I´m afraid of the banks in the UK

Daliah

Bridlington1 said:

One thing you could do in future is notify the bank if you are about to make any unusual payments in/out of your account. Although it won't remove the problem entirely, it should help to alleviate some concerns the bank may have about possible fraud/money laundering.

It's an urban myth that this would make a difference. If it was as simple as advising banks of forthcoming transactions, what do you reckon money launderers would do?

steveksullivan

..... not just an urban myth, it doesn't work here in the countryside either ......

PRAISETHESUN

Bedetti said:

Daliah said:

The best way to transfer funds is by using a currency transfer firm. Check monito.com for the best deal. Usually wise.com comes top, or near the top.

Always make sure your account is fully verified before you transfer any money. Don't transfer large chunks at once, keep it below £10k. Always have proof of funds, and expect that your transfers will get held up occasionally, as the providers have a legal obligation to verify the source of funds.

My money is in Wise right now, doing nothing there. LOL. Wise is definetely the best rate, even though they charge a fee.
I didn´t know about the 10K, thanks for sharing that.

You are correct that Wise is competitive for transferring money, however they are not very competitive for saving money, which is what Daliah is talking about.

I would move your money out of Wise to your GBP account with Chase sooner rather than later in order to maximise savings interest, as well as to gain FSCS deposit protection.

Section62

alternate said:

Not doubting you but an unusual transfer pattern tends to trigger a security check rather than a life ban.

I'd guess that might vary depending on the source of a large chunk of money being paid into a brand new current account.

sheramber

The problem is not so much transferring the money to LLoyds but quickly transferring it out again, which is what raises red flags.

As you have transferred into Chase and left it there  no alert has been raised by them.

Bedetti

Section62 said:

alternate said:

Not doubting you but an unusual transfer pattern tends to trigger a security check rather than a life ban.

I'd guess that might vary depending on the source of a large chunk of money being paid into a brand new current account.

That´s true, I take the blame for that because I transferred 12k from Wise in all of a sudden because my BBVA only allows 15K euro at a time (converting to pounds it was 12K), so I understand why they are suspicious, even though they gave me 60 days and blablabla. The only thing is that I want to prevent this happening to me in the future. I am a person who works hard and I earned 10 years of working in Spain, so if only I could have had the chance to prove that to them, nothing like this would have happened. I will start my new job in the NHS next month and Lloyds lost me because I was going to put my salary in there. Bad for them.

Brie

Frankly I'd be contacting Chase and telling them in advance what you are doing and that you have proof of the money's origins.  

Bedetti

sheramber said:

The problem is not so much transferring the money to LLoyds but quickly transferring it out again, which is what raises red flags.

As you have transferred into Chase and left it there  no alert has been raised by them.

I know, I just didnt want this money in Lloyds because Chase gives me 1.5 of interest in the savings, but I confused the account when I did the transfer, I was stupid, but I didn´t expect being banned for life. In other countries I think if they suspect you, they would ask you to provide evidence. I feel bad because I do have the evidence. Banks need to improve their communication with their customers, not everybody is a criminal, considering that the complaints about banks closing peoples accounts has been raising a lot. But I wont change the world.
I will open a Zopa savings account and leave my emergency funds there just in case something happens.

Daliah

Brie said:

Frankly I'd be contacting Chase and telling them in advance what you are doing and that you have proof of the money's origins.  

As discussed earlier, there is no point in doing this.

Bedetti

Daliah said:

Brie said:

Frankly I'd be contacting Chase and telling them in advance what you are doing and that you have proof of the money's origins.  

As discussed earlier, there is no point in doing this.

I opened the Savings account with Zopa. They verified my Chase account but they can´t accept my Wise account, because they say it´s an " e-money institution account". So I would have to transfer from my Wise -> Chase-> Zopa. What if Chase thinks it´s strange? Shall I transfer small amounts? Do ppl move money between their accounts like this?
If I close my Zopa account, will I be able to open it in the future?