HSBC has frozen all my accounts - high earner left penniless

ent_moot

Hello,

I'm into day two of HSBC freezing my current and savings accounts, blocking access to more than £50k of my salary.

My bills (all direct debit) have started bouncing, and I'm not able to pay for groceries (including my last Ocado order, which has already arrived). 

What's worse is that they cannot even give me a timeline for resolving the issue! 

My guess is that my account has triggered some sort of defective fraud detection algorithm, and I'm stuck behind a backlog of cases, waiting for a human to look at it.

This is exacerbated by the fact that I don't use credit cards (I consider the credit industry to be exploitative), and I don't have other bank accounts apart from Monzo that I use for "lunch money". 


Here are the fuller details:

• I have been a customer with HSBC for about 25 years
• I have been employed by the SAME employer for my entire career (14 years)
• All incoming money to these accounts has been either my salary, bonuses, or share options, all from the SAME employer that is a large company and household name

It literally could not be easier for the bank to validate that the account has not been used for fraudulent activity.

The ONLY unusual events / characteristics of my accounts are:

• we bought two pedigree kittens a few weeks ago, and paid £1400  (£400 in cash as a deposit, and then £1000 by personal bank transfer)
  
• the fact that I'm a very high earner who tends to save more than most people

Even a cursory two minute look at my case would make it abundantly clear that I am not a fraudster. The fact that I can't even be given a timeline for when this will be addressed is completely ridiculous! 

I'm utterly and completely shocked that a bank can simply freeze an individuals bank account without warning, particularly when even a two minute look would make it clear that there is nothing unusual about the account. The stress, disruption and anxiety this has caused for me and my family is extreme. I honestly feel violated.

Actions so far:

• I've raised an official complaint, but had only an automated response. 
• I've called the call-center and escalated to the manager: they say that it is entirely out of their hands, and is with a back-office team, and it's impossible for them to give a timeline for resolution
• I've posted a complaint on twitter, and been told that I should raise a complaint

It's like turning off someone's oxygen supply and then saying "sorry, we can't tell you when we'll turn it back on".

Astonishing. 

Any advice would be appreciated.

Regards,

[Update - 06/03/2023]

My accounts have now been frozen for one whole week (I discovered that my account was actually frozen on the 27th - earlier than I first thought). I have so far had zero response from HSBC - all I have received are automated responses. I have had warnings from:

• Council
• Amazon prime
• Ocado

For not receiving my regular direct debit payments. I expect a cascade of additional complaints from my utility providers.

Additional actions:

• I have opened a new bank account with Lloyds, and will be attempting to update all direct debits to this.
• I have booked an appointment at a local branch. The earliest they could do was Wednesday

[Update - 08/03/2023]

• My accounts were unfrozen this morning (a little over a week after they were frozen)! 
• I visited my local branch. The chap there did his best to investigate; however, the usual leads (where departments are required to leave a memo when an account has been inhibited) were left blank. He said there are two departments that are not required to leave such a memo: the fraud department, and the regulatory department. He said that it was more likely to be the latter, as "statutory UK regulatory requirement" (or whatever the original note was) seemed to hint in this direction
• He seemed to think it was unlikely a result of paying for the kittens
• He couldn't see anything unusual about my account
• He said I'm likely to get compensation, but no explanation.

It looks like a foul-up, or a faulty system that has been handled extremely poorly. I don't have high hopes for the complaint leading to genuine explanation. As a loyal customer of HSBC for 25 years, my opinion of the them has gone from "good" to "shockingly bad". If, like me, you bank solely with HSBC, I strongly recommend you reconsider.  

I'm not sure if our kittens have been vindicated yet, but maybe another picture of them can help us all feel a bit better :

sausage_time

I feel your pain, but from posts here this is all normal and to some extent expected. All us mere mortals can do is mitigate the risk and have accounts with more than one organization - including multiple credit cards.

I have used credit cards for over 40 years (remember Access anyone) and have not once felt like they were a scam?  Not paid a penny in interest in that time.  I'd be interested in what you see the issue is.

