Metro closed my account with 7 days notice

jonesMUFCforever

The reason why your story is so unbelievable is in the figures.
Joint income of £28k so after tax and NI say £25k - and between you you put in £25k in cash into an account in your own name but your husband was also hiding, sorry depositing, cash leaving you absolutely zilch to live on - no rent, no food, no leccy or gas, council tax, water rates, or the most important item in your life a mobile phone.
I am just surprised that Metro did not just block the account and then ask you for the source of funds.

Thrugelmir

How much cash has been deposited/passed through your bank account in the past 12 months? 

Sompong

Shakin_Steve said:

Amazing English, by the way.

I'm translating for my wife as she can not read and write English yet.
With the way banks operate now there is an illusion that paying by bacs is easier but in fact it is not, cash is still legal though.... but banks don't make an extra 1% on every transaction, maybe they are singling out cash people. Either way we are not talking about large amounts of money and if there was a concern they could easily of asked for payslips or a p60 etc

Sompong

Thrugelmir said:

How much cash has been deposited/passed through your bank account in the past 12 months? 

Cash probably £17k the rest was transferred from my husbands current account or from my vanguard ISA

Robin9

Your wife said she wasn't worried about the account itself - just the savings. Do you then have other bank accounts which receive your salaries ?

Can you clarify "cash" please ?   To me cash means notes and coins, sometimes cheques. £2500 is an awful lot of cash and I couldn't find that a month.

Sompong

jonesMUFCforever said:

The reason why your story is so unbelievable is in the figures.
Joint income of £28k so after tax and NI say £25k - and between you you put in £25k in cash into an account in your own name but your husband was also hiding, sorry depositing, cash leaving you absolutely zilch to live on - no rent, no food, no leccy or gas, council tax, water rates, or the most important item in your life a mobile phone.
I am just surprised that Metro did not just block the account and then ask you for the source of funds.

Joint salary is £28k, £7k was already saved in a Vanguard ISA which was transferred and we have deposited £18k approx.
We have a live in position and our employer supplies food, accommodation and utilities in our salary package. 
Some people, with a plan and a goal can live very frugally and save a large proportion of their income - it used to be considered a positive way to live

comeandgo

Are you getting accommodation and food with your job? That could explain why you are able to save so much.

Sompong

comeandgo said:

Are you getting accommodation and food with your job? That could explain why you are able to save so much.

Exactly that, we live above the restaurant with the owner, use the restaurant wifi, food, drinks, he even lets us use his car

Shakin_Steve

Your situation is almost unique, in my experience. Perhaps the bank just plain don't like the arrangement. Easier for them to close your account than accommodate your situation.

Sompong

Shakin_Steve said:

Your situation is almost unique, in my experience. Perhaps the bank just plain don't like the arrangement. Easier for them to close your account than accommodate your situation.

Agree, still think a better course of action would have been a letter expressing concerns and asking for proof. Anyway, it appears they will release our funds to another account once opened and hopefully leave no black marks... Still frustrating and causing a lot of grief and worry. 
Our plan was to save £100k over the 5 year route to British citizenship... Metro bank won't be seeing that now and we will think very carefully about how to best protect our savings, probably split it through as many savings accounts as possible