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.

oh OP I really hope all of this gets sorted? it sounds a total nightmare and scary how much control banks have

@SWnewstart I'm so sorry to hear you're no further forward. Sending you an unMNtty hug.

This happened to us about 6 years ago. DP had also banked with them for 30 odd years. We also believe they suspected money laundering, which we obviously wasn't doing! We'd also have a few transactions and payments abroad.

Did you get it sorted wombat?
so sorry this has happened, OP. I hope youget it sorted ok.

OldTinHat - unMNtty hug received and very welcome! I too would like to know how Wombat got their problem with Natwest resolved. Off to bed now, with head full of this stuff. It could be a long night .......

Just to repeat that I don't think the OP's problem is due to money laundering or fraud markers. As a customer they are simply not profitable enough and don't have a high credit score, as they have a small income going into the account and no loan products. I suspect they doesn't have a mortgage any more either. It's much more likely that the banks are rejecting her on those grounds.
Getting a simple Starling or Mondo account plus a credit card will help to give her a credit rating that banks can access to check her suitability as a customer.

Also Lloyds are even worse than Nat West for making these kind of decisions. Maybe try some where like Nationwide?

Banks wouldnt shut an existing ac for not being profitable enough

@ChairP0se9to5 yes they would and have done. Dh received a letter from tsb stating this reason for closing his account 30 years ago. I’ve been refused a basic current account in the past simply because I didn’t earn enough - despite having a full time minimum wage income, and lived entirely within my means.
make no mistake - banks and financial institutions are there to make money for themselves. They are not charities.

@SWnewstart if you have been given a CIFAS mark you will not be able to open any account with a bank including basic accounts.

It truly is a scandle that banks can do this, whilst not speaking to you at all. Firstly, you need to follow the previous advice you were given about CIFAS. Once you have the info then you can raise a complaint. This page has all the necessary info. www.cifas.org.uk/individuals

Without knowing the details, I suspect there has been some fraudulent activity on your account. The bank has shut your account and flagged you as someone involved in money laundering. If you do nothing you will not be able to access any banking products for 6 years.

In the meantime the only accounts you can open will be accounts that do not required credit/fraud marker checks. Have a look at Cashplus, Suits me or Pockit.

If you do nothing you will not be able to access any banking products for 6 years

How do people get by if they can't access banking products?
Pay a mortgage.
Have salary paid

Do you just get cash from work and then pop to the bank with money?

Of course, if you were a money launderer, paying your bills in cash would be just fine

If you do nothing you will not be able to access any banking products for 6 years

How do people get by if they can't access banking products?
Pay a mortgage.
Have salary paid

Yes, I'd have thought that, in the modern day, being able to have a bank account is tantamount to a human right (unless maybe you genuinely have been found guilty of money laundering or serious fraud - not just on a very wild guess at a vague possibility). I'd think that banning (or effectively banning) an adult from having a bank account would be the equivalent of banning somebody from ever using the internet (again, unless they had possibly been found guilty of perpetrating serious online crime).

Wasn't that the whole point with introducing basic accounts: that everybody can access banking, even if overdrafts, loans or credit cards are not granted or wanted?

Do the government even pay pensions and benefits in cash any more? How would that even work?

I wonder if revolut would decline an application. I set up with them, haven't heard of starling or mondo at all, but everybody seems to be on revolut now and I find it so handy. Took half an hour to set it up, my card arrived a few days later. I wonder can you have your pay put in your revolut account? I wonder actually, does revolut have a bic and an iban?

Honestly, it is terrible. I have no idea when banks were given this power but if they give you a CIFAS marker. They stop speaking to you. Freeze and close your accounts and prevent you from opening new ones, even basic accounts. But the fraud check database they add you to will prevent you getting jobs, student loans, mobile contract and more.

It is all to do with money mules. Instead of going for the criminals the banks are going for the accounts that they use and deem if you receive or transfer money then you should have known better and you are a willing accomplice.
Guilty until proved innocent.

www.moneymules.co.uk/

How do people survive? Until recently you could have wages paid into a partners account or by receiving your wage by cheques and cashing it at a pawnbroker or use unregulated prepaid cards/accounts such as Cashplus etc. Some people go onto benefits or resort to crime instead.

I do not think it is right to leave a person without a bank account for so long. Not in this day and age and I believe this has all the makings of the next banking scandle.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll www.gov.uk/browse/benefits/manage-your-benefit

for if you do not have a bank account what happens.

