My Bank Have Put a Block on My Account due to a PM Bank Transfer Payment

[Anteater]

I haven't had any problems this bad but it's one of the reasons I always keep two different current accounts, each with a decent amount of money in them, with two completely different institutions (not different brands from the same group).

[Zhorro]

8 minutes ago, katyc said:

Wow! What bank is that? They sound a nightmare!

Barclays

[Spyder]

To defend Santander, I have done all my direct bank transfers with them. This includes all purchases and sells on this forum. I have used to buy from Auction houses, online bullion dealers. Never a problem. I find the people who have the problems are the one who insist on paying £1 into someone account first. This is where the suspicion comes from as these are the tactics that scammers use.  I sometime get a text message with a code to verify the transaction.

[katyc]

Just now, Zhorro said:

Barclays

That's another one on the "avoid" list then 😆

[HerefordBullyun]

2 minutes ago, katyc said:

That's another one on the "avoid" list then 😆

Im with TSB - to be fair theyve been really good. Becuase the app asks you about the payment - plus they have no quibbles anti fraud policy - Someone took money out my account saying was betfair I think my card was cloned. They refunded me with in 24 hrs - they were really good.

Edited I dont have a betfair account!

Edited June 12, 2023 by HerefordBullyun

[katyc]

4 minutes ago, HerefordBullyun said:

Im with TSB - to be fair theyve been really good. Becuase the app asks you about the payment - plus they have no quibbles anti fraud policy - Someone took money out my account saying was betfair I think my card was cloned. They refunded me with in 24 hrs - they were really good.

Edited I dont have a betfair account!

My bank asks all those Qs too but still stopped this particular payment and now I'm impatiently waiting for unblocking 😔

[Earthmetal]

2 hours ago, katyc said:

They ask where I purchased the item (I guess when they heard it's a forum it'll set alarm bells ringing perhaps....) - Surely the right thing is to politely remind them that information like that is private and confidential.

I'm livid that they are allowed to control the way I spend MY money for this long! - As you rightly ought to be.

Also, if I have to provide proof of purchases, - again, I'd have to remind them there is no requirement to provide proof of anything.

I don't like this one bit!!!! I'm also going to change current account because of it - the right action to take, although they won't really care.

 

 

1 hour ago, katyc said:

I don't mind them doing it now and again - it's for my protection. - No, it really isn't.

 

1 hour ago, katyc said:

I recall HSBC went down one evening - around 6 months ago - and thinking to myself - Imagine if that's the only account you have and you're on a night out? You can't buy another cocktail or even book an Uber home! - patronise places that accept cash, and use cash. It works every time flawlessly, and you cannot overspend.

 

[katyc]

2 minutes ago, Earthmetal said:

 

 

 

Yes, I always take cash out now and avoid card at all costs. If establishments are getting more cash it'll be harder (or at least delay) the digital disaster currency

[Spyder]

1 hour ago, katyc said:

 Imagine if that's the only account you have and you're on a night out? You can't buy another cocktail or even book an Uber home!

This is where it is important to use cash as much as possible. Even today, I was in the supermarket and paid with cash.  Use cash and you also control your spending.

[katyc]

7 minutes ago, Spyder said:

This is where it is important to use cash as much as possible. Even today, I was in the supermarket and paid with cash.  Use cash and you also control your spending.

I've started doing it for everything like I did before covid. They forced us in to the card habit for a few years and people need to get wise and leave that habit behind!

[Earthmetal]

2 minutes ago, katyc said:

I've started doing it for everything like I did before covid. They forced us in to the card habit for a few years...

Speak for yourself! 😉

[Roy]

1 hour ago, katyc said:

Did they ask for further info after a few days or just lift the freeze? 

I was using my bank app where I can send money using the recipient's bank details, I'm sure all bank apps are similar.

The app said no, the figure was too large, so I started to make smaller payments. I made about three when the app shut down and a message appeared 'call this number'. The app would not open.

Bear in mind, I'm in the US and the number I called was not attended at this time.

I called the following day. The pleasant chap at the other end asked me many, many questions until he had no doubt that I was me! He probably knows more about me than my wife.

The awkward bit was when he asked me how I knew the payee. It is hard to explain why I'm sending £**** to someone I have never met and trying to explain the forum 'code of honour' falls on deaf ears, but I was adamant. Make the payment now.

The ban was lifted but only once I agreed that the bank would not be liable if I was defrauded. It would be on me, alone. Tough decision but I was sure of the integrity of the seller.

I agreed, the money was sent and the app reactivated. Solved within half an hour. 

 

add: I just signed up to Monzo, looks good, waiting for the card. Cheers @ChrisSilver 😊

Edited June 12, 2023 by Roy

[andrewse]

Had an issue with revolut once who blocked my account for receiving money - think about 600 from someone.. had to make up a dummy invoice from them and upload it - was unblocked within the hour, sacked them off and moved over to santander - not had one issue, although i NEVER select the option of Purchasing Goods when the popup asks what the payments for... ALWAYS choose friend/family member - never had an issue..

 

[katyc]

18 minutes ago, Roy said:

The awkward bit was when he asked me how I knew the payee. It is hard to explain why I'm sending £**** to someone I have never met and trying to explain the forum 'code of honour' falls on deaf ears, but I was adamant. Make the payment now.

