Anyone had a problem with their bank like this?!

[Grabbobabbo]

Fucking annoying scenario and I wonder if anyone else has had this and if so how quickly it was resolved.

I am investing a small amount of money (circa £4k) in a friend's company, and I was gifted this amount to invest by my DM a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I tried to make the payment to the company in question and my bank texted me to say it needed further fraud checks before it could be processed (OK fair enough!). So I called them (NOT a phishing scam or anything, I called them myself and did not click on any links, checked the text was valid). Went through various questions about the transaction, told them I was satisfied it was legit and I wasn't being scammed and so on. Eventually the woman said she had cleared the payment for processing but it might go through further checks. OK fine. Logged on 2 hours later to check the payment had gone through and HSBC have suspended my account. Can't access my online account, can't use my debit card. Couldn't get through to anyone until this morning and they said I had to come into a branch with photo ID to verify the transaction, so they can be sure that someone impersonating me isn't trying to make the transaction. My work is very inflexible due to the nature of my job so the only time I had to do this was midday today, and I've just got there to be told they are short staffed over lunchtime, and I should come back either when the bank opens tomorrow or after 3pm, and the whole process of checking could take up to an hour. Meanwhile I have no access to my account today, as it is impossible for me to go after 3.

It's a joint account and thank goodness my husband still has access, both to the account itself and his debit cards works too (and so does our credit card). But I am reading horror stories online about people's accounts and finances being frozen for months on end due to banks incorrectly suspecting money laundering (for reasons as innocuous as someone's parent transferring them £50 or the like), and people having no access to their money. Almost all our money is in this current account, our salaries are paid in there and our bills come out of there too.

Has anyone else had this happen and was it cleared up OK after you went into the branch? The transaction was completely and utterly legitimate, the company is legitimate - I haven't been scammed or defrauded in any way.

I'd be switching to a different bank

I certainly intend to after this but from what I can gather it doesn't seem to be uncommon across any of the big banks!

Yes, That same bank created a nightmare scenario for a friend and her business account. They closed the account and kept the money for longer than expected. All sorted now but she was stress about it. Hopefully it goes better for you.

I cant find any information on what happens to a joint account in this scenario. Like, the account clearly isn't frozen as DH can access it - it's just that I can't!

Earlier this year one of my banks happily changed my address after receiving verification by post. (The accounts aren't really used for anything, so I don't transfer money in / out.)
I've logged in online a few times to check the balance - all fine.
I received a letter recently telling me that because I haven't used the accounts for a while, they've been suspended. I now have to drive quite a distance to the nearest branch with two forms of photo ID to get the accounts reinstated. 🤷🏻‍♀️
When I do so, I'll be transferring the money out and closing the accounts...

DH wants to move some money out of there into another current account I have but I'm really jumpy about doing that in case that triggers another suspicious move and they shut down his access to the account as well as mine. If that happens we'll be royally stuffed.

I had almost exactly this with NatWest recently.

Wanted to invest around £4k. Hadn't been gifted, it was salary.

Did the transaction online, and was rung by the fraud team who questioned me about what was the company, had I met them etc. Said I had to call the company I was investing with to confirm their bank details verbally, then call them back. My online banking was frozen.

Did so. Then was on hold 45 mins to get through to Fraud again. They then said i had to go to branch with passport and any emails from the company.

Went to branch. Queued 25 mins. They said they had to call Fraud whilst i was in branch. On the SAME public number I'd just spent 45 mins getting through to. I waited while they were on hold for 30 minutes and then complained, hard, that I was going to terminate my bank account. They insisted the only way I could transfer the money was to keep sitting there. Gave it another 10 minute and said I had to leave, given I was supposed to be working.

Got home, on hold for 45 mins, got through to Fraud. More questions and they finally authorised it.

Ludicrous - my money and they wouldn't allow me to spend it, and have no way of not wasting half your day with Fraud.

AliceWo

Sounds exactly like my experience. All sorts of questions on the phone yesterday about had I met the company, how did I know they were legit, had I confirmed bank details over the phone etc etc.

