Natwest letter received "ceasing banking relationship" - what on earth is going on?

[SWnewstart]

I've banked with Natwest for approx 45 years, same current account and more recently a little saver account with less than £30 in it. Came back from holiday 2 days ago to a pile of post amongst which was my salary slip from part-time job, a new bank debit card to replace the current one expiring at the end of June and a letter from Natwest starting off "were you aware that we couldn't make some of your payments because there were not enough available funds in your account" - NOT TRUE.

I immediately went online and checked - there was approx £800 and I don't have any regular payments more than £40 a month (retired and mortgage free). The strange bit is that under the heading of What Items Have Not Been Paid were details of my employer and salary which obviously goes into the account, not out of it! The online statement didn't show my salary at all for May. I contacted the virtual assistant at Natwest who could only advise me to speak to my employer. I did this the next day, only to be told the payment had been returned and had I changed account details or anything? No, nothing changed at all. This morning my employer advised they had again made a BACS payment for my May salary and to let them know if it worked. I checked and the payment was in my account.

However, in the post today was another letter from Natwest stating that "we regret to inform you that following a recent review we have decided to cease our banking relationship with you as from 1 August 2022". I immediately tried calling the Shared Services in Manchester on letterhead but number just rang out. The letter also says this decision is final and they are not able to discuss the decision with me or provide any further information in relation to the decision making.

Are there any Natwest people out there who could shed any light on this (or any other bank staff). What on earth is going on? I'm worried sick.

@ChiefWiggumsBoy "You need to log a complaint and wait for their response."
The poor young girl at NatWest Jersey who is handling my summary execution keeps asking if I want to lodge a formal complaint, even though the message is that "Our decision is final and we are not prepared to enter into any discussion in relation to it."
Is there any point? In my case I think the flag that was raised (received money from UAE) was very fixable and indeed is already fixed. So i suppose my underlying complaint is that they have chosen to close my account rather than be bothered to do any enhanced due diligence that the law requires.

No harm putting in a complaint, but in many cases banks will just decide that a retail customer with Muddle East transactions is just not worth the effort.

Hand yourself in to the police?

They would provably hand you over to social services or a mental health team

That is a possible outcome of course. I would say I worked several years in banking complaints and those where the customer had ultimately had their account closed were difficult - some accounts would be reopened, but not (IME) that many.

Hello to all and a quick update / response to questions:

Neither I nor my partner have foreign sounding names.
No connections to other countries, especially Russia or Middle East for banking purposes.
No involvement with matched betting (I don't even know what that is!).
Never been abusive to Natwest staff.
Retired but do part-time paid charity work.
Not sold anything on Ebay to a disgruntlled buyer to open case against me.
No money transfer in or out of account.
Debit card used on holiday in Italy to withdraw 50 Euros from ATM.
Money laundering is laughable - years of transaction show supermarket / hairdresser / high street shops / car tax / fuel etc - all very mundane!

So this morning I went into nearest branch of Natwest (not been inside a bank for years). Mentioned fraud / possible scam and immediately got to speak with the manager. However, as soon as my account details were brought up on screen he said there was a problem but unable to elaborate. He offered to call the investigative office in Manchester so I could try speaking to them and left the room while I did this. Surprise, surprise - the person simply kept repeating the decision was final and could offer no explanation or take matters further. Manager sympathised but obviously not his problem although he suggested I make an appeal. I left feeling like a criminal.

My partner said strike while the iron's hot so we went across the road to Lloyds bank and got an appointment with new business advisor within 15 mins. Application to switch accounts took nearly an hour but, if all their checks are OK, I'll be a customer of Lloyds on 17 June. My only worry is that something "bad" will show up and I will be refused then back to square one of not knowing what I'm accused of doing wrong!

In the meantime I will make a formal complaint to Natwest (I realise it won't do any good but I'll feel marginally better for writing anyway) and I will also investigate CIFAS etc.

Sorry for the long post and thanks for all the comments and support from MN's, much appreciated.

I got £200 out if NatWest last year as they were so incompetent.

I would certainly go to the banking ombudsman.

