A couple of months ago, I went to get shopping for my son and I. Couldn't withdraw any cash and the receipt said to contact branch. Did that only to be told that they had put a stop on my account! No one said anything and left me with no money for a couple of days. The bank said as I went over my overdraft and was behind with my mortgage (agreed with them), that they were not going to be reopening my account and to get one elsewhere.
I opened a basic account with HSBC and they said that they could sort all my direct debits and standing orders from Natwest.
My account was actually looking quite healthy after a few sales, careful shopping etc. Until tonight.
Its my daughter's birthday Thursday and shopping night, so checked my account to find how much I can spend. I found £1700.14 gone! Rang HSBC and they said it had been transferred into my old Natwest account! Left me with nothing again. No money for food or presents. I have to wait until the morning before I can speak to anyone.
I asked why it was transferred without my permission. They said they had recieved a fax from Natwest saying that I owed them money, so HSBC sent them all that I had.
Surely, this is illegal or definitely wrong? It's my money. I have five DD's going out tomorrow and HSBC said that as I have a basic account, if the DD's go out and are returned then they will close my account with them!
So peeved right now 👿

That's crap mate 😐

Thats really poor mate 🙁 sorry i don't know enough to give any advice!

Utter crap. One to get real advice on. I cannot believe they have the right to do that without permission but I also doubt a bank would act illegally.

Oh no, that's awful! Bastards have got us all by the short and curlies – i feel for you, I've been turned over by my bank a couple of times. Good luck.

It's a nightmare. The banks are taking a real hard line approach these days. I've been there myself.
I would contact citizens advice to see what your options are

I beleive that if judge issues a garnishment for your account on behalf of a debt collector, they can 'take it'.

I have set an alarm on my phone to go off at 9am so I can ring them. Hope I am working in an area with signal! My first job for tomorrow is at a Sheiks flat in Newmarket! Wonder if he will help me out?

b r – Member
I beleive that if judge issues a garnishment for your account on behalf of a debt collector, they can 'take it'.

Maybe but wouldn't I have to be contacted by 1. the bank then 2. a debt collector? I have not had letter from either. My tax credits and child benefit was going into Natwest to pay off the debt each fortnight.

True needs a court order, has anyone tried to contact you, or have you moved recently, or ignored any letters?

I find it hard to believe that the bank would act simply on a received fax. Doesn't sound like the most auditable of transactions. Not an expert mind you.

Either someone's ****ed up immensely or there's more to this than you know

I have had no communication from Natwest at all. Thats why I thought they were happy with the payments through child benefit and tax credits.
I open all my mail, good or bad. When they closed my account, they also closed my savings account with them and my ISA and took the money from them to pay off my overdraft (not that there was a lot in both of them).

Obviously I don't know all the details, but I had a similar situation some ten or so years ago. A bank cannot (or could not then) move money from your account without your permission. It's your money after all, that you have earned, and they are only looking after it for you.

If they do it's called 'Conversion' and it's illegal.

Back then the bank I was with decided I owed them too much (new account manager) so took all my wages against my debt. At the time I had just finished a finance degree, so rang the new account manger up and accused her of Conversion. Told her I wanted my money back in my account within 24 hrs and it was.

Don't think Banks won't do anything illegal!

Most of the time they get away with it.

If not they just capitulate and no-one complains. Including me it seems.

I'd be down the branch in person at 9am tomorrow if it were me.

A phone call is too easy to fob off. Get in touch with CAB too but be prepared to wait a long time to see someone – it is well worth it though…

Good luck

If I can Zed, I will be. I have to work first. Its a little job in the morning so as soon as thats done, I shall go down and see them.
I'm at my wits end, trying to hold it in. My son is being a rock and telling me it will be ok. He is 11 for crying out loud, telling me its going to be ok! I love that kid to bits.

Sorry to hear your struggles – sounds harsh to me.

Anyway, there seems to be a financial theme to my contribution today, so for the third time I shall recommend the savvy people and savvy ideas of MSE and their banking forum.

Good luck.

20 years ago I was in a mess financially, didn't have a leg to stand on when it came to dealing with the banks and I had an account closed on me for no reason, at least that's how it felt at the time.

Looking back, I was a bad risk for them, if it had been me running the business I would have probably done the same thing.

A couple of months ago, I went to get shopping for my son and I. Couldn't withdraw any cash and the receipt said to contact branch. Did that only to be told that they had put a stop on my account! No one said anything and left me with no money for a couple of days. The bank said as I went over my overdraft and was behind with my mortgage (agreed with them), that they were not going to be reopening my account and to get one elsewhere.

