Metro closed my account with 7 days notice

Sompong

Metro bank just closed my account, I was sent a letter dated 6th August saying that my account would be closed in 7 days and to arrange to remove funds, unfortunately the letter took 8 days to arrive and by the time I knew they were closing the account it was blocked.
I have £25k in the account which I have built up over a year, I pay all my wages in by cash and my husband has also deposited his wages by cash. We are both employed and both paid cash with payslips. I am a Thai national on a settlement visa and we need to build £65k in savings for the next stage of my visa... hence depositing both our wages in the one account.
I'm not too worried about the account being closed but we can not afford to lose our savings we have worked so hard to build up, how can we get our money back?

Shakin_Steve

I'm not biting.

Sompong

Shakin_Steve said:

I'm not biting.

What does that mean?

Roger.Wilco

Sompong said:

...
I'm not too worried about the account being closed but we can not afford to lose our savings we have worked so hard to build up, how can we get our money back?

METRO bank branches are open on weekends.  Therefore, go into a METRO branch with ID and talk to them?

Sompong

Roger.Wilco said:

Sompong said:

...
I'm not too worried about the account being closed but we can not afford to lose our savings we have worked so hard to build up, how can we get our money back?

METRO bank branches are open on weekends.  Therefore, go into a METRO branch with ID and talk to them?

Yep, heading down there today...after a sleepless night

eDicky

Also take with you some payslips, they may be useful to demonstrate the source of all the cash you have been depositing. You may find that an internal investigation of this delays your funds being released. Have another account ready to receive them.

Please let us know how it goes, and welcome to the forum Khun Sompong.

Herbalus

Sompong said:

Shakin_Steve said:

I'm not biting.

What does that mean?

It means that being paid in cash and building up £25k in savings within a year is not usual in the UK so presumably Metro think there is something potentially illegal going on, or at least don't want to take the risk that it’s illegal.

It means that, from the information you provide, and not knowing anything more about your circumstances, that it appears highly suspicious at the very least that you both pay in large amounts of cash, so the poster is not going to be drawn into commenting on a situation which is very uncommon and so is potentially not believable. Possibly it’s also because £65k is multiple times more than the government website says are charged for settlement visas, so there’s a suspicion that you’re just trying to make up a story for entertainment.

if you are genuine, I’d be interested to know what work you do that pays you both in that amount of cash, and best of luck trying to get the money from metro.

Sompong

Herbalus said:

Sompong said:

Shakin_Steve said:

I'm not biting.

What does that mean?

It means that being paid in cash and building up £25k in savings within a year is not usual in the UK so presumably Metro think there is something potentially illegal going on, or at least don't want to take the risk that it’s illegal.

It means that, from the information you provide, and not knowing anything more about your circumstances, that it appears highly suspicious at the very least that you both pay in large amounts of cash, so the poster is not going to be drawn into commenting on a situation which is very uncommon and so is potentially not believable. Possibly it’s also because £65k is multiple times more than the government website says are charged for settlement visas, so there’s a suspicion that you’re just trying to make up a story for entertainment.

if you are genuine, I’d be interested to know what work you do that pays you both in that amount of cash, and best of luck trying to get the money from metro.

my husband is a chef and I work as a chef in the same country pub/restaurant, our joint income is around £28k and we also had around £8k in a stocks and share ISA which was moved to the Metro account... That's not particularly unusual or unbelievable.

I wouldn't say paying around £1500 cash a month into a current account is odd either and it's certainly not illegal.

65K is the amount needed in a UK bank account to meet the financial requirement for a settlement visa, the cost for each stage of settlement is around £4500. You can meet the financial requirement through income also which is £18,600 a year.

Metro have agreed to transfer the money to a new account in my name so it appears there is little evidence of some serious criminality which is weird considering they wanted the account shut so quickly (7 days when guidance suggests a minimum of 30 days)

colsten

@Sompong, you should consider moving some (most?) of your money to a different provider as it's never a good idea to just rely on one.

As you are saving, you could consider NS&I Income Bonds, and/or Regular Savers. Also Virgin Money current accounts.

Shakin_Steve

Why doesn't your employer pay you by BACS or bank transfer instead of cash? If they are correctly taking your PAYE and NI and issuing you a payslip, this would be much easier for both parties, surely? 

Shakin_Steve

Amazing English, by the way.