Ulster bank closing my account without giving a reason

sterka

I'm just wondering WTF? just closing my account, after few calls, asking personal information, wages, my work, loans and transactions?
i didnt leave this ****ty bank even after 2008 when all DD, wages has stopped.
What else should I expect from them now? Maybe fraud flags in other banks??

SONIC2008

So they called you up and told you they were closing your account but never gave you any reason?
I can't imagine they would flag you for fraud if you didn't commit any fraud.
Are you absolutely sure it was a legitimate call and not an actual scam trying to get information from you?

SONIC2008

This just doesn't sound right to me. Just be very careful.

Ulster bank do have warnings on their website about phishing/Vishing scams. If I were you I would call the bank on a number from their website, but please follow the guidelines on their page just in case it is a scam.

Scammers can even call you up and after you think you have hung up they can hold the line open. So when you think you are calling the bank after receiving a worrying phone call, they are still on the line and pretend to be the bank after you dial your digits.

Please take a look at the Vishing section on their page.

http://digital.ulsterbank.ie/security-centre.html

sterka

first I received a letter from them, stating that I have to contact them to update my record. I did, then they rang me again, asking another questions. About a money transfer between my brother and my account. They was so suspicious..I felt like I'm a crime..
Then I've got another post stating that if my husband wont contact them, account will be terminated, We did, and that lady said, that they wont bother us again, and this is just to update our record.
2 month letter we got later, giving us notice, of account closure and advising that we have to make all DD outside Royal Group.
What I'm afraid of, is that I wont be able to open bank account at all. Who they are this Royal Group? And why they acting like that. I a loyal customer since 2008..

SONIC2008

Are you or your husband (whoever is the account holder) able to go visit a bank and ask them what is happening?

sterka

We did, there was no reason
they assured that they have reached this decision after careful consideration, however their decision is final and they are not prepared to enter into any discussion :DDDDD

SONIC2008

So they just said they are closing your account for no reason after careful consideration....
I am baffled.

I don't know what else you can do if they are not prepared to engage any further....
Hopefully someone else will see your post here and perhaps offer you some advice.

sterka

Same as me..
Do you know who enters to Royal Bank Group? If there is no possibility to open account this group, where should i go? Aib? BOI? how to be sure that they are not in?

Stheno

If they want to close your account they just have to follow the notice guidelines, which iirc is a minimum of 30 days notice.

Was this any particular type of account or just a normal current account?

amdublin

What was the transaction between your brother and you?

sterka

Normal current, saving and credit card. letter received few days ago, account is due to in sep.

amdublin

Did you have any unpaid direct debits or standing orders?? Were you going overdrawn without it being authorised??

It may just have been too much work for them to manage your account and just better business to close it.

sterka

he borrowed me 6k and transferred it

amdublin

sterka wrote: »

Normal current, saving and credit card. letter received few days ago, account is due to in sep.

Were you managing it ok? Was it in credit all the time etc? No unpaid/bounced direct debits etc?

amdublin

sterka wrote: »

he borrowed me 6k and transferred it

Hmm. Doesn't seem unusual. 6k going out, 6k going back in.

sterka

just 3 DD - mortgage, home & life insurance, do you think it 2 much?

amdublin

sterka wrote: »

just 3 DD - mortgage, home & life insurance, do you think it 2 much?

Were they going ok every month? Or were they being returned unpaid???

Stheno

sterka wrote: »

Normal current, saving and credit card. letter received few days ago, account is due to in sep.

It's in the terms and conditions of opening a bank account that they can close it or withdraw facilities at any time, with the appropriate notice, and do not have to give you a reason.

http://www.ulsterbank.ie/documents/roi/personal_banking_terms_and_conditions.pdf

Something has happened to flag something on your account that has led them to close it.

Closure of the Account
5
.
1
Unless the Additional Terms and Conditions in Sections C and D provide otherwise, this Agreement has no minimum term and will continue until terminated by either You or us in accordance with this Agreement. Your Account will remain open until it is closed by either You or us in accordance with this Agreement.
5
.
2
We may require You to close the Account. Where your Account is a Payment Account, We will give You not less than 60
days’ notice. Where your Account is a non-Payment Account, We will give You not less than 30 days’ prior notice or such period of notice You would have to give us in order to close your Account, whichever is longer. We may do this by writing to You indicating the period within which You are required to comply with this request. If, at the end of that period, You have not closed the Account, We will be entitled to refuse to accept any more payments into the Account (except such payments as are necessary to
repay any debt and outstanding interest and charges on the Account) and may return any existing balance to You at the last address You have intimated to us as your home address.
We do not have to give You a reason for our decision

BuffyBot

Royal Bank of Scotland is Ulster Bank's parent company.

The other banks operating in this country are not owned by them.

I'll make an assumption that English is not your first language, and from your posts it's hard to fully understand what is happening: but generally banks only do this if there have been serious issues. Large unexplained transfers from abroad is certainly one circumstance which may raise flags if not explained.

sterka

Gosh, If I have money, have no problems to pay my bills etc, I should ask Bank for permission to transfer my money between accounts? or even abroad?
what would you do with your saving, if tomorrow bank will send you a letter saying that your account due to close if you wont contact them? right, you will contact them and transfer your money to somewhere else, or i'm not right?

Stheno

sterka wrote: »

Gosh, If I have money, have no problems to pay my bills etc, I should ask Bank for permission to transfer my money between accounts? or even abroad?
what would you do with your saving, if tomorrow bank will send you a letter saying that your account due to close if you wont contact them? right, you will contact them and transfer your money to somewhere else, or i'm not right?

Is what I've written below what happened?

