Suspicious Activity Report

ceebee76 · 10 December 2021 at 2:29PM

Hi everybody,
Does anyone here have any experience of being subject to a Suspicious Activity Report by their bank? And, if so, what was the outcome? I'm asking because I have been locked out of one of my accounts for 7 weeks now and the bank refuse to discuss the issue with me. This leads me to believe that they may have filed a SAR with the National Crime Agency, since the banking guidance says that they should not discuss anything with the customer lest they be guilty of 'tipping off'.

A brief outline of what leads to this point:
22nd October: I receive a large deposit (around £9k) into the account. This is a compensation pay out from a payday lender I had used a few years previously. The same day I attempt to move a portion of it to a joint account I hold with my wife. The payment is put on hold.
23rd October: I get an email asking me to call the bank (though the dept they want me to speak to is not open on a weekend, so I have to wait!)
25th October: I call, get asked where the funds have come from and where they are being sent to. I answer these questions and get told that they will now be locking my account until I can provide evidence to back up my explanation.
26th October: I attend my local branch with the letter from the lender explaining how they came to the figure. I also provide copies of all the email correspondence I had had with the lender, a copy of the tax certificate they provided me, and a copy of a statement for the account I was moving funds to. The staff take copies and send them to 'the relevant department', and I am told they will be in touch shortly.
3rd November: a week has passed and I've heard nothing. I call them and am told that I will hear the outcome 'very soon'.
17th November: 3 weeks on, I've still not heard anything. I attend a branch again to ask what is going on and to provide additional evidence to prove the legitimacy of the transactions. I am told that they cannot enter into any discussion with me.
18th November: I lodge a formal complaint with the bank and, in their acknowledgement of it, am told that they will respond within 15 days.
3rd December: Day 15 comes and goes with no response.
10th December: Today. A further week later and I have heard nothing from either the team investigating my account, nor the customer complaints team.

This is becoming increasingly distressing. I have been unemployed for 18 months and am now falling behind with bills. The refund from the pay day lender was supposed to be the moment when I could put my previous financial problems behind me but it has, it seems, just pushed me further into the financial mire.

Has anybody had similar experiences? I understand from my research that if an SAR is filed it must be done so within 31 days of the first suspicion and then, once the NCA has that report, they need to make a decision within 7 days. I feel like both of these time frames have now passed but I am still locked out of my account and completely in the dark!