Help needed I'm so worried I can't breathe almost

Bruiser2018

Hi all I recently went to switch joint accounts as was fed up with our provider,I applied for a new account with Halifax but received a letter 3 days later stating due to there extra checks they can't open the account and referred me to cifas, to my shock horror I've googled this and now I'm worried sick I'm going to be in trouble (which is totally irrational I know as I haven't done anything wrong) but I can't eat or sleep or anything as I'm so worried after reading they will contact the police if they deem appropriate 
There's no warning or markers on any of my credit files but I literally can't think rationally as I suffer horribly with anxiety and depression.

Brie

It may be that they have detected an attempted fraud on your accounts and therefore are trying to protect you.  What if it wasn't actually "you" that had requested the transfer?  Halifax would be in a big pile of manure if they accepted a transfer that was potentially dodgy.  Obviously you know it isn't but they don't.  

eskbanker

If you've done nothing wrong then there's no need to worry about police, etc, but the place to start is a subject access request to CIFAS, to find out exactly what they've been told about you:

Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) | Credit Reference File | Cifas

Is the other holder of your joint account able to reassure you?

Bruiser2018

I really hope your right I'm so anxious over this it's horrendous. I told a friend who said I don't think I'd have given it another thought 

Bruiser2018

eskbanker said:

If you've done nothing wrong then there's no need to worry about police, etc, but the place to start is a subject access request to CIFAS, to find out exactly what they've been told about you:

Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) | Credit Reference File | Cifas

Is the other holder of your joint account able to reassure you?

Yes I've done that and they are doing there best and I know I haven't done anything wrong it's just so worrying for me I think it's more then anxiety than anything I've heard this happens to people all the time just my luck it would blooming well happen to me

eskbanker

Bruiser2018 said:

eskbanker said:

If you've done nothing wrong then there's no need to worry about police, etc, but the place to start is a subject access request to CIFAS, to find out exactly what they've been told about you:

Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) | Credit Reference File | Cifas

Is the other holder of your joint account able to reassure you?

Yes I've done that and they are doing there best and I know I haven't done anything wrong it's just so worrying for me I think it's more then anxiety than anything I've heard this happens to people all the time just my luck it would blooming well happen to me

Did the Halifax rejection specifically say that CIFAS held something about you or are both of you submitting subject access requests to them?

Uriziel

I don't think you have anything to worry about as banks often do precautionary checks. They can get fined millions for failing checks so they would rather lose a customer than take a risk. The reason why they involved cifas is most likely because they do not know you and have no relationship with you so it is not their job to do any further work on this. If you really want an answer I would just call cifas and ask them what the issue is as you merely wanted to do a current account switch. I get asked for additional information all the time when I make bank transfers. It's just part of the routine fraud checks.

eskbanker

Uriziel said:

I don't think you have anything to worry about as banks often do precautionary checks. They can get fined millions for failing checks so they would rather lose a customer than take a risk. The reason why they involved cifas is most likely because they do not know you and have no relationship with you so it is not their job to do any further work on this. If you really want an answer I would just call cifas and ask them what the issue is as you merely wanted to do a current account switch. I get asked for additional information all the time when I make bank transfers. It's just part of the routine fraud checks.

I think you may be misunderstanding what CIFAS is - it's an anti-fraud database and they aren't in a position to answer phone queries about what the issue is, or to do anything other than to report back to institutions that there's some sort of marker present.  It's nothing like those routine checks that entail cross-referencing data that's visible on credit files....

Uriziel

I have just done a search and the worst thing people seem to be reporting from this is just not being able to open bank accounts or only "basic" bank accounts for 6 years. If you know you have done nothing wrong I would just give them a call. Alternatively just go on about your day as usual. Google also says that banks refer people to cifas for suspicious activity, nothing concrete. Perhaps they found it strange that someone "like you" is making a move or perhaps they found that in your last bank account there was usual activity, and paired with the switch it makes it look strange.