Kroo bank blocked my account - then closed it - but won't give me my money

Danfisherone

So on 04/10/2024 I attempted to give my new business a loan from my personal account only to be told that's against their T&C's and my account was now blocked.

Sent Kroo details of my business bank account and proof of source of funds (wage slips) and thought that would be the end of it. Chased and chased and chased. On 08/11/2024 they finally responded to say my account was now closed and I'd need a new account to send the funds to so I gave them a different bank on the same day and I've still not got my money. 

They're holding all my money and won't give it to me and are ignoring me now. I asked how can I pay my mortgage when you've got my money and that I'm now a vulnerable customer and they told me to take a screen print of the conversation and send it to my mortgage provider. I'm sure they're just trolling me now.

Anyone got any ideas? I've raised a complaint but need to wait to escalate it to the FOS and now I've got no money. Only joined because Martin Lewis said it was a great bank.

Newbie_John

How long did they say it will take to transfer the money? Sometimes things like this take time.
8th was Friday, so they probably looked at your email on Monday - so 4-5 days have passed.

I would call them and ask how long will it take.

Hoenir

Danfisherone said:

So on 04/10/2024 I attempted to give my new business a loan from my personal account only to be told that's against their T&C's and my account was now blocked.

Kroo don't offer business accounts. Little point in complaining if you've breached the account terms and conditions. As it's totally self inflicted. No doubt there's a number of steps to be taken internally to effect the account closure. Will take a few working days as it moves round various work queues. 

tacpot12

Banks don't troll people. 

When you say you attempted to give your business a loan from your personal account, what exactly did you do? It's actually really common for Directors of small businesses to loan their businesses money and to have that money repaid by the business. It sounds like this was something else.

Even if this was a breech of their T&Cs, they can't keep your money indefinitely, except to repay any loan you have had from them. A breach of T&Cs isn't suspicious activity or money laundering. Kroo may need reminding of this.   

If you are able to, I would open an account with another bank asap. 

Ballard

Hoenir said:

Danfisherone said:

So on 04/10/2024 I attempted to give my new business a loan from my personal account only to be told that's against their T&C's and my account was now blocked.

Kroo don't offer business accounts. Little point in complaining if you've breached the account terms and conditions. As it's totally self inflicted. No doubt there's a number of steps to be taken internally to effect the account closure. Will take a few working days as it moves round various work queues. 

I’d read this differently to you. I could be wrong, but I think that the OP is saying that he wanted to transfer money from his personal account, presumably in credit, to his business account elsewhere. This wouldn't have breached the T&Cs. 

eskbanker

Danfisherone said:

I attempted to give my new business a loan from my personal account only to be told that's against their T&C's

Did they expand on this and clarify exactly which of their Ts & Cs they're alleging you breached?  As above, it's not obvious....

Danfisherone

Yes so I attempted to send money from my kroo current account to my business bank account with tide with the reference loan. They asked me what it was for and I explained it was a business loan and then blocked my account and then said it was closed.

This isn't misuse of the account as I wasn't trying to use it as a business account.

They said they can't give me a time scale as to when I'll get my money.

Danfisherone

Hoenir said:

Danfisherone said:

So on 04/10/2024 I attempted to give my new business a loan from my personal account only to be told that's against their T&C's and my account was now blocked.

Kroo don't offer business accounts. Little point in complaining if you've breached the account terms and conditions. As it's totally self inflicted. No doubt there's a number of steps to be taken internally to effect the account closure. Will take a few working days as it moves round various work queues. 

I sent money to my business account, it was a directors loan. That's not the same thing. It's been blocked from 04/10/2024. They told me 10 days ago they would close my account. I think that's too long to be without money.

Danfisherone

tacpot12 said:

Banks don't troll people. 

When you say you attempted to give your business a loan from your personal account, what exactly did you do? It's actually really common for Directors of small businesses to loan their businesses money and to have that money repaid by the business. It sounds like this was something else.

Even if this was a breech of their T&Cs, they can't keep your money indefinitely, except to repay any loan you have had from them. A breach of T&Cs isn't suspicious activity or money laundering. Kroo may need reminding of this.   

If you are able to, I would open an account with another bank asap. 

tacpot12 said:

Banks don't troll people. 

When you say you attempted to give your business a loan from your personal account, what exactly did you do? It's actually really common for Directors of small businesses to loan their businesses money and to have that money repaid by the business. It sounds like this was something else.

Even if this was a breech of their T&Cs, they can't keep your money indefinitely, except to repay any loan you have had from them. A breach of T&Cs isn't suspicious activity or money laundering. Kroo may need reminding of this.   

If you are able to, I would open an account with another bank asap. 

Yeah so I sent money from my kroo account to my business account with Tide. They asked me what it was for, I told them and sent bank statements from Tide and they blocked me. I've explained I'm now vulnerable as I have no money and have taken loans from family members but they won't do anything. 

It doesn't take that long to raise a SAR or even report one to the NCA. It's a day task maximum. And it's a 5 day SLA to close an account once you've provided alternative banking as per their own policies so I'm completely stumped.

WillPS

Ignore the naysayers. You have been treated appallingly and deserve compensation for this. Moving your own money in to your business is not at all the same as using your account as a business account, as you correctly state.

Banks have every right to discontinue serving people they don't want to work with, but they cannot do so in these timescales and they can't deprive you of your money either. They are duty bound to provide a good outcome for you, and have failed miserably against that measure.

The FOS will certainly find in your favour if all is as you suggest, and you can expect considerable compensation. That's the good news.

The bad news is that very little can be done now. If you're able to and confident that the FOS find in your favour, you can use finance to cover the deficit and you might reasonably expect the compensation to cover any interest you have to pay as a result (as well as other things!). Keep good records.

If withholding the money has a knock on effect on your ability to run your business, then this should be made clear in your complaint, along with anything you consider a consequential loss.

If you're lucky, Kroo's own complaints team will take care of things adequately, but I regret to inform you they are unfortunately not well known for great customer care, so you need to set your expectations at this being a bit of a long slog. If you end up in financial hardship because of this you should inform Kroo, and in turn the FOS. This should bump your complaint up the priority list a little, but you need to manage your own expectations still.

Danfisherone

WillPS said:

Ignore the naysayers. You have been treated appallingly and deserve compensation for this. Moving your own money in to your business is not at all the same as using your account as a business account, as you correctly state.

Banks have every right to discontinue serving people they don't want to work with, but they cannot do so in these timescales and they can't deprive you of your money either. They are duty bound to provide a good outcome for you, and have failed miserably against that measure.

The FOS will certainly find in your favour if all is as you suggest, and you can expect considerable compensation. That's the good news.

The bad news is that very little can be done now. If you're able to and confident that the FOS find in your favour, you can use finance to cover the deficit and you might reasonably expect the compensation to cover any interest you have to pay as a result (as well as other things!). Keep good records.

If withholding the money has a knock on effect on your ability to run your business, then this should be made clear in your complaint, along with anything you consider a consequential loss.

If you're lucky, Kroo's own complaints team will take care of things adequately, but I regret to inform you they are unfortunately not well known for great customer care, so you need to set your expectations at this being a bit of a long slog. If you end up in financial hardship because of this you should inform Kroo, and in turn the FOS. This should bump your complaint up the priority list a little, but you need to manage your own expectations still.

Thanks for this, I've got a main job already so fortunately not full time with the business but was hoping that loan would be a bridging gap to speed me up. I'll keep waiting then in that case. Appreciate you coming back to me, I'll see what the FOS say once I'm allowed to contact them.