LBG closing all my accounts on 18th May

Sea_Shell

As an LBG customer with multiple RS accounts, it's an interesting thread. 

Sorry to hear the outcome of your "shrewdness".

We sometimes like to think we're playing banks at their own game, stretching the T&C's to the limit (but carefully staying within them😉) but at the end of the day, the House always wins.

Or if not "wins" , has the final word. ☹️

Bridlington1

I think the moral of the story is don't open too many savings accounts for the sake of getting the YouGov points as it could cost you more than you'll ever get out of YouGov, in my case around £300/yr not including switching incentives, the free magazine and convenience of being able to produce an easy string donor accounts for switching purposes.

Bridlington1

Sea_Shell said:

As an LBG customer with multiple RS accounts, it's an interesting thread. 

Sorry to hear the outcome of your "shrewdness".

We sometimes like to think we're playing banks at their own game, stretching the T&C's to the limit (but carefully staying within them😉) but at the end of the day, the House always wins.

Or if not "wins" , has the final word. ☹️

I wouldn't call it shrewdness. If I'd been shrewd I'd have opened accounts far more gradually and over a much longer time frame to avoid detection as well as using different banking groups for donor accounts, rather than relying heavily on LBG.

dealyboy

... these comments on donor accounts leads me to a thought ...

I've opened four FlexAccounts with Nationwide over the past four weeks (so far) and I've switched them all. If they were to cancel my FlexDirect account £1,500 earning 5% I would be severely peeved.

I've not breached any rules any terms and they would be breaching my contract to have the account closed, indeed any account where there was an expectation of benefits for credit. But I don't expect them to do so as they have been keeping me informed, notifying me of accounts that are in progress of being switched in online banking.

I have received letters from both Nationwide and Santander suggesting that they would treat me like a prodigal son if I returned i.e. opened a new account.

However if I willfully breached terms and conditions then the other party would be within their rights to end the relationship. 

J63320

RG2015 said:

Your first comment, “I am probably not a very profitable customer” intrigues me. I believe this is the least likely, and you have even not given it a separate number.

Would any bank monitor the profitability of an individual customer, even if such an analysis was possible?

As regards the other possible causes, none really seem plausible apart from number 2.

More than one switch from a single bank in less than a year does feel like taking the  ****.

Once upon a time I worked in IT for a bank. I was quite good at using a particular utility to extract data from report print files for various ad-hoc projects, and on one occasion I was given a report of some customer average balances and transaction history, and some notional transaction costs, and asked to produce  a “customer profitability report”. I think the idea was to target the ‘unprofitable’ customers for sales, rather than to close their accounts, but it does show that such monitoring can be, and is, done.

Ed-1

dealyboy said:

I've not breached any rules any terms and they would be breaching my contract to have the account closed

However if I willfully breached terms and conditions then the other party would be within their rights to end the relationship. 

All banks have a right to terminate the contract at any time by giving (usually) at least 60 days notice, just the same as the customer has a right to decide not to do business any more with that bank. Banks don't need a reason for doing this.

gt94sss2

dealyboy said:

... these comments on donor accounts leads me to a thought ...

I've opened four FlexAccounts with Nationwide over the past four weeks (so far) and I've switched them all. If they were to cancel my FlexDirect account £1,500 earning 5% I would be severely peeved.

I've not breached any rules any terms and they would be breaching my contract to have the account closed, indeed any account where there was an expectation of benefits for credit.

However if I willfully breached terms and conditions then the other party would be within their rights to end the relationship. 

Their T&C allow them to close your accounts - its not a 'breach' of your T&C/contract with them 

dealyboy

Ed-1 said:

dealyboy said:

I've not breached any rules any terms and they would be breaching my contract to have the account closed

However if I willfully breached terms and conditions then the other party would be within their rights to end the relationship. 

All banks have a right to terminate the contract at any time by giving (usually) at least 60 days notice, just the same as the customer has a right to decide not to do business any more with that bank. Banks don't need a reason for doing this.

Are you telling me they don't have to follow contract law? are they above the law? I don't think so.

MDMD

dealyboy said:

I've not breached any rules any terms and they would be breaching my contract to have the account closed, indeed any account where there was an expectation of benefits for credit. But I don't expect them to do so as they have been keeping me informed, notifying me of accounts that are in progress of being switched in online banking.

Their terms (clause 74) allow them to close your accounts for any (or no) reason at all

https://www.nationwide.co.uk/-/assets/nationwidecouk/documents/current-accounts/resources/p4055-current-account-important-information.pdf

Ed-1

dealyboy said:

Ed-1 said:

dealyboy said:

I've not breached any rules any terms and they would be breaching my contract to have the account closed

However if I willfully breached terms and conditions then the other party would be within their rights to end the relationship. 

All banks have a right to terminate the contract at any time by giving (usually) at least 60 days notice, just the same as the customer has a right to decide not to do business any more with that bank. Banks don't need a reason for doing this.

Are you telling me they don't have to follow contract law? are they above the law? I don't think so.

Of course they have to follow the law and the contract you entered into with a bank will state that they reserve the right to stop providing services on service of a notice period.