Back account closed no reason

jayking

Asking for a friend.

Bank closed account and they need to pay a lawyer to write something to release their money. Bank refuses to talk about it.

Are there common reasons why this happens? 

Can this person never open a bank account for fear of this happening?

Any ideas welcome.

jayking

T&C's say reasons could close are:

*Illegal activity
*Business use for private account 
*False details used to open account 
* Bankruptcy
*Abuse to staff

Seems preposterous to claim any of this and seems like they just want to keep the money.

Is NatWest about to go bankrupt? 

Again, no warning and chance to move funds to another account.

elsien

If it’s illegal activity such as money laundering then of course they’re not going to give warning so the money can be moved elsewhere. 

NatWest are not going bankrupt. 

Paying a lawyer isn’t going to get your friend anywhere at the moment and the bank may not disclose the reason. He can try to get answers by making a formal complaint. 

Generally people have some inkling though - perhaps your friend should look at those reasons a bit more closely.
Is the account frozen or have they been told they have x days to shift the money elsewhere? 

cymruchris

Bank accounts don't get closed for 'no reason'. 

Natwest is doing just fine.

Your 'friend' will have done something in their account to trigger an investigation and a freezing of funds. When something like this happens - they don't ring you up and say 'Hi Mr Z - we've noticed there's something strange happening on your account - you have 7 days to remove all your money before we begin investigating it' - they freeze immediately and ask questions later, so that people that are doing things they shouldn't don't have a chance to run away with their money if they've been doing something wrong. 

The bank won't discuss updates while the investigation is ongoing - so your 'friend' will have to wait until the bank has completed this stage. If they've asked for something - then your 'friend' should provide it. 

If your 'friend' has done nothing wrong - and provides the bank with all of the information they ask for, it's likely your 'friend' will get their account back in due course. If the bank however feels your 'friend' isn't providing relevant information on request, and they were right that something untoward was going on, they can, and will, close the account permanently, and likely will enter a mark on CIFAS to warn any other bank that your 'friend' should not get an account in future with any of them.

jayking

Account  was closed not suspended.
No questions asked, no questions allowed. 
Money is frozen and they require lawyer to release it.
Was a new account so not much chance for any misuse, let alone any intent.

cymruchris

I would suggest your 'friend' starts to make enquiries on his credit file - see what's negatively recorded that would give them a reason to close it. They might also want to check to see if they have a CIFAS marker, or an entry in national hunter against them for previous 'incidents' of such things as account misuse/abuse/suspected money laundering/false details/fraudulent applications etc. Banks don't usually go to the trouble of opening an account and then closing it again just for fun, there will be something in your 'friend's' history that has likely contributed to their decision. 

[Deleted User]

jayking said:

Account  was closed not suspended.
No questions asked, no questions allowed. 
Money is frozen and they require lawyer to release it.
Was a new account so not much chance for any misuse, let alone any intent.

At this stage a lawyer won’t be able to do anything. The bank are following policies and procedures. 

There will be a reason and your “friend” will know this, they don’t randomly start closing accounts. 

sheramber

Where did the  money in the account come from?
That source may be the proiblem

NottinghamKnight

Money mule is most likely option from limited info supplied, doing a favour for a 'friend' handling some money and paying it on.

TimSynths

So if a new account has been closed normally it will be either the source of the opening funds or a recent transfer in/out or an issue with the ID used and information supplied/discovered at the opening process. Banks don't just close accounts for no reason. If the money has come from an inheritance then potentially the bank may want to see evidence of this from the estate lawyer but its all speculation at this point regarding your "friend".

jayking

cymruchris said:

I would suggest your 'friend' starts to make enquiries on his credit file - see what's negatively recorded that would give them a reason to close it. They might also want to check to see if they have a CIFAS marker, or an entry in national hunter against them for previous 'incidents' of such things as account misuse/abuse/suspected money laundering/false details/fraudulent applications etc. Banks don't usually go to the trouble of opening an account and then closing it again just for fun, there will be something in your 'friend's' history that has likely contributed to their decision. 

Thanks, some technical stuff to start looking into!