Any risk of bank freezing account?

hildasmuriel

Hi - next month my husband will retire and will receive 25% of his pension pot as a lump sum.
The plan is that he will transfer it immediately to my current account where it will stay for just a few days while I open 5 savings account in my name (1 yr fixed, 2 yr fixed etc etc) - then move it out to those new accounts. We are doing this because I will be a non-tax payer so will be able to use the starting rate for savings and not pay tax on interest.

My question is - will this trigger any alarm bells at the bank, do you think? I keep reading about people having their accounts frozen because the bank are unhappy about certain transactions - I would be horrified if that happened to me.

For context, I have had this current account for 39 years. For the last 35 years my husband has sent money to it each month for household costs but never a sum this big.

WillPS

A lump sum deposit from a pension provider is unlikely to be seen as suspicious, I would assure.

That said, there's no real way of being sure and you should always ensure you have an alternative ready to fall back on if your account is frozen at any time for any reason.

Ayr_Rage

Just call the bank and explain what will be happening.

eskbanker

WillPS said:

A lump sum deposit from a pension provider is unlikely to be seen as suspicious, I would assure.

But OP's concern is one step removed from that - her bank will only see a large incoming transfer from her husband (without sight of its origin prior to that) and then multiple outbound transfers.

alanwsg

I did exactly the same thing a couple of years ago - had about 85K go into my account and then straight out again the same day.
They (Santander) phoned me up to find out what was going on.
Had to explain myself and once they realized it was indeed my 60th, all was OK.
Even wished me a happy retirement!

I would phone or message them in advance to let them know what is going to happen.

VXman

I have done many similar transactions over years and never had a question from the bank. From 2017-2020 I transferred large amounts (£20K-50K) from Hong Kong, where I was working via an independent money exchange company and not once did First Direct question where this money had come from. I was quite surprised at the lack of suspicion to be honest.

boingy

They won't freeze the account but they might block one or more of the outgoing payments until you ring them and grovel a bit. It's mostly the bank covering their own backside rather than worrying about yours and it always seems to take longer than it should on the phone but it is the curse of modern banking.

You can try phoning them in advance but I doubt it will do any good because the blocks are created by a software algorithm and, of course, large sums going to new destinations will increase the chances of it being blocked. I'd suggest you do one transfer at a time and wait until it has arrived before doing the next one.

You may have a smoother experience if you can make the transfers over the phone or in person at a branch rather than online.

The other option would be for your husband to transfer money directly to your new savings accounts after you have opened them. That avoids the large transfer into your account and gives your husband the blocked transfers to sort out - it will give him something to do in his retirement!

General_Grant

boingy said:

They won't freeze the account but they might block one or more of the outgoing payments until you ring them and grovel a bit. It's mostly the bank covering their own backside rather than worrying about yours and it always seems to take longer than it should on the phone but it is the curse of modern banking.

You can try phoning them in advance but I doubt it will do any good because the blocks are created by a software algorithm and, of course, large sums going to new destinations will increase the chances of it being blocked. I'd suggest you do one transfer at a time and wait until it has arrived before doing the next one.

You may have a smoother experience if you can make the transfers over the phone or in person at a branch rather than online.

The other option would be for your husband to transfer money directly to your new savings accounts after you have opened them. That avoids the large transfer into your account and gives your husband the blocked transfers to sort out - it will give him something to do in his retirement!

You also need to check that the savings accounts will allow payments in from an account other than a current account of the person opening the savings account.

hildasmuriel

Thanks for your thoughts everyone.

boingy

Just to add that if you are planning on using fixed rate accounts they often have a limited deposit window, sometimes just a week or so, after which you cannot deposit any more money so perhaps don't open them all at the same time.

Bigwheels1111

The big question is which bank do you use, I have multiple bank accounts.
I would no trust Santander.
I only use First Direct for sending or receiving funds and interest payments.
You get a real person who generally knows what they are doing and a quick call sorts most things.