Really worried

[Worrymummy21]

Hello, sorry this isn’t a AIBU
But just needed a bit of advice from either someone this has happened to or someone who works in the industry.
I have 4 bank accounts.
My main one (santander) for salary bills etc
Second one (natwest) is used for big purchases holidays etc
Third one (Lloyds) savings
And forth one (hsbc) never used (actually forgot I had it)

I was trying to log into my second account a few days ago and it was telling me to contact them for assistance because my access was disabled. I phoned them yesterday and they said that they have closed My accounts under their t&c and cannot give me a reason why.
Today I have received a letter from hsbc (forth account-never used) basically telling me the same thing and to contact cifas for more info.
I’ve since checked the log in for the other 2 accounts and they seem fine at the moment.
I am so worried , what could be happening?
I understand cifas is a fraud prevention company, why on earth would they be involved?
Has this happened to anyone? Or does anyone have any info on why 2 accounts in 2 days have been closed without hesitation.
Are my other accounts going to be closed, as I have savings in one and salary going into the other! I don’t know what to do. And I have to wait a month for a subject access info from cifas.

Tia

Thank you for that info. Did you have to contact cifas?

How did you get to the bottom of it all

We are going away for 4 weeks (dp working trip/ holiday for us) on Monday and wondering if to just use cash for spending money as say if something happens to my accounts while we are out there? It will leave me stranded. Maybe just use dps account. I’m just so confused

"But I just think it’s strange how within days of eachother ive had 2 bank accounts closed."

Um, because banks share this information to stop money laundering, which is the entire purpose of cifas and why you've been referred to them?

It is fairly odd to have bank account from 4 different banks that you occasionally transfer and move large sums to and from, and for christ sake don't go and open another tomorrow like the previous poster suggested.

Close the ones you don't use, this will show up on your credit file and to a random bank employee looks fairly iffy when they're following the checks they have to make.

CanIBeACurlyGirl

Congrats, you've just made their suspicions about money laundering more likely by opening another bank account.

You can't have 5 bank accounts that aren't used/little activity with random amounts of cash being paid in for "holidays" or anything else.
It looks suspicious as fuck and is the reason you have been flagged by cifas.
This will show on your credit report, too so I suggest you get rid of the accounts you don't use and stop paying occasional amounts of cash into barely used accounts, whether it's for "holiday money" or cash in hand money.

They aren't stupid.

Lloyds and Halifax are linked. If one account gets suspended the other does too automatically. Lloyds cannot reinstate a Halifax account even when the issue has been resolved. Sounds like lloyds have flagged your account activity as suspicious and suspended both your accounts.

Agree, they think you're money laundering.

Where is your DH getting cash from? Does he get paid in a bank account and then takes out the money? Or is he getting paid in cash and just handing it to you. If e withdraws from a bank account at least then you have a paper trail if needed.

It is odd to use a specific bank brand(?) to only pay in cash. If you need a holiday account you'd normally just open an instant access saver with your regular bank.

Make sure you've got some cash before everything goes ping.

The only other time I've known banks do this is when you've used a personal account for business purposes. They don't like that either.

I think HSBC got in a load of trouble a few years back to do with money laundering so I imagine their tolerance is low.

@HahaAreyouSerious

CanIBeACurlyGirl

Congrats, you've just made their suspicions about money laundering more likely by opening another bank account.

You can't have 5 bank accounts that aren't used/little activity with random amounts of cash being paid in for "holidays" or anything else.
It looks suspicious as fuck and is the reason you have been flagged by cifas.
This will show on your credit report, too so I suggest you get rid of the accounts you don't use and stop paying occasional amounts of cash into barely used accounts, whether it's for "holiday money" or cash in hand money.

They aren't stupid.

I had to apply for a new account to be able to transfer my balance, access my cash to pay my bills etc.

The fact that they froze my existing accounts because they thought their was fraudulent activity was by the by because it wasn’t, I was innocent, it was down to them to prove it and in the mean time all I needed was a new account to continue paying and living my non fraudulent life.

Op, from real life experience, open a new account today.

Whatever you do don’t open a fifth that’s shocking advice.

Op it’s very unusual to Have four different bank accounts with four different banks,

Then for your partner to give you large sums of cash to pay in which is then used immediately to pay for something big, is even more unusual,

why doesn’t your partner pay it into his own account?he’s saving large sums in cash then handing it to you and you put it into your account and then immediately buy something.

Of course it looks dodgey. If this is a suspicion of money laundering there will be a different investigation going on, by Hmrc/police as it’s a criminal activity.

The ‘holiday’ account suspects your money laundering, they are responsible for checking where all the money coming into the account comes from, paying in large cash amounts and then withdrawing it in other ways is effectively how money laundering works. They have likely registered this and HSBC have acted on the back of it before you start using their account to do the same thing.

The others can see your salary coming in and normal bills being paid so might be less worried about your activity.

You do know you can have more then one account with the same bank right? That’s what most people do.

No one can answer about what your main banks might do but opening a fifth is the worst idea here. You may also find your declined right now anyway.

It's very odd you have 4 with 4 banks, and 2 are usually empty - that does look suspicious. They probably think you're money laundering. Don't open another! Just have a current account and a savings, you can transfer from savings to current to book holidays - that's really all you need surely?

I suspect it's been flagged as money laundering too. I have an elderly neighbour who is Italian and speaks broken English. He came over in a panic a few years ago because his new bank account had been frozen. He thought I could do something because I worked in litigation (I couldn't). Turns out he didn't want to tell his existing bank that he was leaving them because he felt bad. His solution was to withdraw £2,000 at a time and go pay it in cash at the new bank. It took about 6 weeks for them to look into it and reactivate his account.

