Barclays accounts closed with immediate effect, no reasons given

t1redmonkey

born_again said:

t1redmonkey said:

So last week, I had all of my accounts with Barclays closed with no notice provided, they were just closed.  I contacted Barclays and was told they are allowed to do this at their discretion as outlined in their Terms and Conditions, and they also do not need to provide a reason.  When I pressed them, the most specific they got was that I was not using the account in line with their Terms and Conditions, but they weren't allowed to tell me anything further.

So I went away and looked at the Terms and Conditions in detail, but genuinely couldn't pinpoint anything there that would've resulted in this happening.  I've copy and pasted the relevant part of their Ts and Cs below in italics.

The only two things I can maybe think of, are that I was the victim of an 'empty box' scam from Etsy the month before they closed my accounts.  This totalled nearly £4k which I had to open a case with Etsy to get back.  Luckily, I did get it back eventually but it took around 10 days, and I'm unsure what their investigation involved (e.g. did they speak to Barclays or make them aware?).  Obviously as a victim, it would be strange if this resulted in me getting my bank accounts closed, so maybe not related to this, but this was the first time it had ever happened to me, so maybe even though they refunded me, they thought I was lying about receiving an empty box?

And the other thing is I've been selling off an old video game collection on ebay for around 3 years, some of which were quite valuable.  So I don't know if this is something HMRC have spoken to Barclays about and told them I'm operating a business (even though they were games I'd bought 15-25 years ago).

I guess my main reason for posting is just to ask if this is something anyone else has experienced, and if so, did anything further happen after having the accounts closed?  I'm obviously very worried about if there will be any other consequences since I don't know what it is they think I've done.

Barclays Terms and Conditions:

If you’re a Barclays Basic Current Account customer, we’ll tell you why we’re ending the agreement unless doing so would be unlawful. We may also end this agreement immediately or on less notice (and stop providing services and close your account) if we reasonably believe you have seriously or persistently broken any terms of the agreement. We can also do this if we have reasonable grounds for thinking you have done any of the following things, all of which this agreement prohibits.

 • You put us in a position where we might break a law, regulation, code or other duty that applies to us if we maintain your account, or keeping your account open exposes us to action or censure from any government, regulator, or law enforcement agency.
• You give us any false information.
• You commit (or attempt) fraud against us or someone else.
• You use or try to use your account illegally or for criminal activity, including receiving proceeds of crime into your account – or you let someone else do this.
 • You behave in a threatening or abusive manner to our staff.
 • You become bankrupt (unless you have a Barclays Basic Current Account).

If you aren’t eligible for the account you hold

 We can close an account (or stop or restrict a service) if we find out that you aren’t eligible for it. This may include the following.
 • You (or a joint account holder) reside outside the UK or do not have leave to remain in the UK.
 • You use your account for business. 

I would hazard a guess that they think your are running a business via a personal account. 

Why would anyone by £4K on Esty? Certainly sounds like a bulk purchase.

Immediate closure is pretty serious & you need to follow the advice above on Cifas.

The two things are not related.  The purchase on Etsy was for a few different gold coins, hence the cost (gold is quite expensive these days).  Unfortunately the seller decided to send me an empty box instead.

The video games are ones I've had for well over a decade, hence why some of them were quite valuable at the time I sold them.  I will follow the advice regarding Cifas though.

GeoffTF

t1redmonkey said:

Because I wasn't really using the account as a 'primary' current account, maybe they weren't making any money off me, so didn't want to keep me on their books (any money I had with them...

They would have to give you notice of closure if they just decided that your account was unprofitable. A high proportion of bank accounts are unprofitable and do not get closed.

Hoenir

t1redmonkey said:

I do get what you mean, but if someone has a lot of personal things to sell that they've collected for years, then this is going to be a thing if they decide to sell it all on ebay.  It doesn't mean they're operating a business.

Odds on the individual is trading. What is collectable now isn't always in the future. 

unclebatman

This is definitely becoming a more regular occurrence or maybe just that more folk are posting about it 

I always wonder about the balances in the account though? What happens? Do you get sent a cheque or are funds frozen? 

Theleak250

Barclays are a strict bank. I recently tried to open an account and after visiting the branch and posing for photos holding my ID and a manger confirming I had ID they still refused to grant me an account. Better off out.  

prettyandfluffy

The only other thing that springs to mind is Bitcoin: banks really don't like that.

wmb194

prettyandfluffy said:

The only other thing that springs to mind is Bitcoin: banks really don't like that.

Plus payments/transfers to and receipts from some countries and deposits from third parties the bank doesn't like for some reason e.g., selling something on Facebook marketplace.

grumpy_codger

wmb194 said:

prettyandfluffy said:

The only other thing that springs to mind is Bitcoin: banks really don't like that.

Plus payments/transfers to and receipts from some countries and deposits from third parties the bank doesn't like for some reason e.g., selling something on Facebook marketplace.

However, none of these actions justifies immediate closure without a notice.

t1redmonkey

wmb194 said:

prettyandfluffy said:

The only other thing that springs to mind is Bitcoin: banks really don't like that.

Plus payments/transfers to and receipts from some countries and deposits from third parties the bank doesn't like for some reason e.g., selling something on Facebook marketplace.

May be something along these lines.  I've gotten into buying gold this year, and some coin dealers have wanted bank transfer payment for the items, and I've used Barclays to do this, but still...I don't see anything in their Terms and Conditions that would prohibit something like this. 

Since posting this thread and the initial replies mentioning CIFAS and subsequently doing some research myself, I'm convinced it's to do with this now.  Because of the case I had to open with Etsy around the guy attempting fraud against me, and the subsequent refund Etsy made to me, I would not be surprised at all if this was enough to earn me one of these markers even though I was a victim. 

I don't really know what steps Etsy did in the course of refunding me and they didn't communicate with me much, so for all I know, they actually may have decided I was also involved in the fraud somehow even though they refunded me.  I of course know I wasn't, but can totally understand that from a third party's point of view, they can struggle to know who is telling the truth in one of these situations.  I'm going to see what happens with the DSAR with CIFAS anyway, and I will file an Action Fraud case around what happened to see if that helps at all (I tried contacting the Police already and they referred me to Action Fraud).

Hoenir

grumpy_codger said:

wmb194 said:

prettyandfluffy said:

The only other thing that springs to mind is Bitcoin: banks really don't like that.

Plus payments/transfers to and receipts from some countries and deposits from third parties the bank doesn't like for some reason e.g., selling something on Facebook marketplace.

However, none of these actions justifies immidiate closure without a notice.

There'll be sufficient non personal activity for the account to come to the attention of the algorithm's.