NatWest shut down all of my Bank Accounts – What Can I do?

NatWest shut down all of my Bank Accounts – What Can I do?

14:13 PM, 8th August 2022, About 2 years ago 44

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I Have been with Nat West since I left School – over 50 years ago now. I have never let them down or had a problem with them. Out of the blue, with no notice or warning, yesterday they shut down all of my accounts. My Direct Debits have started bouncing already. All of my money is in those accounts.

The customer relations department seemed to be as stunned as I was – they say as everything is shut down they cannot access any information and all of their efforts to make enquiries internally have drawn blanks or hit brick walls.

Any suggestions? We are totally desperate. Does anyone know a specialist solicitor who may be able to assist? If someone had told me that this could happen I would have never believed them!

Thanks for reading this.

Colin


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Comments

TheMaluka

21:23 PM, 8th August 2022, About 2 years ago

HSBC, Santander, Metro and Cashplus have all done this to me. I have accounts with at least two different banks for each of my businesses. So far Natwest have left me alone but for how long? I do not trust any of the banks.

Colin Massey

11:57 AM, 9th August 2022, About 2 years ago

Thank you so much to everyone who has commented. Brief comments on points raised:
Yes I Bank online and with the App. no messages received.
All shut down on 3rd August. Accounts don't exist now - I cant see statements or any transactions. I now have letters from NatWest everyday stating what has bounced due to no funds being present and advising me that I will be charged fees!
Thankfully we do have an account with another bank so trying to put this in funds and set up DD's etc and pay bounced payments. A major task.
We dread having a black mark on our credit report!
It is registered as a formal complaint but as the guy handling the complaint cant access our accounts or question anyone he is as much in the dark as us. Thanks for the tip Neil about asking for their formal complaints procedure - I will try this.
Spoke to Ombudsman's office and completed a form - not heard anything back yet.

Thanks again everyone!

JohnCaversham

12:08 PM, 9th August 2022, About 2 years ago

CommercialComplaints@Services.Natwest.com

Try this email we had a formal apology plus £300 compensation and this was where it originated from..Business Profiles Team seem to be separate from customer services so they do not share info if this is where your issue stems from. My wife almost in tears by now went to our local branch but their manager was uninterested...Unless we wanted to buy a product..
You will have 14days or more to respond to and pay all of your DD's that didn't get paid so you have time, we had to trawl through previous months bank statements to get the dates of the DD's to workout what had probably been missed, then either pay them online or sit for half our each time to their customer services..Just keep pushing...

JohnCaversham

12:10 PM, 9th August 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Colin Massey at 09/08/2022 - 11:57
CommercialComplaints@Services.Natwest.com

Try this email we had a formal apology plus £300 compensation and this was where it originated from..Business Profiles Team seem to be separate from customer services so they do not share info if this is where your issue stems from. My wife almost in tears by now went to our local branch but their manager was uninterested...Unless we wanted to buy a product..
You will have 14days or more to respond to and pay all of your DD's that didn't get paid so you have time, we had to trawl through previous months bank statements to get the dates of the DD's to workout what had probably been missed, then either pay them online or sit for half our each time to their customer services..Just keep pushing...

Beaver

12:26 PM, 9th August 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Colin Massey at 09/08/2022 - 11:57
I'm sorry....you are saying that you are having letters from Natwest every day advising you that Natwest will charge you fees due to no funds being present in the account? Were there definitely funds in the account before they closed it?

Colin Massey

15:07 PM, 9th August 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by JohnCaversham at 09/08/2022 - 12:08
Thanks John. Ours are personal accounts but I guess nothing to lose? We are not making progress elsewhere.

Colin Massey

15:08 PM, 9th August 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 09/08/2022 - 12:26
Yes, around £17k in that account! Scandalous isnt it?

Beaver

15:13 PM, 9th August 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Colin Massey at 09/08/2022 - 15:08
So if you are receiving letters from Natwest and there was "£17K in that account" then there must be a reference on the letter that refers to the account.

So I presume you've written back to them advised them that to the best of your knowledge there was £17K in the account and asking both for a recent statement and the reason why the account has either been frozen or closed.

Colin Massey

15:26 PM, 9th August 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 09/08/2022 - 15:13
You are so right. But they just blame the fact these are issued by a computer. After standing my ground in the Branch yesterday the lady who was helpful had been told to hand me a brief letter with no address or name on it which simply said:

Your account is currently non-operational, and no credits or debits can be processed.
We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. The Bank is unable to further comment at
this time, however we will revert to you as soon as we are able.
Yours Sincerely,
NatWest

Beaver

15:34 PM, 9th August 2022, About 2 years ago

Reply to the comment left by Colin Massey at 09/08/2022 - 15:26
OK. So you are receiving letters from Natwest every day telling you that they are going to charge you because of no funds in your account. So I would record the name of the lady you spoke to, the date, where, refer to the letter that she gave you, send them a copy of the letter and ask them to 'revert' immediately (and in any case by a date about two working weeks hence) with a current statement and the reasons why they have frozen your account and your assets. I'd send that by recorded delivery and I'd keep a copy of everything.

If they don't revert immediately and you know for sure you've done nothing wrong you may need to instruct against them but you will have made all reasonable efforts to resolve the situation and have the records to instruct.

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