Can Lloyds tell Halifax to suspend my online banking service?

sonypc100

Hi

I tried to make a transaction on my Lloyds account which was a larger amount than normal so it flagged up on their system and I was asked to call them, they told me I need to go into a branch with ID and until I do they have have blocked me from using my account.

Due to working overseas and when I am home my nearest branch is over an hour as a round trip I have not been into branch.

I thought, no problem, I will just use my Halifax account until I can get in.

However Lloyds have instructed Halifax to also freeze my Halifax account.

Yes, I know they both are owned by LLoyds banking group but is it right and correct that my Halifax account that has no issues, no fraud, no unusual or high transactions etc should be subject to the same suspension as my Lloyds account?

I have no issue with banks flagging transactions and wanting to check things over - I'm glad it happens but I don't think it is right that a bank can do this, as far as I am concerned they are 2 separate entities albeit with the same parent company, I cannot access my LLoyds account from my Halifax app, I cannot do my Halifax banking in a Lloyds branch so an issue with 1 bank should not migrate to the other.

Any thoughts please?

Thanks

prettyandfluffy

I suspect you may have been flagged for suspicious activities, possibly money laundering; so I think they can do this.  Did you contact them to explain the difficulties around going into a branch? 

sonypc100

prettyandfluffy said:

I suspect you may have been flagged for suspicious activities, possibly money laundering; so I think they can do this.  Did you contact them to explain the difficulties around going into a branch? 

Yes, but sadly it is like talking to a brick wall.

35har1old

sonypc100 said:

prettyandfluffy said:

I suspect you may have been flagged for suspicious activities, possibly money laundering; so I think they can do this.  Did you contact them to explain the difficulties around going into a branch? 

Yes, but sadly it is like talking to a brick wall.

If I had to go to a branch it would require a flight.

sonypc100

35har1old said:

sonypc100 said:

prettyandfluffy said:

I suspect you may have been flagged for suspicious activities, possibly money laundering; so I think they can do this.  Did you contact them to explain the difficulties around going into a branch? 

Yes, but sadly it is like talking to a brick wall.

If I had to go to a branch it would require a flight.

I used to have a local Lloyds branch and a local Halifax branch. They closed them both down. 

MorningcoffeeIV

sonypc100 said:

Yes, I know they both are owned by LLoyds banking group but is it right and correct that my Halifax account that has no issues, no fraud, no unusual or high transactions etc should be subject to the same suspension as my Lloyds account?

Yes, that fine for them to do that.

It would be very odd if they didn't.

AmityNeon

I once attempted an unusually large outbound transfer from my Halifax account which was flagged for fraud checks. My online/app access to Halifax and Lloyds was immediately suspended, but a phone call to their fraud department was sufficient to clear things up and restore access to both. They may be separate legal entities but many systems are shared, e.g. updating your personal details with one will automatically update them with the other.

blue.peter

sonypc100 said:

Yes, I know they both are owned by LLoyds banking group but is it right and correct that my Halifax account that has no issues, no fraud, no unusual or high transactions etc should be subject to the same suspension as my Lloyds account?

I'm not at all surprised. I rather think that they both use the same system behind the scenes. I'm attorney for my mother, who also has accounts with both Lloyds and Halifax. In that capacity, I discovered that changes made to online banking by one automatically feed through to the other.

badmemory

Another good reason to ensure that you have bank accounts with different entities.

sonypc100

badmemory said:

Another good reason to ensure that you have bank accounts with different entities.

Yep, lesson learnt