closed account no warning

[jaycee401]

My friend and her husband have a joint business bank account with Nat West, they have had this for about 2 yrs and are always in credit. though this account is no longer used for the business it still has husbands self employed salary from waggon driving paid in and friends salary from NHS. Now with no warning the bank has shut the account. The only discovered this when they went to make a payment with their card. They went into their local branch and girl on desk was very helpful could not understand why account shut and tried to contact business manager but could not locate him. Then they were eventually told over the phone that the BM shut account. Friends husband said surley they should have some warning, the bank told them the BM just decided to close account. Now they have unpaid direct debits etc and are getting charges from them as when requested the bank would not pay them. Ironically though the bank 'opened' the account on 2 separate occassions to receive both their salaries as they could not be stopped in time to be paid in through their works. surley this is theft on behalf of the bank?? The owe the bank no monies as they were in credit. Now the bank has over £1000 of their money and they have now been told it has to go to the treasurer. Is this legal??

[boxtops]

This is very odd and I suspect that you don't have the whole story, since this is about your friends. There was a similar post a while back, where the bank had written several times about the account and nobody responded.
Your friends need an appointment with the bank business manager (not a counter clerk) straight away, to find out what has happened. If salaries are going in, the accounts must still be live. That's the only advice I could give - only the Bank Manager will know what's been going on.
You say it's a business account but if both are employed and not running a company of their own, perhaps that's why - they should have a personal account not a business account. Only the bank can say.
I don't understand the comment about money having to go to the Treasurer - the treasurer of what?

[factor-fiction]

This situation seems unsatisfactory but i wonder whether there has been a misunderstanding. Certainly I doubt very much that the bank has commited theft or done anything illegal. I am not sure what is meant by the treasurer. Maybe the account conditions have not been satisfied.
Anyway, they really need to ask the bank. Without all the facts it is very difficult for us to help on here, I feel.

[ummmm]

I would guess that they've closed it because it's a business account being used as a personal account.

[chrissa1]

My late husband and I had a joint Business Account with NatWest a few years ago. This was our only account and it paid our business creditors, accepted payments for work done by my husband and was our personal account too that we used to pay our living expenses. There was no trouble with it being called a "business account" and using it personally.

When we lived in Northern Ireland we had an account with Bank of ireland which we kept open when we returned back over here. After about 5 years we received a letter saying they were going to close it in 30 days. They did just that but sent us a cheque for the monies that were in the account at the time.

I would have thought that there was no way they can keep money which is clearly your friend's.

[jaycee401]

Thanks for replies. I also think the problem arose as the account was for a business but not used as a business account. My friend is adamant that they had no warning whatsoever about the account closing, when they managed to speak with the BM after it had closed and why they had no warning he told them he would send a letter. It's so wrong that they opened it to receive salaries but will not pay any dd's. If as according to n/w it had been shut then surley the salaries should of been returned to their employers. They were not in debt with the bank, although she does have outstanding debt with the Halifax as she had a house repossessed 18 month ago (in her sole name) but did come to an agreement to pay off at £x per month until the balance between the mortgage amount oustanding and what halifax sold the property for as has paid it on time since then.

[boxtops]

We can't really say, jaycee - if this was about you we could ask more questions but it's not. Does your friend know you're posting about her on this site, btw?

[jaycee401]

Hi yes she does, she's too upset to do it herself. I have told her what you have said on here, as for the Treasurer, they told her at the bank that it will have to be dealt with by the Treasurer as its a business account!

[factor-fiction]

I know you want to help your friends but I think they need to sort it out themselves with the bank. I have read the posts a few times but I don't really understand bits of it- who the Treasurer is, what has happened to the salaries that were in the account and the relevance of the information you provided about the Halifax and the house repossession.
Your friends probably know a bit more than you do and will need to take the issues up with their bank. (Or they could come on here and post the key points as well.)

[Eve]

Not sure if it has any relevance re the Treasurer but was the business a limited company which has since been wound up or put into administration or anything like that the bank might have seen on Companies House records or been advised and they have frozen the account? Not sure if it would have any bearing though.

If a limited company, did you keep all the contact details up to date so any important correspondence would have been received?

I'm not that sure how this all works or if feasible but just something that occured to me when you mentioned it being a business account.

Another thought was could there be something that the husband is not telling your friend? Could there be any other accounts tied that money is owed from which the bank has access to if required? The circumstances just sound strange unless there has been a major error.