Bank has closed my current account

MacSue

Santander has closed my current account 4 August. I have called and called and keep being told it is being investigated but now call the complaints number and know it has still not even been assigned. I now have received the cheque with the balance which is a relief to know no fraudster has my money but I have a new dilemma in how I access this money. I have a Chase current account but they don't accept cheques. I have a savings account with another bank that won't accept that cheque either. 

I didn't request the closure, it came out of the blue. There was no oddity in my account, nothing had changed, never overdrawn.

Does anyone have experience of this or any advice as to the best way to proceed?

eskbanker

If they literally closed your account without any sort of advance notification then that would usually signify a serious issue, such as fraud, in which case they may place a marker against you on CIFAS (the industry fraud database), which would prevent you from opening other accounts, and may also result in existing ones being closed.

Check to see if this has happened: https://www.cifas.org.uk/dsar

[Deleted User]

If the bank that holds your savings account offers current accounts I'd attempt to open one with them.
If successful, it means you're not left with only Chase which has limited cheque or deposit facilities. 

WillPS

Starling accepts cheques (via app up to £1000 or over by post). Accounts are usually opened instantly.

If you're not being liberal with the truth, banks shouldn't summarily close your account with 0 notice and if they have you have major cause for complaint.

MacSue

eskbanker said:

If they literally closed your account without any sort of advance notification then that would usually signify a serious issue, such as fraud, in which case they may place a marker against you on CIFAS (the industry fraud database), which would prevent you from opening other accounts, and may also result in existing ones being closed.

Check to see if this has happened: https://www.cifas.org.uk/dsar

Thanks for this info, I haven't gone through the process yet as yesterday the bank said they didn't think it was fraud and finally assigned someone to investigate why it happened

MacSue

[Deleted User] said:

If the bank that holds your savings account offers current accounts I'd attempt to open one with them.
If successful, it means you're not left with only Chase which has limited cheque or deposit facilities. 

Thanks for this idea. Unfortunately it doesn't. It is Marcus. I think because I was so distressed when I called the complaints dept yesterday, the woman who answered assigned herself to the case and I'm hoping to hear from her very soon, though this may be too optimistic!

MacSue

WillPS said:

Starling accepts cheques (via app up to £1000 or over by post). Accounts are usually opened instantly.

If you're not being liberal with the truth, banks shouldn't summarily close your account with 0 notice and if they have you have major cause for complaint.

Thanks, I'll keep the Starting idea in mind. 

I'm not being in the least liberal with the truth! I had over £1000 in the account, don't even use it that much as I use Chase for everyday shopping, my pension is paid in and my DDs go out for energy, phone etc and I move money regularly to Chase. There is no strange activity at all, it has to be a stupid error. The only odd thing that occurred to me yesterday is that on Experian Credit Check, the account is listed as open but it shows £0. I guess I need to get that changed when it's all sorted whichever bank I end up with! Any idea if that could trigger this? 

I will be lodging a formal complaint. Apart from the closure, the way this has been handled is appalling and has been super stressful!

daveyjp

"don't even use it that much"

That may be the problem.  Are you meeting the conditions of the account?  Minimum monthly deposit, certain number of dds etc etc.  

Zanderman

daveyjp said:

"don't even use it that much"

That may be the problem.  Are you meeting the conditions of the account?  Minimum monthly deposit, certain number of dds etc etc.  

That seems unlikely to be the problem as OP says, if I'm reading their post correctly, the account is used for incoming pension and outgoing utility DDs - i.e. like a main bank account.

Edited to add, it's still not clear, from OP's posts, what actually happened. The account was closed on 4th August with no warning.  But, OP, can you say how and when you became aware of this - an email or text from the bank?  And if so what, precisely, did that communication say? Or did you simply find out it was no longer active? 

nyermen

This is odd because normally:

1) Either they suspect fraud - the account would be frozen for an investigation (you wouldn't get a cheque that quickly)
or
2) They decide they just don't want your business (in which case they should usually give eg. 60 days notice)

flaneurs_lobster

MacSue said: The only odd thing that occurred to me yesterday is that on Experian Credit Check, the account is listed as open but it shows £0. I guess I need to get that changed when it's all sorted whichever bank I end up with! Any idea if that could trigger this? 

That Experian zero total is the amount of lending on the account i.e. an overdraft that is in use. It's not the balance of the current account.