Can a Bank close your account without notice?

Asere

Hi everyone. I just switched to Santander without ever having an account with them. Everything looked good, they sent log on details and even notified me that my card should on its way. 
However when I tried to log on online banking it didn't worked and I found out that my account had been closed during a phone call to customer service. 
They don't provide any reason for closing your account and I wondered if there is any consumer right that protect us from that. 

la531983

Nope. In the same way you can close it without providing a reason, its a two way street. As long as they refund you any money in there, not really much you can do, they clearly dont want you as a customer.

Might be worth checking you dont have a CIFAS marker on your credit file, something has clearly spooked them.

born_again

As any business they do not have to disclose why they do not want you as a customer.
But you can check that all the details provided match. Such as income, on electoral roll at you current address, ID matching.

Check CRA to see all is in order there & a SAR to CIFAS in case any markers there.

PRAISETHESUN

Immediate closure is rare, and is usually reserved for when the banks suspect fraud or you fail AML checks. In those instances they are legally obliged to close your account without notice, else they get hit with big fines.

I'd give it a few weeks and then submit DSARs to Santander, the 3 CRAs (Experian, Equifax and TransUnion), as well as the fraud checking services CIFAS and National Hunter to see if anything out the ordinary has been recorded against your name.

ggearbox162

Asere said:

Hi everyone. I just switched to Santander without ever having an account with them. Everything looked good, they sent log on details and even notified me that my card should on its way. 
However when I tried to log on online banking it didn't worked and I found out that my account had been closed during a phone call to customer service. 
They don't provide any reason for closing your account and I wondered if there is any consumer right that protect us from that. 

Yes, banks can do that. They can and will if the account breaches TOS, is suspected in fraudulent activities, is dormant or you fail the AML checks.

Nasqueron

ggearbox162 said:

Asere said:

Hi everyone. I just switched to Santander without ever having an account with them. Everything looked good, they sent log on details and even notified me that my card should on its way. 
However when I tried to log on online banking it didn't worked and I found out that my account had been closed during a phone call to customer service. 
They don't provide any reason for closing your account and I wondered if there is any consumer right that protect us from that. 

Yes, banks can do that. They can and will if the account breaches TOS, is suspected in fraudulent activities, is dormant or you fail the AML checks.

Probably none of those apply given OP just switched to them but maybe something else spooked them, maybe something they found on the file, OP credit history etc

Asere

Thank you all for your comments. I will follow up on these suggestions