HSBC Frozen Account

Scrina

Hi guys, 

First time poster looking for some advice if possible.

I have held a HSBC advance current account for the past 18 months after taking advantage of their previous £200 switcher offer. This account is funded by my 2.4k salary four weekly along with sporadic expense payments from my work also. Each time I receive my salary, I transfer 1.8k to a joint nationwide account held with my wife (this is our 'bills' account). The remaining balance is for day to day spending.

Recently on the 1st September I applied for a 12k loan from MBNA that was deposited into the HSBC account. This loan was used to consolidate some outstanding debts (mainly a 3k balance on an older much higher interest loan and a 2k card balance from virgin money). The remainder funded some home improvements. 

The following week, I received a 15k BACS transfer from Slater Heelis solicitors as settlement from a car accident in 2019. This money, once deposited was moved into two savings accounts. One in my wife's name and one in my name. The day after these transactions were made, I attempted to purchase some shopping with my card and it declined, even though there was circa 2k in the account. Likewise an ATM withdrawal also declined. 

On contacting HSBC to enquire why this was, I received

"we are currently unable to process any transactions or requests as the bank is complying with its UK statuatory requirements. Timescales are not available and the bank will be in touch in due course".

This is verbatim the response I received when I went into the branch to ask also.

I have another current account with Monzo that I have moved my salary over too and our bills are unaffected as they are paid via Nationwide. My question is this - what's triggered this? Is it the large amount of money in and out over a short period of time? Even though every transaction is from a well known reputable business? Did HSBCS algorithm just trigger their fraud/money laundering process? What sort of timescale am I looking at? Is there anything I can do to speed this up such as provide proof from the solicitors as source of funds? 

Thanks in advance for any replies! 

PRAISETHESUN

Sounds like it has been frozen due to AML rules. I'd wager that the two high value deposits, followed by you moving it to another account, is what has triggered this. Unfortunately they won't tell you anything until their investigation is complete, else they risk falling foul of tipping off rules and getting big fines. Let them investigate, provide them with whatever they ask for, and go from there - there's not really much you can do to speed it up.

Frustrating, but at least you've been able to move your banking elsewhere relatively painlessly.

daveyjp

Probably abnormal transactions..

BTW use the £15k to pay off the loan!

Bridlington1

I'd agree with the above posts for the reasoning behind it and also you won't be able to speed things up, you'll just have to let them do their investigations and give them any information they ask for as quickly as possible.

As for timescales I'm afraid it's a case of how long's a piece of string, you could get it unblocked today, you could have it blocked for a few months before having your accounts closed and cheque sent to you. It could be anywhere in between those options, I don't know and neither will anyone you speak to.

For what it's worth I had my HSBC account frozen for 23 days early last year after bouncing a low 5 figure sum through it after having used the account mostly for feeding their regular saver for several months, which triggered the block. About 2-3 weeks into the freeze I got a phone call from them asking a few questions about the source of the large payment into my account then I heard nothing from them until I received a letter a couple of days after the blocks had been lifted telling me that they'd done a review of my account and that they were pleased to tell me they'd removed all restrictions on my account. Everything's run smoothly with HSBC since then.

I found the rest of my HSBC accounts including a credit card were unaffected by the freeze though but in other reported cases on this forum I've seen people having had all of their accounts blocked so if you've any other HSBC accounts it may be worth checking to see if they're blocked too.

Regardless though I think this sort of situation only goes to show why you should never rely solely on one bank.

Scrina

Bridlington1 said:

I'd agree with the above posts for the reasoning behind it and also you won't be able to speed things up, you'll just have to let them do their investigations and give them any information they ask for as quickly as possible.

As for timescales I'm afraid it's a case of how long's a piece of string, you could get it unblocked today, you could have it blocked for a few months before having your accounts closed and cheque sent to you. It could be anywhere in between those options, I don't know and neither will anyone you speak to.

For what it's worth I had my HSBC account frozen for 23 days early last year after bouncing a low 5 figure sum through it after having used the account mostly for feeding their regular saver for several months, which triggered the block. About 2-3 weeks into the freeze I got a phone call from them asking a few questions about the source of the large payment into my account then I heard nothing from them until I received a letter a couple of days after the blocks had been lifted telling me that they'd done a review of my account and that they were pleased to tell me they'd removed all restrictions on my account. Everything's run smoothly with HSBC since then.

