Bank Lied to Prevent Me Closing Account - What Rules or Legislation Does This Breach?

peskydaisydoodle

I am in the process of putting together a grievance to my Bank's Head Office and will follow that up with a complaint to the Ombudsman if the Bank don't provide an adequate resolution.  I wondered where I can find out about code of ethics and so on, as I'm sure it must be against banking rules to deliberately lie to a customer to prevent them from closing an account - so that the bank could then close the account on their own terms and issue a cheque that can't be cashed without the creation of another account with the same provider. A particular member of staff told me blatant lies and as a result my trust in banks has been completely eroded. Is it ever justifiable for a bank to lie in order to steer a customer into a route that the bank want? I've been stewing for a week over this and a meeting with the assistant bank manger wasn't helpful - as although he was polite, he thinks I must be mistaken as he considers it too far-fetched that a member of staff could behave in the way I have described. 

Thrugelmir

Cheques can be freely banked where every you wish. Just needs a recepient account. 

peskydaisydoodle

This situation is a little more complex. The account was an ITF account in my name in trust for my son. I set it up more than 20 years ago and it should have progressed to an adult account when he turned 17. Lots of these accounts slipped through the net and the letters weren't sent out by the bank to invite the customers in to upgrade the account. About 5 years ago my son began to claim benefits - he does not work due to ill health and has found difficulties opening an adult bank account due to not having the usual id documents. It is perfectly acceptable to have benefits paid into a 3rd party account - we decided to have the benefit paid into the ITF account. From time to time a particular member of staff would tell me that as my son was over the age for the ITF account, we would have to arrange for the account to be upgraded to an account in his own name - but for that to happen id would have to produced. So the situation remained in place. The branch was scheduled to close around 3 months ago so I had every intention of closing the account because the next branch is a 40 mile round trip each time - and the account was not eligible for internet banking. The branch wrote to me prior to their closure stating that they required that an account be opened in my son's name and the ITF would be closed. Failure to comply would result in the account being frozen. As I was intending to close the account anyway, I went into the branch and transferred 75% of the funds to another account. I said that I would make arrangements to have his future benefits paid into a different account and then I would come back and close the ITF account. A member of staff said that she would see if there was anything she could do to help. She phoned me less than half an hour later to say that there was no need to change anything or close the account - that the account was now going to upgrade without any change in account number, just the dropping of my name and the in trust for part in the title of the account. She said a debit card would arrive in my son's name in due course. Meanwhile the branch closed - I had gone in on the final day to make sure it was all going ahead and that no id was required. A week or 2 later I received a letter stating that the ITF account would be closed in 2 months. I didn't see anything untoward in this as by now the statements were arriving in my son's name. The debit card hadn't arrived but I assumed it would follow on soon. After 2 months, a further letter arrived together with a cheque. They had closed the account and issued a cheque in the name of the closed account: my name ITF my son's name. I assumed there had been a mistake and telephoned the nearest branch - where I was told by the member of staff that she would never have said no id would be required because the production of id is taken very seriously. She had deliberately lied to prevent me closing the account - which bought her enough time to blockade me from accessing the funds by having my name removed and subsequently issuing a cheque that cannot be cashed. The bank say they will cash the cheque if an account is opened with them in my son's name - thus preventing the cheque from being cashed elsewhere. Which puts us back in the position we were in with the id issue. Not to mention we feel duped and betrayed and do not want to conduct any further business with this bank as we don't trust them after the devious way I was tricked into keeping the account open. Does anyone know if there is any ethical reason that would permit the bank to lie to me in order to prevent me withdrawing the final balance and closing the account?

eskbanker

No harm in outlining your concerns in a formal complaint if your son has been put into a difficult situation at least partly by the actions of a bank employee, but IMHO it would be best to cut out the emotive stuff ("lied", "duped", "betrayed", "tricked", "devious", etc) and stick to facts, i.e. what you were actually told rather than surmising that it was a deliberate lie (the employee could have been mistaken or have been overruled by others) or speculating about what you feel was a reason for lying.

At the risk of stating the obvious, your son needs to find a way of opening and operating an adult account in his own name - ID requirements vary by bank but he'll presumably have some DWP correspondence for one?

Moe_The_Bartender

Aren’t phone calls routinely recorded?

peskydaisydoodle

Moe_The_Bartender said:

Aren’t phone calls routinely recorded?

