Closing a joint account ?

colsten

Getting_better said:

My partner is still trying to get his joint account with ex closed down with Lloyds.  They refer something from both parties.  My partner has returned his card and form (to close account to branch), his ex is being a pain and won't contact the bank herself so he's stuck on it, Lloyds say there is nothing else they can do.

Is his account overdrawn? If so, he can only close it after the balance is £0 or higher. If it is not overdrawn, he can ask for the account to be closed. If Lloyds don't play ball, he needs to remind them of their T&Cs, see below. If that doesn't work, either, he needs to raise a formal complaint, which he can take to the Ombudsman if they still haven't resolved it satisfactorily 8 weeks after the complaint has been raised.

Shakin_Steve

colsten said:

Shakin_Steve said:

We have two joint accounts with Tesco, opened last year for the 3% up to £3000. We don't really need both of them now, so I'll attempt to close one of them myself and see what happens.

This is from the Tesco T&Cs:

They will not, however, allow one account holder to remove the other. Both need to agree to that. This sounds a little bizarre to me, as closing the account can have same effect on the other account holder. 

I rang earlier and was on hold for a while. I realised that I'm really only doing this just to see if I can, and other people trying to get through may have more pressing issues than me. I'll do it when things get nearer to normal, but I have no reason to doubt I will be successful especially in light of your post.

Getting_better

thank you for that Colsten- Sorry u meant earlier he'd been trying to get his name taken off the joint account (no OD as yet!), but with the info above think we'll go down that route.

Eco_Miser

born_again said:

colsten said:

Insisting on both account holders to agree to closure is, of course, absolutely abysmal customer service, as the financial connection on credit reference files remains for as long as the current account remains, and the bank can thereby indirectly, but  forcefully, cause havoc to a person's creditworthiness. I am fortunate in that I don't find myself shackled to a joint account (more by luck than by design, I hasten to add, as at some stage in my life I was financially naive), but if I was, I would appeal to the relevant bank's CEO about it, and I would not rest there if they did not let me out of an account that owes them nothing.

Except if you happen to have a vindictive partner who empties the account and then closes it leaving the other party with no funds.
To late then to start a joint account dispute when the monies gone.
It takes 2 parties to open a joint account. Therefor it is correct that 2 should be required to close it.

A vindictive partner can empty the account, even overdraw it, leaving the other party with no funds, without closing the account; so the ability to close the account is irrelevant when dealing with vindictiveness, but is useful to unlink financial affairs.