Barclays making me HOMELESS

z_k93

BARCLAYS MAKING ME HOMELESS

I’ve got a really bad situation as well.
Barclays reviewed my account in April this year and closed it, I raised a complaint which started another review and ended last month in Barclays reaching the final decision of “returning all your money, taking off anything against you in credit files AND compensating you £700 for your troubles.” For which they made me travel back to UK during COVID that cost me more than the compensation amount, to fill a transfer of funds because they still wanted to close my account. I did all that and was told my money would be transferred in 10 working days. I am now abroad again because my wife works in Dubai. And it’s been 17 working days and I have just been informed that my “account is under review” again?! Which makes no sense because I was told I had no account and the money was being kept in a “separate internal account.”

How can they re-review an account I don’t supposedly have after officially reaching a final decision already and making me travel dangerously during COVID as well?!

I have now raised the case to Financial Ombudsman who have prioritised my case because all my savings are in that account and we have to move back to UK because my wife has been let go during COVID. After the move, we’ll have no money left and will be on the STREETS and HOMELESS. The worst part is that my wife is pregnant and we will have to leave our beautiful cat behind as well. It is all heart-breaking.

Thrugelmir

Barclays aren't making you homeless. The dramatics don't help. Best to stick to real facts and the reasons behind why an account review was triggered and subsequently reinstated. These events don't happen for no reason. 

TheEffect

Why do you capitalise STREETS and HOMELESS? 
A lot of missing information in your post. 

born_again

.z_k93 said:

BARCLAYS MAKING ME HOMELESS

I’ve got a really bad situation as well.
Barclays reviewed my account in April this year and closed it, I raised a complaint which started another review and ended last month in Barclays reaching the final decision of “returning all your money, taking off anything against you in credit files AND compensating you £700 for your troubles.” For which they made me travel back to UK during COVID that cost me more than the compensation amount, to fill a transfer of funds because they still wanted to close my account. I did all that and was told my money would be transferred in 10 working days. I am now abroad again because my wife works in Dubai. And it’s been 17 working days and I have just been informed that my “account is under review” again?! Which makes no sense because I was told I had no account and the money was being kept in a “separate internal account.”

How can they re-review an account I don’t supposedly have after officially reaching a final decision already and making me travel dangerously during COVID as well?!

I have now raised the case to Financial Ombudsman who have prioritised my case because all my savings are in that account and we have to move back to UK because my wife has been let go during COVID. After the move, we’ll have no money left and will be on the STREETS and HOMELESS. The worst part is that my wife is pregnant and we will have to leave our beautiful cat behind as well. It is all heart-breaking.

So which is it?
Sounds like you have more than 1 account with them and they are unhappy with the other accounts.

So where was the money transferred too, That was in the internal account?
You do have other accounts fr it to be moved too don't you..... 

Why do you have to move back? Do you not work over there? Or have you been living off your wife's wages? Which given she is now pregnant is more like this issue?

Notepad_Phil

z_k93 said:

How can they re-review an account I don’t supposedly have after officially reaching a final decision already and making me travel dangerously during COVID as well?!

I have now raised the case to Financial Ombudsman who have prioritised my case because all my savings are in that account and we have to move back to UK because my wife has been let go during COVID.

Now Barclays may be 100% completely wrong on this, but it seems to me that they had/have suspicions about your account and so although they made a 'final decision' that it was okay for you to get the money from the account, something else has subsequently been found that has meant that those concerns have been renewed and so they have to investigate them.

If this is along the lines of suspicion of fraud etc then Barclays is not allowed (for obvious reasons) to tell you and the Financial Ombudsman will also be limited into what they can make Barclays do i.e. they won't be able to tell them to just pay the money over whilst investigations continue - now this is a complete pain to innocent people, but unfortunately there are a lot of non-innocents out there.

Is there anything at all that could have spooked Barclays - new payees, new incoming payments, larger than usual sums of money coming into or out of the account, etc?

Too late for you now, but in future have at least two accounts open with different banking groups so if something like this happens then you hopefully still have access to one of them.

jonnygee2

You need to be ordinarily resident in the UK to have a UK current account. As you are clearly living abroad (you say you will have to 'move back to the UK'), it's likely that Barclays have switched onto this and this could be part of the reason they are closing the account.

As your account conditions will almost definitely include a stipulation that you should be ordinarily resident in the UK, FOS will consider it reasonable that they required your physical presence for some things and you won't get any additional compensation for having to travel back for things related to your account.

Chino

jonnygee2 said:

As your account conditions will almost definitely include a stipulation that you should be ordinarily resident in the UK

I can't find any such stipulation in Barclays' Terms and conditions for personal customers. Can you?

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

When I was an expat, my account was not in the UK. I used this one account to transfer to my UK account and pay the bills.
Chino said:

jonnygee2 said:

As your account conditions will almost definitely include a stipulation that you should be ordinarily resident in the UK

I can't find any such stipulation in Barclays' Terms and conditions for personal customers. Can you?

No, but transferring large amounts of money from an overseas account does ring the bells these days!

Breadcake

Chino said:

jonnygee2 said:

As your account conditions will almost definitely include a stipulation that you should be ordinarily resident in the UK

I can't find any such stipulation in Barclays' Terms and conditions for personal customers. Can you?

The linked document covers accounts and services offered within the U.K. as described on page 4.
On the same page it goes on to explain:
“This agreement doesn’t cover the following products and services because they have separate terms and conditions:
...

• accounts we offer outside the UK”

jonnygee2

Chino said:

jonnygee2 said:

As your account conditions will almost definitely include a stipulation that you should be ordinarily resident in the UK

I can't find any such stipulation in Barclays' Terms and conditions for personal customers. Can you?

It says "It’s very important that you also keep us informed if there are any changes to your situation, personal details or any other important changes that are relevant to us – for example, if you: • change your name • change your nationality • move to another country • 

Try telling them you have moved to another country with no set date to return, and see what happens. If you were living abroad at the time you applied for the account, you wouldn't have been offered it in the first place.

colsten

jonnygee2 said:

Chino said:

jonnygee2 said:

As your account conditions will almost definitely include a stipulation that you should be ordinarily resident in the UK

I can't find any such stipulation in Barclays' Terms and conditions for personal customers. Can you?

It says "It’s very important that you also keep us informed if there are any changes to your situation, personal details or any other important changes that are relevant to us – for example, if you: • change your name • change your nationality • move to another country • 

Try telling them you have moved to another country with no set date to return, and see what happens. If you were living abroad at the time you applied for the account, you wouldn't have been offered it in the first place.

It is totally normal for people to move abroad for good, yet still retain a UK bank account. Most, though not all, UK banks will happily let you keep your current account if you give them your foreign address. For example, tens of thousands of Brits retire to Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Malta, France or even further afield each year, and still retain their UK bank account, if for no other reason than receiving their UK pensions into such accounts. Before anyone says it, yes, I do know that UK pensions can also be paid directly into accounts held abroad but this won't stop people from keeping their UK accounts if they wish to do so.