Barclays terminating my account without explanation

John_Galt · 9 April 2018 at 6:21PM

Hi MSE
I have been a Barclays customer for over 30 years - they've been at the centre of my finances for virtually my entire adult life. Recently I received a letter from them telling me that they are terminating my current and savings accounts and that I had 2 months to make other arrangements. They have done this without explanation - I have complained, but the situation is that they say they have reviewed my accounts and decided to close them - assessed against guidelines which they are unable to provide information on - i.e. totally opaque.

Has anybody else experienced this recently? I am totally bemused because:
1) My account is sufficiently in the black and has been for as long as I can remember
2) Nothing has changed with my personal situation that I can think of that would affect the standing with my bank (no disputes, fines, CCJ's, divorce etc., etc.)
3) My salary is paid in every month and has been for at least 12 years - I am the model of stability of good financial hygiene
4) I do not launder money or deal in narcotics (or anything remotely close! )

I am in discussion with my local branch and the Barclays complaints team but they are of no value.

Any advice or insight? Guesses? Anything!!!?

I have been able to transfer my current account across to HSBC (and they pay me £150 for doing so - thanks for that MSE)... I still have a mortgage which is linked to my (terminating) other accounts in an offset arrangement and that has 12 years to run.

I had wondered whether my account had been hacked or my identity stolen (i.e. getting paranoid) but there does not seem to be anything to support that theory... could it be something to do with impending GDPR? Perhaps they just don't like me... I have no idea!

Illumination/advice required please.

Xbigman · 9 April 2018 at 6:42PM

Do you have any other accounts or products with Barclays? Including insurance?

If Barclays are not making any money out of you they can close your account for commercial reasons. Nothing you can do about it. The fact you have 60 days without your account being blocked at all would suggest this is the reason.

Darren

MABLE · 9 April 2018 at 6:50PM

I hardly think after 30 years they would close the OP's account because they are not making any money from this customer. Has to be another reason and as we know if they suspected anything like money laundering they would hardly give the poster 2 months notice. More like using a personal account for business purposes.

AnotherJoe · 9 April 2018 at 6:57PM

Have there been a lot of small transactions, from eBay and the like?
Or foreign transfers in or out?

Whatever the rights and wrongs of this i do think banks are in the wrong when providing no detail to their customer, as it leaves all sorts of questions about what might be going on unanswered, maybe thinsg that could be rectified but might cause an issue with another bank. is it for example a simple confusion over a name?

Mchambers · 9 April 2018 at 7:10PM

OP...Escalate and complain to the FOS. Ask Barclays for a final response letter before going to FOS.

18cc · 9 April 2018 at 7:20PM

I agree it is not going to be something like not making enough money off you or anything like that is going to be something fairly serious that's spooked them a

Although there is a lot of bad press about banks closeling accounts, in general they don't do it unless there is something fairly serious - unless of course there is an error

I agree that the best thing to do is to complain and then escalated to the FOS meanwhile enjoy your relationship with your new bank!

by the way it has been said a few times on this forum that you should have several current accounts so that if this happens to you then whilst it is annoying at least you do have other accounts to easily fall back on you should think about opening a current account with a couple of other banks just in case

RG2015 · 9 April 2018 at 8:24PM

Hi John,

Do you check your credit history with the three credit reporting agencies, Experian, Equifax and Callcredit?

All three offer a paid subscription service but you can get then free of charge as follows:

Experian via the MSE Credit Club
Equifax via Clearscore
Callcredit via Noddle

These will give you your full credit history and credit score (but ignore the score because banks and lenders do not see this). It is good that you have transferred to HSBC but if there is an identity theft problem it may follow you to HSBC and others.

Barclays will have a genuine reason but if you have done nothing out of the ordinary then it may very well be someone else doing it in your name.

John-K_3 · 9 April 2018 at 8:35PM

Interesting name for someone questioning a service being withdrawn...

Have you been cycling money through the account, transferring everything out the day after it arrives, or anything like that?

John_Galt · 9 April 2018 at 10:27PM

I did check my credit rating with Experian as a possible indicator of something seriously wrong... but the score is high.

I have not been buying off of ebay etc... really, there's nothing suspicious I can see or out of the ordinary - and no indication from Barclays that might give me a clue... really bizarre hence the post to see if anybody else may be experiencing the same.

I will be approaching the FOS and probably a letter to my MP too - Barclays confirm they have made the decision for good reason but wont tell me what it is... if I had been doing anything dodgy I would be foolish to be pressing for an explanation.

RG2015 · 9 April 2018 at 10:43PM

John_Galt wrote: »

I did check my credit rating with Experian as a possible indicator of something seriously wrong... but the score is high.

Please check you full credit history for any anomalies. The score is meaningless.

8i6daddy · 9 April 2018 at 10:48PM

@John Galt - could it be anything to do with this? Can you recall ever being asked to confirm information by Barclays and you haven't done it?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5708407

Barclays terminating my account without explanation

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