Think Money closed my account for no reason I am aware of and need help

[Deleted User]

I have held an account with Think Money for almost two years and in November 2021, they froze my account for two weeks, which left me with no access to funds.
When they first contacted me, they had stopped a transfer I was trying to make of £940 to send to a friend and they wanted to check I wasn't the victim of an investment scam.
I explained that I am unemployed due to long term mental health issues and I'm in the process of trying to start an e-commerce business, selling new and preowned luxury and high street items, mainly handbags. The reason for that particular transfer was because my friend was based in Pakistan at the time and had close contacts in Dubai where he was able to source cheaper designer bags for me.
They then advised they needed to investigate further and would revert back to me. A few hours later I realised they had in fact frozen my account and it took two weeks before they even came back to me, requesting further information on other transactions. 
The freeze in itself was a breach of the FCA principles as they were not acting in my best interests as the frozen account left me with no access to funds whatsoever and the whole situation further exacerbated my severe anxiety disorder. 
When we finally spoke and I had provided them with all relevant additional information, I was told my account had been reinstated. 
It was only a couple of weeks later that I started having issues with payments again and direct debits being unreturned and when I phoned up, my account had been closed! They told me they had sent me a letter on the 23rd November giving me notice, which I never received and in fact, the email confirming my account to be reinstated was sent on the same date, so I was very confused. 
The only reason can think of for the account closure is possibly due to the fact there were regular transfers in about out of my account and I didn't tend to have a steady bank balance because of this. I don't have a salary but there was a regular standing order to my account every month from a family member which would constitute as salary, so at least they could see there was a monthly payment coming in.  
I then had a nightmare retrieving my remaining funds from the account as they would only send a cheque which took 12 business days to arrive. In the meantime, I tried to open another bank account and it was clear I had been blacklisted as everywhere was declining my applications. 
I eventually secured an account with Revolut but there is definitely a watch on my account, as they are investigating every transfer going in and out of my account, including gifted funds from my boyfriend. 
Is this normal behaviour of a bank and can I do anything about this? It has been an absolute nightmare and I want to know what problem they had with my account in the first place.
What made it all the worse was every time I called think money, it would take over 45 minutes minimum, just to even get through to and then the relevant department member would conveniently not be available. 
Finally, I have a number of refunds owed to me from various online purchases, of which a number of them were through my think money account. Is there a way the company can send the money to my new account? I have queried this with the sellers and they're saying the money has to be refunded to the original source. 
Please help. 

born_again

Deleted_User said:

I have held an account with Think Money for almost two years and in November 2021, they froze my account for two weeks, which left me with no access to funds.
When they first contacted me, they had stopped a transfer I was trying to make of £940 to send to a friend and they wanted to check I wasn't the victim of an investment scam.
I explained that I am unemployed due to long term mental health issues and I'm in the process of trying to start an e-commerce business, selling new and preowned luxury and high street items, mainly handbags. The reason for that particular transfer was because my friend was based in Pakistan at the time and had close contacts in Dubai where he was able to source cheaper designer bags for me.
They then advised they needed to investigate further and would revert back to me. A few hours later I realised they had in fact frozen my account and it took two weeks before they even came back to me, requesting further information on other transactions. 
The freeze in itself was a breach of the FCA principles as they were not acting in my best interests as the frozen account left me with no access to funds whatsoever and the whole situation further exacerbated my severe anxiety disorder. 
When we finally spoke and I had provided them with all relevant additional information, I was told my account had been reinstated. 
It was only a couple of weeks later that I started having issues with payments again and direct debits being unreturned and when I phoned up, my account had been closed! They told me they had sent me a letter on the 23rd November giving me notice, which I never received and in fact, the email confirming my account to be reinstated was sent on the same date, so I was very confused. 
The only reason can think of for the account closure is possibly due to the fact there were regular transfers in about out of my account and I didn't tend to have a steady bank balance because of this. I don't have a salary but there was a regular standing order to my account every month from a family member which would constitute as salary, so at least they could see there was a monthly payment coming in.  
I then had a nightmare retrieving my remaining funds from the account as they would only send a cheque which took 12 business days to arrive. In the meantime, I tried to open another bank account and it was clear I had been blacklisted as everywhere was declining my applications. 
I eventually secured an account with Revolut but there is definitely a watch on my account, as they are investigating every transfer going in and out of my account, including gifted funds from my boyfriend. 
Is this normal behaviour of a bank and can I do anything about this? It has been an absolute nightmare and I want to know what problem they had with my account in the first place.
What made it all the worse was every time I called think money, it would take over 45 minutes minimum, just to even get through to and then the relevant department member would conveniently not be available. 
Finally, I have a number of refunds owed to me from various online purchases, of which a number of them were through my think money account. Is there a way the company can send the money to my new account? I have queried this with the sellers and they're saying the money has to be refunded to the original source. 
Please help. 

Not a reflection on you, just a view from the other side.

That screams either scam or importing fake goods. Something they would not want to be involved in.

Best advice is to check CIFAS for any markers on you.

The freeze is not in breach of any FCA regulation. In fact going by what you have said. THEY would have been in trouble if they were checked & had not taken any action. 
Could well like a couple of banks have in December been left with very large fine to pay.

eskbanker

Deleted_User said:

I'm in the process of trying to start an e-commerce business, selling new and preowned luxury and high street items, mainly handbags. The reason for that particular transfer was because my friend was based in Pakistan at the time and had close contacts in Dubai where he was able to source cheaper designer bags for me.

You need to open a business account rather than trying to do this through a personal one, which is likely to have at least contributed to your problems....

Neil49

eskbanker said:

Deleted_User said:

I'm in the process of trying to start an e-commerce business, selling new and preowned luxury and high street items, mainly handbags. The reason for that particular transfer was because my friend was based in Pakistan at the time and had close contacts in Dubai where he was able to source cheaper designer bags for me.

You need to open a business account rather than trying to do this through a personal one, which is likely to have at least contributed to your problems....

Totally agree. Your transaction history, and particularly the Pakistan one, will have thrown up a red flag with them and resulted in them checking your account in detail. 

You should definitely have opened a business account and stated the nature of the business, the types of transactions you intend to make and any international business.