This was difficult/ weird for me too. But sadly wasn't good enough and they're looking in to it. They didn't call back today before closing, so tomorrow will be 1 week 😡

[andrewse]

6 minutes ago, katyc said:

This was difficult/ weird for me too. But sadly wasn't good enough and they're looking in to it. They didn't call back today before closing, so tomorrow will be 1 week 😡

Your being too honest with them haha just tell them what they want to hear so they can't block it...

[Thelonerangershorse]

Had this once with HSBC but that was £1200ish Had to explain I was buying gold coins, I neglected to mention the seller had stated their intention to sell up and leave the country as I didn't think that would help.

One the flip side, a couple of months ago I made an ATM withdrawal and asked for £200 but the machine only gave me £160, I complained to the staff at the time and they said they would need to get an engineer to check the machine, a few days later I had a phone call, we went through the details again, and was told the investigation was ongoing but could take up to 28 days. 2 days later I received a text message that said "Following an investigation an error has been found and we have issued a refund",  I checked online to see if my £40 was back, but no, they refunded the whole £200!

[Solachesis]

3 hours ago, katyc said:

Santander

I've looked on USwitch - a few banks doing £200 incentive to switch. As soon as this block is lifted - SEE YAH 😡

I very very much recommend NatWest, they had a £200 switch offer, and I switched from Starling because they did the same thing.

Still miss the features that traditional high street banks seem to lack, as they refuse to adapt in a world of challenger banks, but seriously...haven't had a single issue, have emptied the bank repeatedly in the same day.

I've proper stress tested it, "making a purchase" as the reason every time.

NatWest very good for buying/selling pms, and as everyone knows, I essentially day trade with physicals, so money is permanently going out and in daily, and no issues since switching

[RunicMetals]

The only time I've had a problem with a bank blocking my account so far was when sending £1000 from Halifax to a crypto exchange and I think what flagged it up was the fact that I sent £1 first then the rest shortly after. I had to phone them up to log back in to my account and when asked what the transaction was for I (rather stupidly) said it was for crypto so they gave me the speil about "there are lots of crypto scams" etc then unblocked my account. Every other time buying crypto or PMs has been fine but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again.

This is why it's important to have multiple bank accounts as backup in case one of them decides to block your account because they decide it's "for your own good". Also as others have said, spend cash wherever possible and ideally have only an amount needed for bills etc in your bank accounts while the rest is in real tangible assets that you own (what could that be I wonder 😉) - anything that reduces the banks' control over you is good in my book!

[Bigmarc]

19 minutes ago, RunicMetals said:

The only time I've had a problem with a bank blocking my account so far was when sending £1000 from Halifax to a crypto exchange and I think what flagged it up was the fact that I sent £1 first then the rest shortly after. I had to phone them up to log back in to my account and when asked what the transaction was for I (rather stupidly) said it was for crypto so they gave me the speil about "there are lots of crypto scams" etc then unblocked my account. Every other time buying crypto or PMs has been fine but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again.

This is why it's important to have multiple bank accounts as backup in case one of them decides to block your account because they decide it's "for your own good". Also as others have said, spend cash wherever possible and ideally have only an amount needed for bills etc in your bank accounts while the rest is in real tangible assets that you own (what could that be I wonder 😉) - anything that reduces the banks' control over you is good in my book!

I wonder if it still flags up if you put money in your account from a crypto exchange. 

[katyc]

Well guys, literally buying an ebay shipping label for £1.85 for an old game that I sold. Won't go through. So account fully blocked. What the hell? And you can't call them. They're closed.

[YorkshireStacker]

Not as extreme as having a block put on my account, but I did struggle this weekend to set up a transfer to buy something from on here. Set up a new payee with Halifax and got the automated robot lady phone call where they text you a number and then you key in or speak the code to confirm the details. Keyed in the code, it seemingly didn't pick up the key presses, tried again same thing, tried a third time but used my big boy brain and spoke the code this time...apparently the robot lady couldn't understand my sultry tones and told me to hang up and try again.

Repeated the whole process again - ala the definition of insanity 🙄  - and got the same result. In the end I jumped on Chase and set up the transfer in a matter of minutes. Definitely worth having account with multiple banks, one of them has got to let me spend my money, right?

[Solachesis]

13 minutes ago, katyc said:

Well guys, literally buying an ebay shipping label for £1.85 for an old game that I sold. Won't go through. So account fully blocked. What the hell? And you can't call them. They're closed.

When mine was blocked, PayPal payments worked but card payments and transfers wouldn't. Tried PayPal?

[Roy]

1 hour ago, katyc said:

Well guys, literally buying an ebay shipping label for £1.85 for an old game that I sold. Won't go through. So account fully blocked. What the hell? And you can't call them. They're closed.

This has gone from inconvenient to annoying to worrisome! You'll get it sorted but they've locked you out, you can't spend your own cash.

I'm being over dramatic, you've got friends and family and probably £20 in a jar but it's not the point, is it?

Fuming on your behalf 😊

[katyc]

Well, I called an emergency line because I was so stressed/annoyed.  Turns out just an eBay shipping issue and and card payments are still OK. But I'm still blocked from bank transfers.

Still frustrating, but not as bad as I thought.

[Sharron]

Was it a purchase from TSF Member or somewhere else?