Dreading going to branch tomorrow!!!

When someone is scammed and they transfer money out of their account and lose it, they expect the bank to refund them - even though the bank has not done anything wrong. I believe that there will shortly be a law passed to say banks must refund the money.

If you want this kind of protection then you cannot complain that banks are now making you jump through hoops to do simple legit transfers. The bank cannot tell which is legit and which is a scam based on this scant info.

The bank now has to protect it's own money from the customer who has just sent £2000 to a solicitor in some other country to release the £2.5m inheritance, or £3500 to help the new boyfriend you've only met online to move to this country, or whatever the current scam is.

@Grabbobabbo

AliceWo

Sounds exactly like my experience. All sorts of questions on the phone yesterday about had I met the company, how did I know they were legit, had I confirmed bank details over the phone etc etc.

Dreading going to branch tomorrow!!!

Yes get prepared for a wait as they will ring the Fraud Team again.

Just leave though if they take too long, even if they insist it's a necessity - when I left the bank they gave me a slip of paper with the person's name on it I'd been dealing with. When I rang the Fraud Team later they were fine about the fact that I was no longer physically in the branch, and didn't ask any details of who I had spoken to, just asked if I was still there, and was ok with the fact I was then at home.

@AutumnDragon

When someone is scammed and they transfer money out of their account and lose it, they expect the bank to refund them - even though the bank has not done anything wrong. I believe that there will shortly be a law passed to say banks must refund the money.

If you want this kind of protection then you cannot complain that banks are now making you jump through hoops to do simple legit transfers. The bank cannot tell which is legit and which is a scam based on this scant info.

The bank now has to protect it's own money from the customer who has just sent £2000 to a solicitor in some other country to release the £2.5m inheritance, or £3500 to help the new boyfriend you've only met online to move to this country, or whatever the current scam is.

Then they need to have a Fraud call centre that doesn't take over 45 minutes each time to get through to, when it involves multiple calls.

I totally agree with @AutumnDragon. Yes, you shouldn’t have to wait longer than 15 minutes to speak with a fraud colleague but you’d be amazed at how many people send money to people scamming them without due diligence, demand the bank pay them it back out the bank’s own money then complain the bank allowed them to make the transaction in the first place. It happens all the time. A huge amount of fraud is preventable.

Autumn

I agree with you, but it's not very helpful for the poor people who have lost access to their accounts, for weeks or months on end, whole investigations are carried out. Those people have been left with no money for rent, food, bills during that time. Sometimes for something as innocuous as being transferred 50 quid by their nan or whatever.

I’m never quite sure how the banks can shut all of their branches because ‘everyone’ wants to bank online but then insist you go into a branch to sort out problems.
Even if you have the time/transport to get to the branch during their ludicrously shortened opening hours there are very few staff working.
Seems insane to me.

@Grabbobabbo

Sorry it wasn't meant to come across so harshly. I do sympathise with genuine cases such as yourself

This is a common conversation with DH (we're both in finance, but not banking). "They" identify an issue, find a solution and implement it, and then it creates several other, unintended, issues. Nobody communicates outside their own area, especially in government, so nobody considers all the ramifications.

I do understand (even if it is annoying) why I must go into branch. I just wish it wasn't such a rigmarole to do so!

I'm not surprised by this. Barclays closed our work bank account. Took ages to sort. Was shocking.

Do you now wish you'd made more of a quiet polite 'scene' when you were in the bank, saying you weren't leaving till it was sorted? Did you ask to speak to the manager. Have you made a complaint?

Unfortunately I had to leave as had to get back to work. I intend to go again first thing tomorrow.

I had something similar when I transferred money online and Barclays sent a verification code to my mobile. They didn’t say they were going to do it and I’d left my mobile at home 40 miles away. All I knew was that everything got locked, but no-one would tell me why. I had to drop everything at work , go home and pick up my passport and get to a branch to prove my identity and that the payment was me. The branch knew nothing about what to do and it took over an hour to resolve.