MikeyPGT

Too late for the OP, but shows the wisdom of having a back-up bank account/credit card in case of emergency - the old tale of not having all your eggs in one basket!

ent_moot

Yes, too much faith in HSBC has certainly been a big mistake. 

I suppose I better get on with opening a new bank account elsewhere and changing where my salary is paid.

saveallmymoney

There are some credit cards who will give you the card number instantly, i think Amex for one. If you get one of those then you've got 30 days to get HSBC back in line and pay the balance without any charges.

km1500

In this day and age you absolutely need to plan for an account being frozen, sometimes for weeks

I would recomment a separate account for your household etc direct debits and nothing else - this is unlikely to get frozen

Definitely get one of those scam credit cards but watch out for the hidden scam of 3-6 weeks free credit if you pay off the statement in full

Also get another 1 or 2 bank accounts so.you can use one when your main account is frozen

Never ever pay money into a stranger's account by bank transfer. If you must do it, don't do it from your 'main' account. The account you transfer to could be on a fraud or money laundering list (possible this is what happened to you).

Ditto don't let anyone transfer money to you.

adamp87

ent_moot said:

Yes, too much faith in HSBC has certainly been a big mistake. 

I suppose I better get on with opening a new bank account elsewhere and changing where my salary is paid.

The problem is banks are damned if they do damned if they don’t. It’s a bad situation to be in, and hopefully will be resolved sooner, and in a way why people suggest not locking up all funds in one bank but even still..

Somethings triggered the fraud alert and they have to investigate. They won’t talk to you most likely as a result until they’ve finished their investigation.

Complaining might not get you anywhere as they are actively investigating potential fraud or crime which is their duty both I think as a bank in the U.K. and the customer.

if the shoe was on the other foot and you were a victim of fraud you’d be demanding something like this happening to the person involved..

This isn’t a HSBC thing there’s countless incidents of other banks doing these checks, really all you can do is wait it out unfortunately.

Marchitiello

OP:

was there any dispute around the purchase of those kitten? Was the seller a breeder business or just a private having a one off litter? 

Of the info you have presented this particular transaction may have been the cause of a claim from the other party that something was wrong or that particular account /person has been himself the subject of an investigation (think money laundering or similar).

aside of that, did you do any large cash withdrawal or cash deposit?

finally, on changing banks, I am not sure you will be safe as many reports in these boards over the years have shown that all banking groups for all type of customers have occasionally suspended an account for fraud investigation. 

ent_moot

Marchitiello said:

OP:

was there any dispute around the purchase of those kitten? Was the seller a breeder business or just a private having a one off litter? 

Of the info you have presented this particular transaction may have been the cause of a claim from the other party that something was wrong or that particular account /person has been himself the subject of an investigation (think money laundering or similar).

aside of that, did you do any large cash withdrawal or cash deposit?

finally, on changing banks, I am not sure you will be safe as many reports in these boards over the years have shown that all banking groups for all type of customers have occasionally suspended an account for fraud investigation. 

Just a family selling kittens. They seemed like a nice enough family, and we are delighted with the kittens. I was planning to pay in cash, but unfortunately forget to draw sufficient cash (£500 cap per day or whatever), so went with a bank transfer.


>aside of that, did you do any large cash withdrawal or cash deposit?

Nothing other than the £400 for the kitten deposit. 

I've often had my cards cancelled, which is fine. I didn't realise that freezing bank accounts like this was a thing.

I will be much more cautious in future. 

Thanks for the advice.

sheramber

There may be a problem with  the other person's  account which caused your account to be frozen as you had sent money to it.

trient

For what it's worth I suggest filing a complaint through Resolver.co.uk. In my limited experience every single complaint I eventually sent through them was actioned much quicker than those (initially) sent direct, even after multiple escalations.

One other thing you can try is writing the CEO office, there should be an executive support team there that handles cases with a proper human touch. It worked well for me with Barclays.

Lastly, as a very high earner do you have any special status (Premier/Jade etc)? Do you not have access to a premier relationship manager that could help expedite the  investigation? Long shot but worth trying.