So, today's update:
Email from Cifas in response to my Subject Access Request -
"As of the above date, there is no Cifas data on our systems registered in your name and date of birth at the address(es) you supplied.
This document has been sent in response to your request for information held on you on the Cifas system, made under data protection legislation. Please note Cifas may only disclose data on its systems registered in your name at the addresses(es) you have supplied. This response is fully compliant to the extent required by the law. Cifas is Data Controller under data protection legislation".

I guess this may be good news but have to wait until Monday to speak with a member of Lloyds Bank Switching Team to try and find our why they are unable to progress switching accounts. Not sure where to go if they won't tell me why and simply close ranks with Natwest!

Reading some earlier comments - all I can do is reiterate I'm not a money mule, into anything illegal or fraudulent but increasingly being made to feel like a criminal! Trying to remain positive but seriously worried that I will be declined from other banking institutions. Don't these online ones that are mentioned e.g. Starling and Monzo do checks as well?

www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2021/12/nationwide-ditches-charity-accounts/
@SWnewstart Could this be a reason? Do they think you are the charity?
clutching at straws, but not impossible that someone has mistaken your income name on the statement, for the account being a charity one.

Thank you for that Alphabet1, but it doesn't really seem likely. I'm a very small cog in a big wheel - not privy to anything financial, only what is circulated in the regular team newsletter about how much has been raised, fund raising events (a couple of celebrity patrons) and how the money is used to benefit those supported. No problems at all in the past 3 years with my part-time salary being received or credit to my account. It's all so weird, but I do appreciate that folk are trying to think of things which may help.

Hopefully to give you some reassurance. If you are completing the CASS (current account switch service) everything needs to match exactly on the imitation form you've filled in with Lloyds as it does on your old account.

So if you have a slightly different name on your NatWest Account e.g it's under Jane grace Doe but you have Jane Doe on your switch form, it will be rejected. Same if a telephone number, address, email etc didn't match. It can usually be rectified really easily. It also doesn't mean that your account cannot be opened with lloyds. Just that they can't complete the switch of Direct Debits etc and this will have to be done manually.

That doesn't sound like they cant offer you the account, just that they can't switch all your 'housekeeping' :)

Oh Generix, I'd be so happy and relieved if it turns out to be something like that. I will be on the phone to Lloyds team as soon as lines are open at 9am Monday!

@cakeorwine @WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll There are simple bank accounts available - for example bankrupts are not allowed accounts that could possibly allow any lending on it. Barclays do a simple account for this reason. I believe the PO do a similar one.

That would almost impossible for me. I gave up long ago trying to get my bank to get my name right.

I have accounts in all different names. I have a credit card as well and no 2 names on any cards are correct they aren't in some instances spelled incorrectly. They are in a different names that sounds like my name

Even my first name which is only 5 letters they can’t get right

They have all my documentation (they never returned it) I have never asked for accounts in anything but my name

I even have a credit card with 2 different card numbers and 2 different names linked to the same account.

I don’t even think it is a complicated name

I have no idea how you are supposed to match something that itself doesn’t match reality.

Kennykenkencat - well that's dashed my hopes of this sorry mess being something quite simple, as Generix hinted at! I really don't understand your own situation with all those accounts, cards etc with differing details.

Hope you got some small piece of info today @SWnewstart

Thank you ChairPose9to5 - well the update is as follows:
I called LLoyds Switching Team at 9.00am as soon as lines opened - apparently they were experiencing a high volume of calls and the wait time could be around an hour. I was on hold for 30 mins then had to leave for work. At lunchtime I called again, message still said high volume of calls and wait time was approx 40 mins. So after noting the time, waited. After 40 mins, the line went dead! I called again and was advised a wait time of 5 mins. After 15 mins a chap answered - I explained the reason for my call and he asked me to wait while he transferred me to another section. The line then went dead. I called back immediately and miraculously it was answered by a lovely man with a broad Scottish accent.

To cut a long story short, all appears to be OK with opening a Lloyds current account but Natwest will not release funds because the number on the debit card I gave at the time of application is incorrect. I gave this number (actually handed the card to the bank consultant) as it's my current, valid card not due to expire until end of June.

What I should have done was give the NEW card number which I received in the post along with the letter from Natwest stating my account was to be closed. He said banks will only ever use the very latest card information, even though technically the older card is still valid. So my switching application is now back on track! I'm not out of the woods yet but feel a little more positive. Let's see what happens in 7 days time when Lloyds account is due to go live!