Bank account closed, very scared

confusedandscared1996

born_again said:

confusedandscared1996 said:

Hi everyone,

I'm in a tough spot and could use some advice. Last week, my bank account with First Direct was closed without any warning. I'm already dealing with about £18,000 in debt and planning to enter a Debt Management Plan because of high living costs.

I have autism, which makes financial management more challenging for me. After losing help from my dad, I took two payday loans last month.

After First Direct, I opened a basic account with NatWest, but it was closed the same day. I suspect it might be because of an old debt with RBS.

In a panic, I opened accounts with Barclays, TSB, and Nationwide over the Bank Holiday. Only Nationwide gave me a normal account; the rest are basic.

A friend mentioned I might be on a Cifas register which could explain the account closures. I didn't lie on any applications. I’m working full-time and studying full-time for an MSc, and I recently had to change jobs due to redundancy.  (on the applications I put down employed full time, which is true but I am also a FT student)

I'm really worried about not having a bank account, especially with my wages due at the end of the month. If these new accounts close too, I don't know what I'll do.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or have any advice on what steps to take next?

Thanks for any help you can provide, I am panicking so much right now.

Alarm bells there..
Do you have a high level of debt with FD & not had contact with them about this. If you do, then normally that would be 60 day notice & a frozen account to force contact.
If not, that would tend to say they think something is wrong, breach of T/C or possible fraud.

TBH, might be better calling & asking them why. You may get a insight if it is debt related.

they wouldn't tell me

eskbanker

confusedandscared1996 said:

Is there any way to find out if I have 1 sooner than waiting for the DSAR?

Not that I'm aware of, unless any bank closing your accounts is prepared to offer hints in response to well-crafted questions.

confusedandscared1996 said:
also if I do have 1 what should I do? and is it possible to get my wages paid somewhere?

If you do have a CIFAS marker for fraud then you'd need to establish whether it was justified - the process for applying them should be robust but mistakes do happen sometimes, so it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that it could be challenged.  You'll struggle to open any accounts if you do have one though....

confusedandscared1996 said:

also - silly question but is the CIFAS not searched when opening an account? if so why did they allow me to open them?

My understanding is that it's not always done in real time, so it's quite possible for accounts to be opened and then closed once the CIFAS check has been completed.

confusedandscared1996 said:

(also am I allowed 4 accounts?)

It depends on their terms, but it's not uncommon for banks to offer basic accounts only to those who don't have any other accounts.

confusedandscared1996

I was sometimes i my arranged OD with first Direct but my dad paid it off (he has been sending me 1k/month for the last 3 months) and has a different second name to me, could this be why?

(i could provide proof he is my dad, and I know he has a well paid job which is where the money comes from).

I don't do any crypto or anything like that, and didn't do anything "illegal" that I can tell of.

I am terrified.

Does anyone know how I can get my wages paid? 

GrumpyDil

Assuming you still have a basic account which is open I would have them paid to that account and then wait to see what the CIFAS report shows when you get it. 

eskbanker

confusedandscared1996 said:

I was sometimes i my arranged OD with first Direct but my dad paid it off (he has been sending me 1k/month for the last 3 months) and has a different second name to me, could this be why?

(i could provide proof he is my dad, and I know he has a well paid job which is where the money comes from).

I don't do any crypto or anything like that, and didn't do anything "illegal" that I can tell of.

If there was any issue with being in your overdraft, FD would give notice of account closure.

Receiving funds from others also shouldn't be an issue unless the sending account had been subjected to fraud or the sender claimed to their bank that the transactions themselves were fraudulent, the surname of the sender isn't relevant.

confusedandscared1996

eskbanker said:

confusedandscared1996 said:

Is there any way to find out if I have 1 sooner than waiting for the DSAR?

Not that I'm aware of, unless any bank closing your accounts is prepared to offer hints in response to well-crafted questions.

confusedandscared1996 said:
also if I do have 1 what should I do? and is it possible to get my wages paid somewhere?

If you do have a CIFAS marker for fraud then you'd need to establish whether it was justified - the process for applying them should be robust but mistakes do happen sometimes, so it's not beyond the bounds of possibility that it could be challenged.  You'll struggle to open any accounts if you do have one though....

confusedandscared1996 said:

also - silly question but is the CIFAS not searched when opening an account? if so why did they allow me to open them?

My understanding is that it's not always done in real time, so it's quite possible for accounts to be opened and then closed once the CIFAS check has been completed.

confusedandscared1996 said:

(also am I allowed 4 accounts?)

