Bank asking dodgy questions

Middle_of_the_Road

eskbanker said:

Bee175 said:
 A rouge worker in their call centre perhaps?

Bank employees going into the red? 😮

Indeed.... you couldn't make it up

Bigwheels1111

I had loads of trouble paying a builder twice, for repairs to my fences.
Left owned with left neighbour and rear with another neighbour.
Two fences = two payments.
TSB wanted So many details, beyond his name and he is my builder I knew nothing. At one point I thought I would need to sign a contract in blood for payments to go through.
Decided to pay from another bank in the end.
Made a complaint, 13 weeks later I was given £300 for my grievance.

Bee175

seatbeltnoob said:

should have just complied. They can seriously mess you up if they suspect this to be money laundering, terrorism or other illicent money.

they can cause complications for you in future.

I couldn't really comply as I don't know my friends DOB. It's unrealistic of them to expect me to know that.

Also, I don't think they have a justification to ask me for someone else's personal details. 

If they wanted to seriously mess me up, they could do that at anytime on any day, and the same applies to everyone else. However, I think it's extremely unlikely they have that in mind.

Bee175

subjecttocontract said:

This is evolution of banking, systems improvement and progress through the use of online services........it's something we should all embrace. Just imagine the problems the OP would have had if the sender had given him one of those old fashioned cheque things instead.

Or maybe a bit of that even more old fashioned thing called cash...... while we still can!

Bee175

Grumpy_chap said:

Banks can flag transactions / accounts for verification / investigation for any number of reasons - the triggers are not made public.

It is just I don't think the OP has said what the payment from the friend was for (and nor do they need to), but there was a thread some while back where a poster had some transactions investigated because the friend put some kind of humourous (to them) comment in the "reference" field.  The bank didn't see whatever had been written as humourous and it instead triggers the fraud / crime checks.
Just a comment in case anyone sees that and wonders what could be a trigger.

The amount of the small transaction may also have been a trigger, £21-60 is a small, but odd amount.  I once had a credit card  breached and a small (but odd) transaction value was processed from somewhere abroad - fortunately for me the CC stopped the transaction and the call centre advised me that this was done as a test and the "bad guys" then knew they had the account and could do with it as they willed.

Combine the two, and it really could be a flag.  Potentially a big difference between "£21.60 - lunch bill", then "£25 - happy birthday", and then "£21.60 - thanks for the high"

The money was to pay for a badminton court I had booked on my friend's behalf. He didn't put any reference on the transaction.

Bee175

Thanks to everyone for commenting. It's been a pleasant surprise how many have shown an interest.

I will probably empty the account now because I do not trust them. I have other accounts I can use, so it's not a problem to do.

I wrote to the ombudsman today asking their opinion on this. I have no idea if they will bother to reply, but if they do, I will update this thread with what they said.

lindos90

Bee175 said:

Thanks to everyone for commenting. It's been a pleasant surprise how many have shown an interest.

I will probably empty the account now because I do not trust them. I have other accounts I can use, so it's not a problem to do.

I wrote to the ombudsman today asking their opinion on this. I have no idea if they will bother to reply, but if they do, I will update this thread with what they said.

I think you will have to raise a formal complaint with your bank first, before the ombudsman would get involved. 

MalMonroe

Hi, just to say that I would have done the same as you. And would have been really annoyed. My daughter and I often send each other small amounts of money via our banking apps - different banks - and haven't been 'reviewed' yet.

I'd never give my bank details of a friend, relative or anyone else. And we are all entitled to refuse to do so.

I'd also have switched to a different bank but one with an offer on - £200 to switch, or something similar.

What a cheek. 

Band7

MalMonroe said:

 

I'd also have switched to a different bank but one with an offer on - £200 to switch, or something similar.

Kroo are not a participant in CASS, so you cannot switch a Kroo account for a switch bonus. or with a switching guarantee.

Bee175

lindos90 said:

Bee175 said:

Thanks to everyone for commenting. It's been a pleasant surprise how many have shown an interest.

I will probably empty the account now because I do not trust them. I have other accounts I can use, so it's not a problem to do.

I wrote to the ombudsman today asking their opinion on this. I have no idea if they will bother to reply, but if they do, I will update this thread with what they said.

I think you will have to raise a formal complaint with your bank first, before the ombudsman would get involved. 

I think you're right about that. I'll just wait and see if they reply initially. Don't have too much spare time to go chasing them.