I found the rest of my HSBC accounts including a credit card were unaffected by the freeze though but in other reported cases on this forum I've seen people having had all of their accounts blocked so if you've any other HSBC accounts it may be worth checking to see if they're blocked too.

Regardless though I think this sort of situation only goes to show why you should never rely solely on one bank.

Thanks for this. I appreciate the reply. Ironically, the other HSBC account I hold with my wife that we use as a spending account for the kids is active and well with no restrictions, it's just my current account that's been frozen. 

robatwork

Scrina said:

Thanks for this. I appreciate the reply. Ironically, the other HSBC account I hold with my wife that we use as a spending account for the kids is active and well with no restrictions, it's just my current account that's been frozen. 

This happens *loads* on here - just search this forum for "frozen" or "unable to access". You've triggered the AML process as I'm sure you've realised. Perhaps you'll be good enough to report back as and when it's resolved, as you'll see in your searches lots of people post, but then never finish their thread. Hope it works out quickly for you.

Scrina

robatwork said:

Scrina said:

Thanks for this. I appreciate the reply. Ironically, the other HSBC account I hold with my wife that we use as a spending account for the kids is active and well with no restrictions, it's just my current account that's been frozen. 

This happens *loads* on here - just search this forum for "frozen" or "unable to access". You've triggered the AML process as I'm sure you've realised. Perhaps you'll be good enough to report back as and when it's resolved, as you'll see in your searches lots of people post, but then never finish their thread. Hope it works out quickly for you.

I certainly will. Its currently been 9 days without any correspondence or access to the account in question. Thankfully, my wife and I hold accounts with a few mainstream and challenger banks for both household bills, spending and savings for this reason. I dread to think how much someones stress levels would take a beating if this happened to their sole means of accessing money! 

dealyboy

Scrina said:

robatwork said:

Scrina said:

Thanks for this. I appreciate the reply. Ironically, the other HSBC account I hold with my wife that we use as a spending account for the kids is active and well with no restrictions, it's just my current account that's been frozen. 

This happens *loads* on here - just search this forum for "frozen" or "unable to access". You've triggered the AML process as I'm sure you've realised. Perhaps you'll be good enough to report back as and when it's resolved, as you'll see in your searches lots of people post, but then never finish their thread. Hope it works out quickly for you.

I certainly will. Its currently been 9 days without any correspondence or access to the account in question. Thankfully, my wife and I hold accounts with a few mainstream and challenger banks for both household bills, spending and savings for this reason. I dread to think how much someones stress levels would take a beating if this happened to their sole means of accessing money! 

Hi Scrina ... you have my moral support as well as that of many others on here.

I am pleased that you had backup facilities and you are articulate and appear calm in the face of what still must have been quite a shock. You have done nothing wrong. I am also pleased to read the family are OK.

My impression of HSBC is of a rather old fashioned and prosaic bank where process comes first. Have you been able to present the facts of the case to them, to help them with their enquiries?

Anyway, best wishes.

Scrina

Just to update those that have posted thus far, I complained again to HSBC (not expecting anything to be done or even anything to be said but more so I have a record of communication with them) on Monday of this week. It had been exactly 16 days since my account was frozen. I received a generic reply saying that my complaint had been passed to the relevant team and someone would be in touch once investigations had been completed. 

This morning as I have done every morning since the account was frozen, I logged into the HSBC app to see if anything had changed and to my shock, my account was fully unblocked and active again 19 days after if was 1st frozen.

To this date I have had no correspondence from HSBC regarding the account freezing . I know this is expected due to the 'tipping off' laws around money laundering regulations but I haven't even had a phone call/email/letter to say that their investigations have been completed and that my account is now usable again. 

Thankfully as I mentioned above this process hasn't impacted me hugely due to having access to other accounts for essential bills etc but I truly feel for those that don't and the level of stress and anxiety it must cause. 

Appreciate the replies, advice and communication with you all.

robatwork

Scrina said:

Thankfully as I mentioned above this process hasn't impacted me hugely due to having access to other accounts for essential bills etc but I truly feel for those that don't and the level of stress and anxiety it must cause. 

If you're reading this and only have one account, you should take massive notice of this. Even if you're a fine upstanding citizen like our Scrina here, and your banking activities are 100% scrupulous, your main account can still get locked out and you will have a frustrating time trying to find out what's going on or get access. 

ranciduk

Such a shocking lack of customer service not to bother updating you that you are unfrozen 

Glad that it’s all sorted for you!