Why not just have several accounts with the same bank? Ie current account, isa, savings account. It will flag as weird to have them across several banks and then to transfer cash in and spend it all quickly.

@Slipperrr

Why not just have several accounts with the same bank? Ie current account, isa, savings account. It will flag as weird to have them across several banks and then to transfer cash in and spend it all quickly.

This precisely.

So strange to have 4 different banks?!

I currently am with 2 as have moved my personal to Starling and need to switch our Joint Account to it too.

For big purchases like holidays etc then we always use our Clubcard Credit card. Much more protection as well as earning us something. I never book flights with "real money" having got stung in my early 20s when XL went under.

@Slipperrr

Why not just have several accounts with the same bank? Ie current account, isa, savings account. It will flag as weird to have them across several banks and then to transfer cash in and spend it all quickly.

Yes ans for the cash to have no root, Ie it’s not coming from her main account. It just suddenly appears.

And then the reason is your partner saves it in cash, where does the cash come from, you said he has an account, is he being paid in cash? Why doesn’t he use it when he wants to pay for things, and why do you use an account that’s just used for this purpose snd not your main account?

Honestly I can see why they are suspicious. It looks really dodgey.

No solvent high street bank is going to close an account that you’re actually using and have your salary paid into. I wouldn’t worry. The ones that were closed were clearly closed because they were dormant or because of money laundering concerns, again you’ve not done anything wrong so I wouldn’t worry but would contact who they say to contact.

This is a weird way to use your bank accounts. I'm not surprised that your Natwest account was closed. Large cash sums being paid in with no obvious reason for it and then money quickly being paid out is a huge red flag.
Your HSBC account being closed at the same time is probably just a coincidence because it has been dormant for so long.
Banks do share information for suspected money laundering and terrorist financing, but not at a low level like this. You can set up savings accounts at the same bank as well as a current account. This would make more sense than having multiple accounts unless you have over £80k in these accounts

This is because your pattern of how you are using the bank account (large cash sums in, quickly out again and no other activity) is characteristic of money laundering. It's also poor value for the bank - they have to incur the cost of administrating the account and processing your large payments, but don't ever get the benefit if having your funds on deposit. I'm not surprised your account was closed. Why won't your DH save his money in the bank?

If Natwest have put a Cifas marker against you, which is likely since they told you to contact Cifas, make sure you don't ignore it and fight to have it removed. It stays on file for a few years and it will cause you no end of trouble when trying to access credit (eg mortgage).

It's really not "weird" or in some way wrong to have 4 different accounts. I have always had at least 3.

Paying in loads of cash is the odd thing though. They'll be suspicious of where it came from.

I’m not sure about the accounts closing but having a few accounts with different banks is sensible as issues with one bank will not necessarily flow to their accounts e.g data problems, the bank going under etc.

@Slipperrr

Why not just have several accounts with the same bank? Ie current account, isa, savings account. It will flag as weird to have them across several banks and then to transfer cash in and spend it all quickly.

Because you may well get a better interest rate on savings or ISA with a different bank to the one you have your main current account with? I must be weird as I find it odd that so many people on here are saying it's unusual to have accounts with different banks. If you look at the moneysavingexpert website's banking and saving advice pages and forum it's full of info about finding the best bank account or savings account for you, regardless of whether you already have an account there, and plenty of people on there have accounts for different purposes with different banks.

I have a main current account with one bank, a second current account which has a small standing order go in each month and which I only occasionally l take money from for "fun stuff", a savings account with another bank for unexpected household expenses which I've had for years, a more recently opened savings account for holiday savings, and an ISA for my main long term savings with another provider which I used to regularly move to get the best interest rate, but haven't done recently as rates are pretty rubbish everywhere. I keep money in separate accounts as I like to have different pots of money for different purposes. It's also a good idea to spread money across different banks as if a bank collapses your money is only protected up to a certain amount (£85 000 I think, so quite a lot) so if you have more than that with one bank or banking group you may lose some.

I have standing orders out of my main account into all the others, and if I want to spend money from one of the savings accounts I either spend on my credit card then move the money into my main account so I can pay the credit card off, or transfer the money to my main account then spend on my debit card. What I have never done is pay a large amount of actual cash into any of my accounts, this seems the likely cause of rhe issues the OP is having.

I agree with everyone else, not keeping a balance, paying in large sums of cash and then withdrawing them looks to the banks like money laundering.
And banks will close your account if you don’t use it for a certain period of time. They will write to you to let you know first. If there’s money in it this won’t be for 15 years but if it’s empty they can use their own policy - HSBC closed mine after about 6 months!

To clarify when I said it is a weird way to use your accounts I meant that it is weird to have an account where only cash deposits are made for big purchases. Better to use a current account for that. It is of course sensible to have multiple accounts to get the best rates on your money. Why does your husband keep that much cash around? Even if you explained this to your bank they will wonder why large sums of cash are not in an account. Their initial thoughts would be getting paid in cash and not declaring this to the tax man which would also constitute money laundering. Also it's just safer to have this money in an account

Banks will close about accounts that have little or no use because it is not worth them keeping them open, all data requires storage space which costs money. Additionally you are using your bank accounts in unusual ways so there could have been some sharing of suspicious information about you.

It is normal to have different accounts for different types of savings and investments, it is less normal to have two or three or even four current accounts. It is very strange that you would move money into a particular account just because you are about to pay for a large item such as a holiday, why not just pay for it from your usual account?

The advice to open a fifth account is about the dumbest advice I have seen on the internet ever, please do not do this, you will only add to any possible issues about your financial activity out there. Also nobody needs this many bank accounts!