Sounds very similar, it's important to be honest with yourself as well as the banks when you go to talk to them, whilst there are laws ultimately if they don't want you as a customer there is little you can do, they won't have come to this unless they felt that it wasn't in their interests to continue taking your business. Hard I know, but the financial climate has changed and they are much more risk averse then they were only a couple of years ago, the only way to get through this is to face up to the situation and sort it out.

Once you've got to the bottom of the £1.7k transfer then you need to work on how to get this sorted properly, you're going to need to talk to all those that the DDs are supposed to go to in case you can't get the bank to repay you and let them know what is going on and what you are doing to sort things out.

Hope you get things sorted as I really can empathise with your situation, it's horrible to go through this.

Explore all the options, but do so in as unemotional way as possible. Document your income and expenditure, again be honest and realistic and have that ready. Don't beg, don't be a 'victim' but instead ask for advice, what do they suggest you do given the circumstances? Get things planned with your creditors and get it in writing, then work really hard to stick to those plans and keep communicating with them, even if it's not always easy or what you think they want to hear.

Good Luck

Any luck Curly68 ?

banks are assholes, thats my only conclusion from trying to help my fiancee's mum out in a situation created entirely by the bank being useless w@nkers! Could you open another account with a different bank and change the DD manually so there is no contact between the new bank and original bank. Not sue if that would work to stop any more similar situations.

NatWest would in my experience require something to enforce the debt whether that be some form of judgement or a contract where you have given security over your assets. The latter would be pretty rare for a current account. Therefore, if you are unaware of any summons, it is likely HSBC have acted incorrectly and it is up to them to sort it out.

try posting on Money Saving Expert

Sounds a bit pants, sorry to hear that. They seem to have alot of power, and I have heard of many stories of this kind of thing coming back to bite people in the bum. I was also caught by a similar act.

I used to be with Alliance and Leicester until I got a student account. A&L account went to the side and I rarely used it, just kept £10-20 for the odd occasion I might need some petrol or something similar and couldnt afford it on the overdraft.

I went to use the card one day and was told I couldnt. I went to them, and they told me the account had been stopped but I had to ring them up. So, I ring them up and manage to eventually get through. They had stopped it as they thought there was a potential for fraud! I had to ring another number, which I duly did. As for almost 40 mins I gave up. I tryed several other times but never got through and got caught up in my last year of uni. fast forward to 5 months later and I get a letter for £480 in unpaid fees from a debt collector due to this account!! Apparently I was overdrawn on the account when they shut it down, however they failed to tell me this. Due to my parents moving house in that 5 months, they couldnt get hold of me. It wasent hard for the debt collectors to find me though!

Communication is the key with banks, and never not ask questions. If I could prove what they told me Id have fought it. I sincerely hope you get your money back.

It is all my fault say both the banks.
When I opened the HSBC account I got them to transfer the direct debits and standing orders over from Natwest. I had to sign a form to allow then the authority. Because I signed that, it also was asking to close the Natwest account. The one that was stopped. Natwest said that they couldn't close the account as I owed them money and to do so, they took the £1700.
Natwest say they can't do anything as the account is now closed. HSBC say they can't do anything as Natwest has the money and I have to go through them! HSBC has cancelled my direct debits as I have no funds in there to pay them.
Work has allowed me an interest free loan that I can pay off with my child benefit and tax credits thankfully.

It's HSBC's problem, you should be going after them to provide proof you authorised the transaction, which they presumably don't have. Don't waste time on Natwest, they've not really done anything wrong if they asked for the money and HSBC said "OK". If they obtained the money by dishonest means then you have a case against them but HSBC would have to demonstrate that.

Oh, I'm making an assumption here that it was a funds transfer of some sort rather than a direct debit. If it WAS a direct debit, then do an indemnity with grounds "No advance notice given" , get money back immediately.

Ask them to produce a copy of the form with the wording re the closure of the account, if you did give them authority then you may been stuffed.

back in the middle ages in the city states of Italy, they had a choice, burn witches or burn bankers.

I believe they made the wrong choice.

mefty, authority to close the account isn't the same as authority to recover outstanding funds, so it'll depend on the eaxct wording- I doubt very much that the form says "Close the old account and take what you like from the new one"

the problem with these situations is you'll be lucky to speak with the same person twice and they will keep passing the buck while you incur more charges and stress. My fiancées mum eventually accepted a half arsed settlement on the basis she couldn't face the additional time it would take to maybe get a better result in which time more charges would have been applied. I f@#$$%ng hate banks.

Northwind – Hence why I used the word "may", it will obviously depend on the wording but if that includes transfer the credit balance or make good any debit balance it is probably enough for HSBC to justify the transfer.

go in a branch and kick up a stink,take notes of who you speak to,and demand to speak to somebody in authority, not just a cash counter.

No, don't do that, go to a branch and be polite and reasonable instead of doing everything you can to piss off the person you're hoping will help you, which is what most people do in this sort of situation.