WTF!? Text from Lloyds Bank - account to be closed.

[beagrizzly]

I am furious and mystified in equal measure.

Out of the blue, my wife has received a text message from Lloyds telling her that they will be closing her current account in two months. Alongside this they have suspended her online access. No explanation provided; none available in branch.

She's a civil servant who receives her salary into the account, and from it pays her credit card bills, no overdraft ever used or anything like that. About as mundane as could be. The only thing we can think of - although this still doesn't explain it - is that she received a large sum from a relative in Italy yesterday. But - all above board, and even if not surely you have a conversation first before deciding accounts to be closed. Weird, and very troubling.

Anyone ever had anything similar? She now can't access her own money which is ludicrous. Other than calling her 'Nigel' from now on, I'm not very clear on what my/our next steps should be......

[vixen1700]

First thing I'd do is go into a branch to speak to somebody to make sure it's not some kind of scam.

Worrying if real, though.

[beagrizzly]

vixen1700 said:

First thing I'd do is go into a branch to speak to somebody to make sure it's not some kind of scam.

Worrying if real, though.

She's been in. Apparently genuine, though they were unable to offer any explanation as 'different department'.

Branch person did confirm it's how Lloyds do things though, which is mind-boggling. I've been with Lloyds since 1993, and my wife a similar time. To think they could shut me down after thirty years of clean living zero problems, without even a conversation first is deeply troubling.

Might have to rethink my banking. If, indeed, other banks are any better.

[C5_Steve]

The branch won't be able to help, it does sound like action from an anti-money laundering department however it sounds very knee jerk if she's just received the funds in? Normal course of action would be to contact her to gather more information on the relevant transaction to then decide if they still have concerns. Account might be frozen during this time but the closure decision wouldn't be taken that quickly usually.

There should be some form of formal communication regarding the closure other than a text, so an email or letter detailing under which clause of their ts&cs their closing it. Won't help but should have the relevant number on it to contact.

Whilst you await that I'd call their general number immediately and raise a complaint so at least someone starts looking at it.

Edited to add:

Send a complaint by email also to the CEO here

[e-mail]

CEO complaints generally get looked at by another team and prioritised.

Edited by C5_Steve on Friday 25th August 14:32

[Phil.]

I had a JaJa credit card account closed this year. Had it for years. Loads of purchases (which they make income from) and always paid off. No explanation.

Open a Wise account and run everything from there on your phone. Traditional UK banks are making some bizarre decisions nowadays.

[anonymous-user]

beagrizzly said:

is that she received a large sum from a relative in Italy yesterday.

Sounds like a Goodfella

On a more serious note, if they suspect any kind of a financial crime, i.e money laundering requires notification or investigation then there is a lot of legislation around tipping off. Although closing your account is about as a big a tip off as they could give!!

Edited by anonymous-user on Friday 25th August 14:46

[CoolHands]

Who does she vote for?

[Tom8]

Did she vote leave mr farage?

[Arranguez]

My wife had exactly this happen with HSBC. No explanation, nothing. Very odd.

[Rufus Stone]

Do a SAR like Farage did to see what they have been doing.

[OoopsVoss]

Bluequay said:

beagrizzly said:

is that she received a large sum from a relative in Italy yesterday.

Sounds like a Goodfella

On a more serious note, if they suspect any kind of a financial crime, i.e money laundering requires notification or investigation then there is a lot of legislation around tipping off. Although closing your account is about as a big a tip off as they could give!!

Edited by Bluequay on Friday 25th August 14:46

It would be a pretty epic failure of control here. Large sum from Italy, then 2 months closure notice? That's up there with JPM never raising a SAR on Madoff. Its plausible a large sum from Italy might raise a SAR or the originator might, but unlikely. Especially as OP says all above board.

To OP, does you wife have or held multiple accounts with Lloyds? some legacy accounts now inactive? The same thing happened to me with Barclays. Got a text about closing account in X weeks. Contacted them, but it was due to an old inactive account linked to an offset mortgage from years ago. They don't specify the account number on the text for obvious reasons. Branch will be useless, its going to be a slog through call centres.

Are you sure wifey is not a member of the Cosa Nostra?

Edited by OoopsVoss on Friday 25th August 15:07

[OoopsVoss]

Rufus Stone said:

Do a SAR like Farage did to see what they have been doing.

Eh?

A SAR is a Suspicious Activity Report. Its a confidential document that highlights suspicious transactions and is generally never disclosed externally (unless to regulators / law enforcement).

