My Barclays Bank account is closed without explanation

Sabbir

I was told about 3 weeks ago that my Barclays Bank account was being investigated and my account was blocked. I assumed it was either because my father died over a year ago and I had moved his inheritance money of £570k from my fathers account  into my Barclays account and then transferred the money into a high interest saving account at the Post Office.

Or maybe it could of been because I invest in cryptocurrencies, (which I have done for several years)

My first phone call after the first 2 days of my account being blocked  I was told my account was being investigated.

After about a week I phoned to complain , and I was told I was not allowed to complain until 10 days was passed

Then after getting advice I phoned again and told them they had broken FCA rules by not letting me complain.

They then gave me a complaint number and said somebody would call me.

After several more days somebody called me and said because they took so long to close my account they would offer me £100 compensation , but due to their requirements to follow rules they had investigated me and decided to close my account without any further explanation and I should go into branch with my ID to collect my remaining balance.

 

I feel very traumatised by what has happened with Barclays Bank, I have been with Barclays for about 30 years, they did not ask me any questions or speak to me about what they are investigating me for and have now closed me account.

 

Also while they investigated me I tried to switch my Paypal bank from Barclays to Lloyds and now PayPal is blocking my transactions while they are investigate me, this is occurring for the last week with PayPal.

If anybody has any suggestions or experience please let me know. I was thinking of complaining to Financial ombudsman about Barclays. But I feel there is not much I can do.

 

Thanks

Sabbir

WillPS

Check to see if you have any CIFAS markers. If not, you can ask Barclays for an SAR but you probably won't learn much.

Ultimately banks don't have to deal with customers they judge to be a risk, sounds like this is what's happening here. You're correct in your assumption that there's probably little you can do but move on.

Exodi

Sabbir said:

My Barclays Bank account is closed without explanation

Sabbir said:

I was told my account was being investigated.

Out of interest, what is your goal from complaining? Is it just more compensation than was already offered as I note the use of the word 'traumatised'? Because you can't expect a bank to change their mind and re-open an account they closed following an investigation, because the account owner complained.

Similarly there are rules about sharing some details of an investigation with the investigatee, for obvious reasons.

What you want to do is up to you - but if you have a big wodge of cash and 'invest in cryptocurrencies' I'd encourage you to be extremely careful, we see too many cases of people losing money on it.

BJV

Sounds at little strange banks don't normally close accounts for no reason.

For money laundering reasons banks have to make sure they know where big balances come from to make sure that they are not from illegal routes.  

I think I would ask them for an explanation. You are right though they are not allowed to stop you from making a complaint.

That said I am not sure I would want to bank with an organisation that does not value my custom.   

Exodi

BJV said:

Sounds at little strange banks don't normally close accounts with big balances for no reason.

For money laundering reasons banks have to make sure they know where big balances come from to make sure that they are not from illegal routes.  

I think I would ask them for an explanation and move the money. You are right though they are not allowed to stop you from making a complaint.

That said I am not sure I would want to bank with an organisation that does not value my custom.   

No bank will share details of an ongoing investigation with a customer. A big balance + crypto will be a red flag to most banks since crypto is commonly used in scams.

If it was a genuine case of AML, it would obviously be counterproductive to tell the launderer where they slipped up, and what they should work on, in their laundering activity.

If they have decided that something is amiss and actually closed the account, it's unlikely they'll tell the OP why.

mab3000

When you say you transferred money from your late father into your own account, how was this done? Did you just make the transfer(s) yourself from his  account? Or did you go through the banks official bereavement process, and getting grant of probate etc? I’m assuming the latter scenario is the most likely what’s happened and there wouldn’t be anything wrong with that, however if you did just simply transfer money from his to your accounts then that could be a cause of the issue here 

Sabbir

Thanks for the comments, I not so much interested in compensation but I would like my bank account reopened. Can I ask them for an explantions and what they have written about me and if they have shared the info with others?

Sabbir

I was joint account holder on my dads account, I transferred the money from my dads account after I had started paying inheritance tax and was in the process of applying for probate

BJV

Can I ask why you want to bank with Barclays so much? Why not use another bank?

Momanns

Sabbir said:

Thanks for the comments, I not so much interested in compensation but I would like my bank account reopened. Can I ask them for an explantions and what they have written about me and if they have shared the info with others?

You can but it will be a complete waste of time. They won't give you any information as it is more than likely an AML investigation.

Barclays wouldn't routinely share information with others and would be highly unlikely they shared any info with PayPal. If PayPal became aware your accounts were blocked, this could have triggered their own investigation.

Double check re CIFAS but you have done better than 99.9% of people in getting compensation so your best course of action is to move on and open accounts elsewhere.

Sabbir

Thank you Momanns, that was helpful