from time to time.

Ashen

So I had an email once about my Post Office Online Saver, which could be relevant. You don't say how much was in yours though, so not sure if the same applies. Parts of the email below:

"We’ve noticed you haven’t used your Online Saver Issue 29 Annual Interest account ending in **** in the last year

If we don’t hear from you

Your remaining balance will be transferred to our Community Giving Fund**, held by an independent charitable foundation that will manage and invest it. The interest earned on these funds will be given to organisations and charities and used to improve the quality of life in communities. The balance is still yours and you can request that it’s returned (along with any interest it would have accrued) at any time.

We’ve added a new clause to your Account Terms & Conditions under the section ‘Closing your Account’ which reads:

“We reserve the right to close your Account by giving you at least 30 days’ notice where your balance has remained £20.00 or less for the preceding 12 months."

penguineater

SnowTiger said:

The account was likely only paying 0.01% interest.

Take the opportunity to pay the money in to an account paying a better rate.

Or open a new Post Office Online Saver account and begin earning 0.35% interest for the next twelve months.

Why did Bank of Ireland return your money and close your account?  Perhaps a mistake?; a misunderstanding?  They happen from time to time.

I do not have my savings in the account, I needed that account for other reasons. There was a balance although not a large sum.

Ashen said:

So I had an email once about my Post Office Online Saver, which could be relevant. You don't say how much was in yours though, so not sure if the same applies. Parts of the email below:

"We’ve noticed you haven’t used your Online Saver Issue 29 Annual Interest account ending in **** in the last year

If we don’t hear from you

Your remaining balance will be transferred to our Community Giving Fund**, held by an independent charitable foundation that will manage and invest it. The interest earned on these funds will be given to organisations and charities and used to improve the quality of life in communities. The balance is still yours and you can request that it’s returned (along with any interest it would have accrued) at any time.

We’ve added a new clause to your Account Terms & Conditions under the section ‘Closing your Account’ which reads:

“We reserve the right to close your Account by giving you at least 30 days’ notice where your balance has remained £20.00 or less for the preceding 12 months."

That is some scary change to the terms and conditions however I do not see anything in my email. The last one I have is the reduction of interest rates on 1 April, 2020.

The only thing that caused my account to be closed was due to using the mylostaccount service and without any notice.

ZeroSum

It doesn't surprise me, they are useless.

Ive had issues with them just cancelling DD's for no reason (for use of getting good rates on current accounts). Then when you complain they refuse to take any responsibility for their system being at fault. 

Thrugelmir

Given that you had lost track of the account. What's the big deal if the bank closed the account?   By making the unnecessary request you've cost the bank money. Business relationships are two way. 

SnowTiger

penguineater said:
I do not have my savings in the account, I needed that account for other reasons. There was a balance although not a large sum.

You can open another account very easily. I think I have six.

penguineater

Thrugelmir said:

Given that you had lost track of the account. What's the big deal if the bank closed the account?   By making the unnecessary request you've cost the bank money. Business relationships are two way. 

If you read my post you will see that I did not lose track of the account.

SnowTiger said:

penguineater said:
I do not have my savings in the account, I needed that account for other reasons. There was a balance although not a large sum.

You can open another account very easily. I think I have six.

Yep but each time it's gonna affect my credit rating and i'll be applying for a mortgage soon.

colsten

penguineater said:

Yep but each time it's gonna affect my credit rating and i'll be applying for a mortgage soon.

No hard credit searches get carried out when you apply for a savings account. Savings accounts also won'y get reported to the CRAs. So no, your credit rating / credit worthiness will not be affected by applying for a savings account.

penguineater

It seems I accidentally put through a lost account search to Newcastle Building Society where I have my LISA.

They however did things properly unlike The Post Office!

I can confirm we have carried out a full search of our records and I am pleased to advise that we have found an account in this name. However, from looking at the activity on the accounts it would suggest that it is not a lost account case.

I trust this is satisfactory, however if you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact us.