Generally you start with an internal one that someone sensible decides is actually worth making official to the likes of NCA:

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/who-we-are/...

Its a criminal offence to tell those who are subject to one they are (tipping off offence - major bird).

Farage probably used an RAS (Right of Access Request). Different thing entirely.

[Jamescrs]

Through my professional life I have known this happen to people in the past, it is always due to some kind of suspected criminal conduct (i'm not suggesting any criminal activity by the OP's wife).

It is probably best for the OP's wife to open a new bank account elsewhere even if she intends to fight what has happened, if she doesn't she may end up with no banking services at all which will be problematic.

[C5_Steve]

OoopsVoss said:

Rufus Stone said:

Do a SAR like Farage did to see what they have been doing.

Eh?

A SAR is a Suspicious Activity Report. Its a confidential document that highlights suspicious transactions and is generally never disclosed externally (unless to regulators / law enforcement).

Generally you start with an internal one that someone sensible decides is actually worth making official to the likes of NCA:

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/who-we-are/...

Its a criminal offence to tell those who are subject to one they are (tipping off offence - major bird).

Farage probably used an RAS (Right of Access Request). Different thing entirely.

Rufus means a Subject Access Request, which is what Farage did. Different SAR.

[Rufus Stone]

C5_Steve said:

Rufus means a Subject Access Request, which is what Farage did. Different SAR.

[OoopsVoss]

C5_Steve said:

Rufus means a Subject Access Request, which is what Farage did. Different SAR.

For obvious reasons, we use the acronym RAS which is largely the same thing as a Subject Access Request). The two SARs almost cancel each other out. 2 SARs definitely don't make a right.....

[bitchstewie]

What do you call a large sum and received it how?

Seems a heck of a coincidence if it isn't that?

[beagrizzly]

OoopsVoss said:

Bluequay said:

beagrizzly said:

is that she received a large sum from a relative in Italy yesterday.

Sounds like a Goodfella

On a more serious note, if they suspect any kind of a financial crime, i.e money laundering requires notification or investigation then there is a lot of legislation around tipping off. Although closing your account is about as a big a tip off as they could give!!

Edited by Bluequay on Friday 25th August 14:46

It would be a pretty epic failure of control here. Large sum from Italy, then 2 months closure notice? That's up there with JPM never raising a SAR on Madoff. Its plausible a large sum from Italy might raise a SAR or the originator might, but unlikely. Especially as OP says all above board.

To OP, does you wife have or held multiple accounts with Lloyds? some legacy accounts now inactive? The same thing happened to me with Barclays. Got a text about closing account in X weeks. Contacted them, but it was due to an old inactive account linked to an offset mortgage from years ago. They don't specify the account number on the text for obvious reasons. Branch will be useless, its going to be a slog through call centres.

Are you sure wifey is not a member of the Cosa Nostra?

Edited by OoopsVoss on Friday 25th August 15:07

Pretty sure there are no dormant accounts. In any event, that wouldn't explain why they have suspended online access (I would have thought)

I don't think she's a member of the mafia. But maybe she's very good at hiding it. Which I suppose she would be....

The Italian sum is for her cousin buying her mother out of her share of a flat there. Italian solicitors involved so all above board. We might have missed something, but can't think what, and anyway shouldn't justify this treatment.

[OoopsVoss]

beagrizzly said:

Pretty sure there are no dormant accounts. In any event, that wouldn't explain why they have suspended online access (I would have thought)

I don't think she's a member of the mafia. But maybe she's very good at hiding it. Which I suppose she would be....

The Italian sum is for her cousin buying her mother out of her share of a flat there. Italian solicitors involved so all above board. We might have missed something, but can't think what, and anyway shouldn't justify this treatment.

The banks are so risk adverse and penalties so high for facilitating money laundering; they have almost ridiculous over reaction to anything out the normal. If its legal and you can prove it; it's going to involve phone calls. It might just be a simple error, or rather involve talking to the risk team - but should be resolvable.

The fines for supporting international money laundering, sanction busting or other nasties run into the billions - and the US has very significant reach - so its resulting in poorly designed controls. Its far better to loose a few customers who you don't make money off anyway, than having a US law enforcement agency come after you. OFAC could probably get you on Neptune.

[S100HP]

I think you need to give some context to the amount. If it was 5k from Italy, it seems a bit extreme, but it was 500k then it might be a bit more understandable.