Abbey have blocked my account, can i claim compensation?

Devlin_2

Banks can do what they want it seems

Hemel_2

complain, get compensation and bank elsewhere...

mookie

Sounds like a processing error somewhere, if the cheque was unpaid then you are right your balance should of been £55 the only thing I can think of that some banks do is if they flag the account the put a marker of x amount overdrawn to stop the fraudster withdrawing anything including the genuine account holders original funds and alert staff as soon as they try to process any withdrawals on the account this marker is usually applied at a higher level than the branch which could be why the branch staff could not give an explanation. The reason they have asked you to provide extra ID is because the banking rules have changed on ID that should be provided when you open an account due to increase in fraud and identity theft, if you have held your account for several years then they will not hold this information and will ask to update their system. I know you feel that clearly it was not a fraud and common sense would say a cheque drawn in the same surname would most likely be genuine but they may have a limit that cheques need to go through security checks so they will do them regardless.

They should of taken the time to explain if it is procedure and apologised, but you must provide the paperwork they are asking for if they are going to give you access, if it was a fraud you would appreciate what they are doing but it is inconvenient if you are the account holder.

A complaint to the manager in writing should be sufficient to get a written apology, the most you will probably get back is a goodwill gesture of flowers, chocolates or similar, a bank rarely gives monetary compensation unless its to refund any charges incurred because of them.