It depends on their terms, but it's not uncommon for banks to offer basic accounts only to those who don't have any other accounts.

Due to having autism sometimes I fill in forms incorrectly and struggle - for example a few years ago I ticket the box to say owned the house instead of living with patents (as the question was worded in a way thinking it was asking if my dad had a mortgage).  However the company rang me and I explained why I ticked it and they were okay with it.

Another time I accidently entered I earn 23000/month instead of year (this was years ago). but all that happened was my application was denied.  

I am worried I could of done something silly like this when filling out an application, without really realising, I would never ever ever lie on a form on purpose, I have a completely clear criminal record and would never break the law.. am I going to be in big trouble? i'm seriously stressed right now.

Are there any other potential reasons?

confusedandscared1996

eskbanker said:

confusedandscared1996 said:

I was sometimes i my arranged OD with first Direct but my dad paid it off (he has been sending me 1k/month for the last 3 months) and has a different second name to me, could this be why?

(i could provide proof he is my dad, and I know he has a well paid job which is where the money comes from).

I don't do any crypto or anything like that, and didn't do anything "illegal" that I can tell of.

If there was any issue with being in your overdraft, FD would give notice of account closure.

Receiving funds from others also shouldn't be an issue unless the sending account had been subjected to fraud or the sender claimed to their bank that the transactions themselves were fraudulent, the surname of the sender isn't relevant.

I'm soo stressed, idk what to do?

should I open up a prepaid account for now, and have my wages put in there? I could always close it if my other accounts stay open? I need to get paid at the end of the month otherwise i'm stuffed....

eskbanker

confusedandscared1996 said:

Due to having autism sometimes I fill in forms incorrectly and struggle - for example a few years ago I ticket the box to say owned the house instead of living with patents (as the question was worded in a way thinking it was asking if my dad had a mortgage).  However the company rang me and I explained why I ticked it and they were okay with it.

Another time I accidently entered I earn 23000/month instead of year (this was years ago). but all that happened was my application was denied.  

I am worried I could of done something silly like this when filling out an application, without really realising, I would never ever ever lie on a form on purpose, I have a completely clear criminal record and would never break the law.. am I going to be in big trouble? i'm seriously stressed right now.

Are there any other potential reasons?

As well as CIFAS, there are other industry anti-fraud databases, one of which is National Hunter, which is used to spot anomalies between application contents, so if you've been completing numerous account applications and aren't confident that you'll have declared consistent data in them, this is highly likely to cause issues.  Like CIFAS, you can submit a SAR to ascertain what they hold about you:

https://nhunter.co.uk/subject-access-request/

confusedandscared1996

eskbanker said:

confusedandscared1996 said:

Due to having autism sometimes I fill in forms incorrectly and struggle - for example a few years ago I ticket the box to say owned the house instead of living with patents (as the question was worded in a way thinking it was asking if my dad had a mortgage).  However the company rang me and I explained why I ticked it and they were okay with it.

Another time I accidently entered I earn 23000/month instead of year (this was years ago). but all that happened was my application was denied.  

I am worried I could of done something silly like this when filling out an application, without really realising, I would never ever ever lie on a form on purpose, I have a completely clear criminal record and would never break the law.. am I going to be in big trouble? i'm seriously stressed right now.

Are there any other potential reasons?

As well as CIFAS, there are other industry anti-fraud databases, one of which is National Hunter, which is used to spot anomalies between application contents, so if you've been completing numerous account applications and aren't confident that you'll have declared consistent data in them, this is highly likely to cause issues.  Like CIFAS, you can submit a SAR to ascertain what they hold about you:

if this is the case would I be able to get my name removed? I didn't do anything bad on purpose, and am not sure what is going on, feeling really sick right now.  Does anyone know how long it takes them to respond?

enthusiasticsaver

I understand why your autism is causing your anxiety to spiral and you are panicking but we are at the beginning of May now and if  you let your wages department know your new bank details this week there should not be an issue with your pay at the end of the month.  Open a basic account with a bank you do not owe money to and give the details to your pay office. 

Have you checked your credit file with one of the free providers like ClearScore? It may well be that defaults are causing you to be rejected by some banks.  Some will reject you on application then offer you a basic one.  Co op bank and Barclays and Santander all offer these so as long as you do not owe them money you should be able to open one with them.  There is no limit on the number of bank accounts you can have but too many searches may have a negative impact on your file. I don't think ticking the wrong box on an application form is likely to get you a Cifas marker.