While I agree they have a job to do - they need to make it easier to a. Bloody speak to someone and b. Verify yourself.

@Grabbobabbo

Fucking annoying scenario and I wonder if anyone else has had this and if so how quickly it was resolved.

I am investing a small amount of money (circa £4k) in a friend's company, and I was gifted this amount to invest by my DM a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I tried to make the payment to the company in question and my bank texted me to say it needed further fraud checks before it could be processed (OK fair enough!). So I called them (NOT a phishing scam or anything, I called them myself and did not click on any links, checked the text was valid). Went through various questions about the transaction, told them I was satisfied it was legit and I wasn't being scammed and so on. Eventually the woman said she had cleared the payment for processing but it might go through further checks. OK fine. Logged on 2 hours later to check the payment had gone through and HSBC have suspended my account. Can't access my online account, can't use my debit card. Couldn't get through to anyone until this morning and they said I had to come into a branch with photo ID to verify the transaction, so they can be sure that someone impersonating me isn't trying to make the transaction. My work is very inflexible due to the nature of my job so the only time I had to do this was midday today, and I've just got there to be told they are short staffed over lunchtime, and I should come back either when the bank opens tomorrow or after 3pm, and the whole process of checking could take up to an hour. Meanwhile I have no access to my account today, as it is impossible for me to go after 3.

It's a joint account and thank goodness my husband still has access, both to the account itself and his debit cards works too (and so does our credit card). But I am reading horror stories online about people's accounts and finances being frozen for months on end due to banks incorrectly suspecting money laundering (for reasons as innocuous as someone's parent transferring them £50 or the like), and people having no access to their money. Almost all our money is in this current account, our salaries are paid in there and our bills come out of there too.

Has anyone else had this happen and was it cleared up OK after you went into the branch? The transaction was completely and utterly legitimate, the company is legitimate - I haven't been scammed or defrauded in any way.

Not personally but a friend had that happen to her when she was buying her house and there's that crazy time when you have the deposit all in one pot and need to transfer it.

Gosh that’s frightening. I have been an HSBC customer and make irregular and large payments and have never received any notification like this. I’ve been with them since 1995 and have a good history with them.

Milomonster I was so shocked when I googled and saw how many people this has happened to. People who have not only had their accounts frozen for a few days but for weeks or months, and have been unable to access any money, with no help or explanation from the bank, all because a random algorithm has flagged up one of their transactions looks a bit dodgy (when it isn't!).

@Grabbobabbo I had a similar experience with HSBC only the other month.

We pay my sons nursery via the tax free scheme. So each month, transfer the money from our account into the government one set up.

We've been doing this for over a year with no problems.

I did it for September as usual. Happened to log in the following evening to see it hadn't left my account. Tried again and it wouldn't let me access.

I rang HSBC who said the payment had been stopped as was flagged as suspicious. I asked why no one had rung me nor text. Get this, they said they sent a letter (incidentally arrived 4 days later!).

It transpires that as the reference I'd put on it was 'Tax Free' they suspected I was a victim of HMRC fraud.

I got through to someone in another country and had to answer a series of questions that went something like this:

-which bank is the money being transferred to? I said, it's a govt account so not held with a bank as far as I knew

-who told me this was tax free? Erm, the government.

-who had access to the other account? I answered I did but it's technically in my sons name (has to be). Can they speak to my son? No, he's 2!

-was I told about this scheme via a text or phone call? No, it's a national scheme run by the government

I essentially went round in circles with someone who had no knowledge of how this works nor could they get their head around the concept. They wouldn't release the payment and said it would be escalated the next day

Eventually the next day (evening) I spoke to someone in the UK who immediately got it, advised me to change my own reference for it and released it. At this point I had incurred a late fee from the nursery,l and I'm still chasing HSBC for them to reimburse me.

I get it, they must protect their customers but this was incredibly poorly handled and I'm now looking to move not only my account but also our mortgage which is up for renewal.