to want to close my bank account after this gross invasion of privacy?

[somanymiles]

I went to get cash out of my bank account this morning to pay the builders (£6,000) and was told I could not take that amount out without hard copy proof of what I was spending the money on eg an invoice. I was given no notice of this so of course did not have anything except a quote on my phone which they did not accept, even though I offered to email it to them. This was not a question of confirming my identity- it was that they have a new policy where you gave to prove what you are spending your cash on. When I asked what the threshold was for the new policy I was told they were not allowed to tell me. I am furious. Surely what I spend my money on us nobodies business but mine. It certainly isn't HSBC's business.I am thinking of closing my accounts there with all the hassle that will entail. AIBU?

I can't think of a single occasion in my whole life where I have needed more than £1000 or so cash

Why-can't-everyone-in-the-world-be-like-me reasoning is my favourite.

not that it matters, but when I last bought a car I used Fastpay to electronically transfer the funds to the seller's bank account.

I had already put a deposit on it in the same way, the day I viewed it, and the bank phoned or texted me (can't remember now) to make sure no-one had hacked my account. Having confirmed that, the big payment to the same account went through on demand.

If the seller had been a crook I would at least be able to prove that I had paid him.

Maybe looking for tax avoidance? Money laundering? We have been paying builders by bank transfer - much easier than carrying cash around but obviously we are paying the vat.

nauticant. Yeah, and being sarcastic to other posters rather than come up with your own valid arguments is one of my favourites.

"It may be your money but it's their bank"

I don't understand this as justification at all. If I park my car it may be NCPs car park, but that doesn't mean they should be entitled to demand to know (with documentary evidence!) where I'm driving to before they will release my car. The dry cleaner isn't entitled to see my next black tie invitation before they give me my ball gown back. And the Ocado should not demand copies of my recipies before they will hand over the food I ordered.

Sorry if I am mentioning something that has already been said, but HSBC are notorious money-launderers for Mexican drug lords and terrorists. I'm referring to cases where this bank has been found guilty. I think they are trying to prove that anti-money laundering regularions are not enforceable.

switch to Halifax.
You fill out an online form and the do everything else. (seriously EVERYTHING)
They'll also give you £100 for switching and £5 a month after that.

I was in love with Halifax after my switch and then we had our mortgage with them and they sent us a parcel with wine, chocolates and a tool set as a welcome!!!!

Bloody LOVE halifax!

OK, FootieOnTheTelly my argument is that just because you've never needed £1000 in cash, it doesn't mean that no one else could possibly have the need of £1000 in cash.

Once this is understood, then putting this together with the HSBC climb-down showing that they were refusing to hand over large sums in cash simply because they didn't want to, it follows that it is unreasonable for a bank to refuse to hand over, say, £1000 in cash without an objective reason beyond the fact that is doesn't suit the bank.

This happened to my mother in law a while back - it's fortunate they did ask her as she was being ripped off by some unscrupulous gents for 'fixing' her drive way. The bank called the police and the police took her home and sorted it out However, I would go bat shit if my bank questioned me ... but I've never drawn large amounts of cash - I always do bank transfers so I can prove transactions. £6k cash to a builder sounds dodgy. I am sure Her Maj would be more interested than your bank ....

Not read all the replys so sorry if this has been said already.

I work for a bank (not in a branch but still) and we go through training every 6 months for fraud and money laundering. We are trained to question usual large cash withdrawals. If you do not usually withdraw large amounts if cash this would raise a red flag.

The banks logic: you could be money laundering, you could be in a situation where someone is forcing you to take the cash out (more common with vulnerable adults/ young people and the elderly), you could be a fraudster stealing the funds from a stolen card. The cashier should be trained to judge how genuine someone is by there answer and if they're not happy then they can ask for proof/ refuse the payment.

Now I'm not saying that what happened to OP was correct but from the other side I can see why it happened. If the OP kicked off or refused to answer what the cash was for then the cashier would most likely just be following her training by not handing the cash over.

We are trained a nice friendly conversation to ask what the cash is for eg: '£6,000 Mrs Smith - are you planning on buying something nice?' Mrs Smith : ' oh I'm buying a car, mine broke down last month so I'm having to buy a new one' ETC

Having seen the type of fraud that happens to people on a regular basis I am inclined to agree with the banks. I am happy to know my money won't just be handed over to anyone should I lose my bank card or be victim of identity theft.

Pumpkinette - can see your support (wrt possibility of forcing cash from someone vulnerable) for policy, but if I had the funds in my account to withdraw say 5K or more, 2 or 3 times a week, then yes, the bank might be suspicious but it's really none of their business what I want to do with my money.

I'm on a loser, whether I say "I like to party with friends, and we snort a lot of coke, so I need cash for my dealer" or if I suggested it was "none of their business". Neither is a "suitable reason" yet the money is still mine, and I don't see how the bank can refuse me access to it...

Maybe I should add I am looking forward to the day when I can withdraw say 30K a week (Mon, Wed, Fri) and not tell the bank anything other than how much I will be withdrawing the following week...

The real reason for this IMHO is that if everyone in the UK decided to withdraw all their money on the same day, the banks wouldn't have the actual cash to cover this, so they make up stupid rules like this. money laundering makes more sense though

Do you work for a competitor by any chance?

Banks are getting worse: Today, (17 December 2018) I was questioned subtly while withdrawing a mere £500 in cash - in 50's, because there are birthdays + family youngsters at Xmas. I am a pensioner and regularly withdraw about 600 p.m. just to live on. the teller said "do you run a shop or something?" I felt this was a bit intrusive so I said "Its interesting that you should ask that". He said "Why?" I said "Its just interesting that you should ask that". The person in the queue behind me laughed out loud.
Having worked in construction a bit, 6k is not such a huge amount: a builder will often pay subcontracted trades (sparks plumbers, plasterers etc) who often are earning below the VAT threshold, on a day to day basis in cash, and will pay VAT on his materials in any case. I always declared ALL my cash receipts (yes, really) without suffering too much in taxation, though I did prefer bank transfers just for ease of accounting.
Builders etc want to avoid paperwork more than the VAT itself, which is thankfully easier now the threshold has been raised to a sensible level.
VAT was originally introduced as a tax on luxuries . . . Anyone remember the dual rate on half covered chocolate digestives?