Bank Closes My Daughter's Account

[chrissa1]

On Thursday my daughter filled up her car with £30 worth of petrol. Her debit castd bounced even though she had paid in £100 on Monday. She has a £200 overdraft and therefore assumed this money would have kept her within the limit.
When she got home we found a letter from the bank which had arrived on the Tuesday telling her that the account was being closed, effective from 6th December and that she owed them £105.

The effect was immediate though as her card and internet banking could not be used as of the 25th. Luckily, she had a crtedit cartd on her that she rarely uses and was able to pay fore the petrol but what would have happened if she had been far from home with no credit card and with her online banking being inoperative, I couldn't have paid cash into her account for her.

Can they do this so abruptly? They are *ankers so I guess the answer is yes but does she have any redress?

[bednobs]

regards to petrol, and "what would have happened" they take your details then you promise to go back and pay them asap.
Regards tot he bank, did they say why?

[AlBags]

They will probably think of loads of reasons.
Sounds like the account has been abused to a degree. They do not like no responses to letters, or long time periods making account 'adjustments'
I would have thought the warning letters were sent at some stage tho.

[chrissa1]

Albags, no warning letters were received and it has money going in and out of it every week.

[factor-fiction]

Before she paid in the £100 was she £205 overdrawn (i.e. over her overdraft limit?). Was it £100 cash she'd paid in or a cheque (which could take a week to clear)?
If the letter arrived on Tuesday that was the 23rd so if the card and internet banking were available until the 25th she had two days so it wasn't quite immediate.
Without knowing all the facts about her account history and the account terms we can't really give a complete answer

[AlBags]

They do not close accounts just for going over-overdrawn.
There must be history in the account conduct for them to do it.

[boxtops]

I'd agree, overdraft limits being regularly (or even once) breached usually elicit a couple of stern letters, then fees for going over your limit being charged the next month, plus additional charges for meeting debits drawn whilst overdrawn past the agreed limited. I would find it hard to believe that they just cancelled the account without any prior written warning at all.
Your daughter needs to arrange a meeting at the bank to find out what's gone wrong.

[milly143]

I don't want to suggest your daughter is fibbing to you but is it possible she has been receiving letters from the bank and ignoring/hiding them? After all, you say the letter was received on the Tuesday but it didn't get opened until the Thursday and that was only because you were looking for it. I'm not preaching, hardly an angel myself but she might not be being 100% honest with you.

As for not being able to pay for petrol, I think it is down to shop keepers discretion but they are within their rights to call the police if you fill your car with petrol and have no means to pay for it.

[chrissa1]

No, no milly.My daughter is a 27 year old woman who is living at home for a while and I receive the mail before her as she is at work. She definitely didn't receive any letters from the bank. That's why I have posted the question.

[AlBags]

Lots of people hide 'stuff' away you know. For a variety of reasons. Age has nothing to do with it.

[chrissa1]

Noooo! I see the post before her and trust me, there have been NO letters from the bank.

[factor-fiction]

Hi chrissa. If she banks on line maybe the Bank had been sending her secure messages.
Did she exceed her overdraft limit? My interpretation of your post is that she did, albeit by only a few pounds.
In their letter did the bank give a reason for closing the account?

[BenDToy]

She received a letter from her bank on Tuesday, which told her that her account was being closed, and on Thursday she decided to open the letter. This is hardly responsible behaviour, and if it reflects how she has been operating the account then she needs to get her act togehter. In the first instance she needs to start opening her mail promptly, especially letters from her bank. She clearly operates her finances on a knife edge, if she was relying on a payment on Monday to keep her within her overdraft limit, and she needs to be significantly smarter than she has been. Not sure why you think the bank are out of order. What did they do wrong?

[bednobs]

that seems a bit harsh, even the most careful of us can go unintentionally overdrawn

[chrissa1]

Blimey bedytoy, are you a banker?? She was away for two days and doesn't operate her account on knife edge just doesn't earn That much money despite doing Two jobs!! It's just typical of the banks attitudes to the small customer - "If you owe us £200 You've got a problem, If you owe us £2 Million, We've got a problem!!!

I'll reply to the other questions when I've calmed down.

[chrissa1]

Sorry BenDtoy.

[bednobs]

did the bank not even give a reason they were closing the account?
has she had problems with the bank before (ie was it a basic account?)

[Francis Asis]

I really think you need to contact the bank to disucss this as its rare for them to just close an account. Maybe someone has made an error somewhere and your daughter is suffering for it. Contact them. It may be easily sorted out.

[chrissa1]

The letter dated 22nd Nov reads,

"It is the terms of your agreement with the bank that the full amount outstanding on your account is repayable, with interest.on demand at any time. Pursuant to that term, the bank hereby terminates your agreement, including any overdraft or reserve facilities, with effect from 06/12/10 and makes demand for full and immediate repayment of the balance on the account (currently £105.04) with effect from that date".

Blah, blah, blah, threat.threat, threat.

[boxtops]

Chrissa I don't doubt what you're saying but (IMO) it's very unusual just to pull the plug, without any prior warning letters/calls/emails. Your daughter needs to speak to the bank tomorrow to find out what's going on.