I certainly hope so. I wouldn't be surprised though if it transpires that the call she made to me in which she stated that there would be no need for formal ID was unrecorded - because it has since transpired that there was no such loophole (ie, ID would always be required). Likewise, I fully expect the second phonecall (in which she emphatically denied that she would ever have advised me the account could progress into my son's name without the production of ID) - will have been recorded.

Petriix

I'm not clear why your son doesn't have any ID. Rather than all these fruitless trips to the bank, have you considered jumping through the hoops required to attain adequate identification documents? Surely that would solve the problem?

I'm also not entirely clear why you think the bank would want to deliberately deceive you. I don't see what they would gain out of the situation.

pramsay13

What would the bank employee have to gain by you leaving the account open?
Your son will need to open an account in his own name. Pick a local bank and ask them what ID is needed.
Once it's done pay the cheque into your own account and transfer it over.

peskydaisydoodle

eskbanker said:

No harm in outlining your concerns in a formal complaint if your son has been put into a difficult situation at least partly by the actions of a bank employee, but IMHO it would be best to cut out the emotive stuff ("lied", "duped", "betrayed", "tricked", "devious", etc) and stick to facts, i.e. what you were actually told rather than surmising that it was a deliberate lie (the employee could have been mistaken or have been overruled by others) or speculating about what you feel was a reason for lying.

At the risk of stating the obvious, your son needs to find a way of opening and operating an adult account in his own name - ID requirements vary by bank but he'll presumably have some DWP correspondence for one?

I take your point regarding the emotive comments and will try to keep strictly to the facts in my complaint. It is myself, more than my son, who has been inconvenienced as it was my account and there is still the matter of the cheque for almost £3000 which cannot presently be banked. Yes, there is correspondence from the DWP - the assistant manager has stated that may be adequate for their ID needs - it's unfortunate that the employee in question was less helpful as this matter could have been resolved before the branch closed if the option to show DWP letters as ID had been offered. You say my son needs to find a way - but we believed he now had an adult account in his own name - because that is what the employee told me she had arranged, with no further involvement required from myself. Interestingly, my mother had a similar account in trust for my son with a different provider - she decided to close it last year and the closure presented no issues - nor did that bank ever express concern that my son had passed the age for an account in trust for so I am still not understanding why my own Bank were uneasy with the arrangement - or why they would disapprove of me closing the account when it was problematic for them in any case to keep it open.

peskydaisydoodle

Petriix said:

I'm not clear why your son doesn't have any ID. Rather than all these fruitless trips to the bank, have you considered jumping through the hoops required to attain adequate identification documents? Surely that would solve the problem?

I'm also not entirely clear why you think the bank would want to deliberately deceive you. I don't see what they would gain out of the situation.

Some people just don't have a passport or driving license. He lives at home so doesn't have utility bills - it's not that uncommon for people not to have ID. I don't see what they thought they would gain from the situation either - especially as this problem has now followed them to another branch, when it would no longer be an issue if they had either i) accepted that I wanted to just close the account or ii) followed through with their "solution" to change the account into my sons name only and provide him with a card like they said they were going to. The reality is that there was never any option to upgrade the account despite the employee telling me that that was the solution they were going to provide. The Bank's normal procedure would be to have a different account opened in my son's name and have the money transferred from the ITF account into that and then close the ITF account. I had been advised of that on several occasions over the years but they required not only ID to do this but they also required that he visit the Bank to provide the ID (as I have said, he is ill and does not leave the house). The Bank seem to believe it would somehow have been unethical of them to permit me to close the account without there first being another account in place - but it seems to me more unethical of them to provide me with false information to prevent me from closing the account. As I said - they followed through with part of their promise - in that they began to send statements in my son's name - but they never did send the card because that was a red herring - that particular account could never and was never going to be converted to an adult account, despite the employee categorically telling me it was. My question is not about whether we should jump through hoops to obtain ID - it is about whether the Bank have behaved unethically in providing me with false information to prevent me from closing the account on my own terms, and whether it could ever be deemed justifiable for a Bank to behave in such a way if they believed they were perhaps protecting the interests of the person who the account was in trust for..

greensalad

How long do you expect your son to be able to get through life with no ID? Something else is going to come up. Just get it sorted now and then your problems are solved.

Also why can't the cheque be cashed now?