@SWnewstart fingers and toes are crossed for you.
if your new account opens without any problems, I guess either you don’t make enough or any profit for the bank, (Dh had this with tsb, but they actually stated this reason in a letter) or someone pushed the wrong computer button and no one wants to admit it.

Thank you Alphabet1 - it will be a long 7 day wait to hear if Lloyds application is accepted. I'll be getting through a lot of chocolate I think!

The ombudsman will not look at the case until NatWest’s formal complaints process has been followed.

They will not interfere in a bank’s decision to terminate a relationship or tell them to give details on why the decision was made.

Ending a relationship is a commercial decision, nothing to do with the regulator.

Would a subject access request to NatWest assist at all? Would they then be obliged to disclose the information?

I haven't read the full thread so apologies if this has been mentioned but it's just as likely that the OP's account was closed as it simply wasn't making the bank enough money. If you don't have loans, credit cards or a regular over draft then your account is not making the bank money and they can and will close it down. If it is for this reason then there won't be any fraud markers and the OP is free to go elsewhere.

You have got to be joking!!!!
I don't live in the UK but that sort of thing doesn't happen here, or not that I've heard of, and it certainly hasn't happened to either of my parents or I who have savings accounts/term deposits at one bank, but no loans, credit cards or overdraft - and we've held those accounts for years.

OP this is shocking, I would be requesting more of an explanation and keeping an eye on credit score.

As regards changing bank, are you aware that many are currently offering £££ to switch. For example you get £150 for switching to First Direct, who are excellent. Have a look on Money Saving Expert.

No, if it is relating to money laundering then it would be a crime for them to do so.

Yes but if it’s not money laundering/criminal activity then would they share it?

Tesco Bank and M&S Bank closed all of the current accounts held with them due to them not being profitable. But closing a single account for that would be odd. It is most likely a red flag for suspicious activity.

From what came up on screen and the bank guy's reaction, it sounds a lot like you've been flagged as a likely money launderer.

If your Lloyds account doesn't get immediately shut down, then it sounds like a transaction you carried out with Natwest was flagged as dodgy, rather than your name more generally.

Did you get a chance to look at your credit report? There are something like three different sites where you can check for free. It would be useful to confirm there's nothing odd showing up there.

It seems insane that a bank account can be closed due to suspected money laundering, but you have no opportunity to prove that you haven't been.

@onlythreenow, it does doesn't it. I guess we all feel we're owed a bank account. But the banks can say no. It's a shock even reading this, feel bad for @SWnewstart and wishing her good news on 17/6

but doesn't everyone have a right to a basic bank account?
how does this awuare with that?

It sounds' very 'Kafkaesque'. You may have done something wrong but we're not going to tell you what you've done wrong so you can't prove that you haven't done something wrong when you don't know what you're accused of.

We live in a society that is going cashless - not having a bank account and a debit card can be very tricky.

I wonder, does it help to have more than one bank account?

Or would the closure of one account - in similar circumstances to OP's - lead to the more or less automatic closure of the others - like a chain reaction?

The weird thing is that if you were being flagged for money laundering, you'd think that someone would then be investigating you and they'd suspend the account, rather than closing it. And once they'd realised that you hadn't been, they'd reinstate the account.

But it seems like that is too much effort and it's easier just to let the algorithm decide and close the account.

But it's probably more to do with the profitability of the account. But in that case, why not just be honest about it? I had a letter from my credit card company saying I never use it so they would be closing it on x date if I didn't use it before. That is fair enough.

It helps to have more than one so you have another one to use if the first one is closed.

I think you'd only have a chain reaction if you were actually up to no good, though. Or if you had a name on a sanctions/watch list or similar.

They're not. GDPR guidance from the ICO is very clear, you have to explain decisions made by AI and get them reviewed by a human. And you have to keep personal information up to date and accurate. There is no evidence that Natwest is doing any of these things in the OP's case.

As I said above, it is vanishingly unlikely that someone like the OP has been flagged for money laundering or sanctions, and if she has, they should be reviewing to ensure they have the right person.

Why? A business can stop dealing with anyone it wants, for any reason other than the legally protected ones.