HSBC closed current account and savings

clast07

Awaiting result, said 10 days.

GrubbyGirl_2

Can you do a subject access request which will give you everything they have on you.  There must be some internal record of why they have closed the accounts

clast07

This is what I made a request for.

born_again

clast07 said:

HSBC have closed my savings and current account with no communications and can give me no reason why, has this happened to other people recently? Thanks in advance for any suggestions as currently have no access to any of my money they hold.

Do they hold the correct address for you. 
As in cases like this a letter is sent out advising of account suspension. Which will not have a reason & no one will tell you the reason.
It could be that as you had a declined transactions that you have picked this up before letter arrived.

Even a immediate closure, which are very rare you will still get a letter.

eskbanker

GrubbyGirl_2 said:

Can you do a subject access request which will give you everything they have on you.  There must be some internal record of why they have closed the accounts

clast07 said:

This is what I made a request for.

If your post was in response to the other one quoted above, the suggestion here was to submit a subject access request to the bank, rather than the CIFAS one discussed previously - have you submitted SARs to both?

clast07

No letters nothing no address change been here for 27 years. Will the bank respond to the request as have done communication to date? Getting bank statements so have correct address for sure.

dealyboy

Hi OP (clast07) ... my sympathies for your predicament  . It's a bit of a mystery to us, collectively on the forum we've had a lot of experience of frozen/closed accounts from posters.

As has been said, if a transaction is suspicious and it is suspected that there may be some fraud or money laundering activity, typically an account is frozen or suspended for the duration of the investigation. If it is a commercial decision then notice is given of closure, typically 60 or 90 days, this could be for perceived misuse of facilities or breach of T&Cs. The fact that they have closed your accounts with immediate effect suggests they believe they have prima facie evidence of criminal conduct.

HSBC won't release the funds in these circumstances, but they must inform you of their action and your rights. You will be informed at the conclusion of the investigation and about any subsequent action.

I'm pleased you have opened an account elsewhere and presumably you will be redirecting any payments to the new account. As far as access to your existing funds is concerned you should be able to visit a branch with a payslip to access wages/salary.

From what you have said there are no clues. Presumably your employer is a known bona fide organisation and the share sale proceeds were UK based. How did you find out that your bank had closed the accounts? did they inform you in writing? I suspect you will have to think as a detective and from HSBC's perspective. Honestly I would go back to the bank to see if you can obtain any clues.

Edit: just re-read your post ... https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/80542545/#Comment_80542545 ...

clast07 said:

As worded in branch as post an annual review can no longer provide financial services. In branch rep had no details of the review. All very bad.

... so this was after an annual review of your accounts and the services HSBC were willing to provide, which suggests to me that this was a routine commercial decision ... so I'm puzzled. You would have access to your money in these circumstances.

clast07

You and me both.

clast07

Have asked the bank they are saying nothin in the form of any real comms be this letters etc. I found out when I queried why a very small Amazon purchase was declined and then was informed if all this by customer services with no details, hence me going into branch. Predicament for sure. So no comms at all other than words in branch about review.

grumbler

It's time to start a formal complaint procedure. The sooner you do this, the sooner you'll be able to take the case to the FOC should you want to. Do this on principle - this will probably not help to reinstate your accounts, but will cost them and will hopefully make them think twice before doing the same to another customer in the future.

Read the T&C that are binding for both you and them.

How we can end this agreement and close accounts
Sometimes we can end the agreement and close your accounts straight away and not give you any notice. We’ll only do this if certain things happen. We’ve set these out below.
• You’ve seriously or persistently broken this agreement.
• You’ve behaved inappropriately either to us or when using our services. For example, you acted abusively, offensively or violently towards employees or used abusive language in payment instructions.
• You weren’t entitled, or aren’t entitled any longer, to open or have your account or the service.
• You haven’t given us information that we’ve asked for about your tax situation.
• You’ve given us false information.
We’ll also do this if it’s reasonable for us to believe that something in the list below has happened.
• You’re accessing or using an account, service or money illegally or fraudulently (or have done this in the past).
• You’re allowing someone else to do this.
• You’re using the account in a way not covered by our agreement.
• You’re involved, in any criminal activity. It doesn’t matter whether or not this is linked to banking with us.
• You’ve placed us in a position where we might break a law, regulation, code, court order or other duty, or requirement.
• You’ve exposed us, or another HSBC Group company, to action from any government, regulator or law enforcement agency.
• There’s been a breach of security or misuse of your account, security details or a payment device

We can also end the agreement and close your accounts by giving you at least two months’ notice

...

Paying what you owe before closing or switching the account 

Before an account is closed, we’ll take any:
• money owed to us or committed to payments; and
• interest and charges that haven’t yet been charged to the account.

...

We’ll always keep you up to date with what’s happening in your account.

Even if they close an account without notice ("if certain things happen") they must return you your money. Otherwise the account has to be frozen, not closed (or they have to inform you that everything was confiscated and they don't owe you anything).