1. Your brother transfers 6,000 euro from abroad to your account.
2. The bank then contacted you to update your details
3. You did this.
4. The bank then contacted you with some questions about the transfer from your brother.
5. They then contacted you to get your husband to update his details.
6. Then they reviewed all of your current/credit/savings accounts and following that review, sent you notice that they were closing all of the accounts sometime in September?

Something has happened to flag your accounts to them, and they are no longer happy to have you as a customer.

Was the transfer from your brother the only transfer like that?

You'll have to apply for accounts in another bank, you've AIB/BOI/KBC and PTSB to apply to/choose from. You'll have to transfer your savings, and all of your direct debits.

J Mysterio

sterka wrote: »

We did, there was no reason
they assured that they have reached this decision after careful consideration, however their decision is final and they are not prepared to enter into any discussion :DDDDD

BOI did that to me when I was finishing college a few years back, it was a fcking disgrace. Its a real slap in the face and an absolutely shocking way for banks to behave, particularly in the current climate and given their record.

In my case, the letter directed me to close my account. I duly went to a local branch and was told I had to pay an administration fee to close the account.

I lost it.

The funniest bit was the bank manager came out to talk with me to get it sorted out and then just kept repeating 'but can you see it from our perspective?'.

lol, no, I can't.

sterka

[QUOTE=J Mysterio[/QUOTE]
have you managed to open another bank account without any problems?

sterka

J Mysterio wrote: »

BOI did that to me when I was finishing college a few years back, it was a fcking disgrace. Its a real slap in the face and an absolutely shocking way for banks to behave, particularly in the current climate and given their record.

In my case, the letter directed me to close my account. I duly went to a local branch and was told I had to pay an administration fee to close the account.

I lost it.

The funniest bit was the bank manager came out to talk with me to get it sorted out and then just kept repeating 'but can you see it from our perspective?'.

lol, no, I can't.

Stheno wrote: »

Is what I've written below what happened?

1. Your brother transfers 6,000 euro from abroad to your account.
2. The bank then contacted you to update your details
3. You did this.
4. The bank then contacted you with some questions about the transfer from your brother.
5. They then contacted you to get your husband to update his details.
6. Then they reviewed all of your current/credit/savings accounts and following that review, sent you notice that they were closing all of the accounts sometime in September?

Something has happened to flag your accounts to them, and they are no longer happy to have you as a customer.

Was the transfer from your brother the only transfer like that?

yeap, there was maybe a few transfers, but there was not a big deal. My point is that I can do with my money anything I want, spent how I want, transfer etc..
now I know how they reach their fraud statistics

Stheno

sterka wrote: »

yeap, there was maybe a few transfers, but there was not a big deal. My point is that I can do with my money anything I want, spent how I want, transfer etc..
now I know how they reach their fraud statistics

Did the total amount of transfers exceed 6,000 euro, or even 10,000? And were there a few over a period of time from abroad? What country did they come from?

Monkeysgomad

I was on there website and they had this warning:
'Voice phishing (sometimes referred to as 'vishing') is when fraudsters make unsolicited phone calls which aim to encourage you to give out your personal details, such as your debit or credit card number, your Personal Identification Number (PIN) numbers, or secure codes from your card reader. The fraudsters may pretend to be your bank, the police, or any other official company in order to sound convincing. Sometimes you may get a 'warm up call' where no information is discussed. This is to set the scene for a later call where you may be asked for information.

Stheno

Monkeysgomad wrote: »

I was on there website and they had this warning:
'Voice phishing (sometimes referred to as 'vishing') is when fraudsters make unsolicited phone calls which aim to encourage you to give out your personal details, such as your debit or credit card number, your Personal Identification Number (PIN) numbers, or secure codes from your card reader. The fraudsters may pretend to be your bank, the police, or any other official company in order to sound convincing. Sometimes you may get a 'warm up call' where no information is discussed. This is to set the scene for a later call where you may be asked for information.

OP has physically been in the bank and told that their accounts are being closed, after the bank questioned transfers from abroad.

sterka

from UK

Stheno

sterka wrote: »

from UK

It's possible it raised an issue for them and they are closing the account as they are not comfortable with the transactions and are concerned there is some sort of fraud/money laundering going on if there were regular transfers of relatively large amounts.

If you do get another bank account you may want to change how you operate it with such transfers tbh.

sterka

that basically meaning that I'm banned within RB group? in any state? for how long is there any time frame?

Stheno

sterka wrote: »

that basically meaning that I'm banned within RB group? in any state? for how long is there any time frame?

Well Ulster bank won't open any account for you here for some time at least

CreepingDeath

J Mysterio wrote: »

BOI did that to me when I was finishing college a few years back, it was a fcking disgrace.

That was probably for a completely different reason.

You probably had a special student account which had no fees etc.
So when you left college, you weren't entitled to continue that specific account type.

daheff

if you really want to know whats going on you should send them a data protection request requesting them to disclose all information that they hold about you and your husband and the reasons for which they are closing your account.


funnily enough theres an article in the paper today about one of these

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/latest-news/personal-bank-account-files-going-back-years-can-be-seen-for-635-29493588.html


Section 4 of the Data Protection Act says any individual has a right to obtain a copy, clearly explained, of any information relating to them kept on computer or in a structured manual filing system.

J Mysterio

CreepingDeath wrote: »

You probably had a special student account which had no fees etc.
So when you left college, you weren't entitled to continue that specific account type.

Incorrect assumption.

I was actually €20 overdrawn when they sent me that letter. I had banked with them since i was 12 and my entire family banks with them and always have.

They never sent me a letter to say 'gis the 20', just went straight to 'close your account and piss off'.

Very little foresight to treat a student (in his final year) like that. With Ulster Bank now and lodging cash money regularly.