Bank worker has just lectured me on my spending

Oh don't lean on me man cause you can't afford the ticket
I'm Suffragette Kitty

With apologies to Lord David of Bowie.

They have probably recorded the call for 'training purposes' so ask them for a copy. You can double check you are not being sensitive and then get back to the recommending they use the call for training purposes.

Really? People are struggling to use their own money to buy a car!

If you want to withdraw money over a certain amount you have to make an appointment with the manager and tell them why, its ridiculous

Just about to say that, unless they are trying to get sacked? Why would they care, however yes if you complain they'll listen to the call/the transcript.

I've actually had more questions about the provenance of money recently, but that's down the fact that you need to swap accounts these days to get the best rates. [ETA My bank tells me that I'm no longer allowed to withdraw money directly from a couple of savings accounts and that I have to use electronic banking to transfer it into my current account first...not what happened with the instance I mention below. That money was only ever in my current account.]

Still a bit strange though. I opened up an ISA by handing over a cheque from my current account at another bank. (I was already a custom at the ISA bank - the same one that thought I was born in 1901.)

I had to explain where the money in the current account had come from, which seemed a bit bizarre to me. (Answer: lump sum from my pension which had been losing value just sitting in my current account.)

I think there is more to this. If OP had large payments into one bank account in another bank, and transfers it to her usual account, and then goes on a spending spree - then yes it looks like money laundering.

And banks only have to suspect money laundering to close your account. They don't need proof.

If OP makes a complaint the worker may get told off for potentially tipping off a customer who is money laundering.

And if your bank account is closed for suspected money laundering, the bank will report you to the police. And you will be investigated

If a member of staff at a bank suspects money laundering they should report it to their Money Laundering Reporting Officer. If they advised someone that they could be suspected of money laundering, that would be the offence of ‘tipping off’, for which the penalties are severe.

Is no one asking the important questions?

What d'you buy, OP? And did you have a glass of wine? Make an online occasion of it?

I wanna live vicariously!

Yes, this. Transferring money between accounts and ordering through established retailers doesn't look remotely like money laundering, so someone's way off base here. Putting a stop on the card makes sense but the rest of it doesn't. Were the two accounts at the same bank?

You should absolutely raise a complaint.

My 86 year old mother was asked what she was spending a substantial amount of money on when withdrawing from her bank account she replied ‘ Dancing boys gin and the rest will go up my nose ‘
She’s a card 🤣

I don't.

Some years ago, I had a card stopped for "unusual activity".

We'd just had an extension built so that we could move in my mother. We'd decided to have our kitchen done at the same time.

This was 2013 and I didn't have the means to make electronic payments at that time. (I do now.)

The main contractor was paid by cheque from my main account, but I had other bills to pay too and drew £200 from my emergency account from an ATM two days in a row. DH had had a stroke on the last day of the build, so it wasn't possible to withdraw any money from his account.

When I tried to make a third withdrawal on a subsequent day, my card was blocked.

I then had a real pantomime trying to unblock the card, thanks to the bank's automated service: "Is your year of birth: 1, 1914; 2, 1918; 3, 1901?"

When I finally got through to a real person, I was told that nothing could be done until I went into the branch on Monday.

On Monday, a cashier told me that my theory that a random date had been fed into the computer when the records were digitised was simply not possible.

She got the bank manager.

Manager: Ah yes. I was here when they digitised everything. The then manager told us that if we didn't have a date of birth for a customer, we should just type in "01/01/01".

I was looking for a new violin.

I had saved tens of thousands and been in the market for about two years, looking for the right one. Found it. But it was £6k more than I had saved.

I decided that it was really "the one" and I didn't want to let it go. Decided to put the extra £6k on a credit card and pay it off over the next year.

Obviously the card was declined, because to fair, it was unusual activity!

Phoned up to sort it out, and declare that yes this attempt was me etc etc - only to find myself pleading with the bank worker to allow me to make the transaction because in her words "£6,000 is a lot of money for a violin".

And the rest love.....! None of her fucking business.

ETA - it was from a very large, very reputable London based dealer well known to all of the music colleges and a big international dealer of fine instruments. Not like it was dodgy "barry-sells-violins-ltd"

Yup, this ^.
banks have to confirm spending and warn customers about fraudulent patterns

It's £1200 - hardly irresponsible. There's no evidence that the OP will ever need a mortgage or any other form of borrowing. They can do what they like with their own money.

The bank must have thought it could potentially be criminal activity though. Obviously you know you aren't one! But the bank doesn't. They see account number bla bla has an unprecedented large deposit from another account followed by a flurry of smaller spending at various different shops. That does look like potential money laundering.

Bank worker hears your explanation and thinks you're daft for your behaviour. It's obvious to her it will flag up as suspicious. She forgets that not everyone has her training and is condescending to you. She could do with a refresh on customer service skills

Yanbu, how weird of her X

Is that really what they said though, or have you misinterpreted it? They are right to flag up unusual spending patterns but obviously not to judge you. I think they would/might have recordings so you could query it.

She shouldn’t be saying that. If you work in AML you can’t tip of customers off if you find their behaviour suspicious. Lending and money laundering are completely separate things anyway. Complain, she needs training!

She’s talking bollocks, lenders don’t get to see your transactions on your account, especially when it’s your cash, they can see how much credit you have available and have used on credit cards and loans. You can spend your own money any way you choose, spending £1,200 shopping online doesn’t look like money laundering anyway, unless you were doing it regularly and returning everything for refunds.

I had similar in branch once. I complained. I got a letter and £130 for my irritation. Complain.

Its formal complaint time.
How is spending a grand of your own money money laundering. WTF!!!!

If you've transferred money from savings into a current account and made online purchases from established retailers, there's no suggestion of money laundering whatsoever! There will also be clear evidence of you having saved that money legitimately. PLEASE make a formal complaint to your bank. All calls are recorded so they can listen to the conversation in question. It is quite normal to stop cards/accounts if there is a sudden or unusual uptick in spending. It's just fraud prevention. But usually, you just have to log into your account online or call them and problem solved. Whichever idiot you spoke to needs setting straight. You are also due a formal apology. Quite often, they'll give you a bit of money as a good will gesture. It happened to me when I was making a large purchase in IKEA a while ago. RBS gave me £50 for the inconvenience after I complained.

How is saving up for something, then buying it irresponsible? Surely irresponsible is putting it on credit card or using an overdraft.

The worker warned you it looks like money laundering. They are doing you a favour as banks can simply close your account if they suspect this. There is no right to appeal and opening another account us possible but difficult.