Should Banks Be Able To Close Accounts If They Do Not Like Your Opinion

As far as I am concerned, it is the case of a woman with Downes Syndrome being refused an account because her deceased grandfather was classified as a Politically something Person and the cases like that that bother me. You read of cases like that regularly in the media, and the ones in the media are just the tip of the iceberg.

On Farage, I was felt, until all the facts are known he was entitled to be treated fairly and unjudgmentally. It is a bit like the argument made on another thread, that seemed to justify the French police shooting and killing a young driver because uninsured, unqualified drivers could be very dangerous and kill people.

MerylStreep

Whitewavemark2

There are two stories here.

The first is what appears to be a glitch in the systems and in the way banks are monitoring their customers accounts. We have no idea how much of a genuine problem this is. As this has become a bit of a panic in the media causing concern amongst some folk, I think it would be expedient for banks to give this some attention in order to satisfy their customers concerns.

The second story relates to Farage and his latest shenanigans.
Frankly this is a non-story and simply another attempt by Farage to grab headlines.

This can be ignored as the nonsense it is. (Unless of course you are a fan of and hang onto every word he says😄😄😄)

Hilarious, a glitch in the system
Tell that to the Vicar. It was personal and a blind man can see it for what it is.
I notice your stance on this story has changed from it being a story about Nigel Farage.

How do you think that banks deal with the millions of bank accounts!? Lots of little men toiling away at lots of little accounting books?.

If I was looking at the issue I would start by looking at the way the system is set up to see if the initial identification has a problem. Then look at the final decision making process and tweak that. However as a private institution I would always retain the right to refuse /expel any customer I choose. I would also be mindful of my obligation under the law.

With regards to Farage - that for me is how it started. I always knew the wretched man would not be telling the entire truth - and so it proved. However as I said -Farage is now a non-story.

growstuff

Farage doesn't need a business account. He pays himself through a company to avoid personal income tax and is the company's only employee.

Who are you to say he doesn't need a business account.

According to Companies House he is a director of three companies which also have other officers. These companies would need separate business accounts. He cannot intermingle their moneys with one another or his own.

Freya5

growstuff

Farage doesn't need a business account. He pays himself through a company to avoid personal income tax and is the company's only employee.

Who are you to say he doesn't need a business account.

Why would he?

He doesn't have any employees. His income is all personal income.

The bank appears happy enough for him to operate with a personal account.

PS. Just seen GSM's post. I didn't know about the other businesses.

I thought you probably didn’t. I thought he was the type to have his fingers in a few pies! 😊

Freya5

growstuff

Farage doesn't need a business account. He pays himself through a company to avoid personal income tax and is the company's only employee.

Who are you to say he doesn't need a business account.

If you are calling yourself a business you should have to show you are a business. Why should anyone not pay tax on all their income?

Businesses do pay tax. Who thinks they don’t?

Germanshepherdsmum

I thought you probably didn’t. I thought he was the type to have his fingers in a few pies! 😊

One of them is Reform (the political party). He hasn't mentioned anything about it not being able to access funds, so maybe it's with another bank and isn't affected.

maddyone

Businesses do pay tax. Who thinks they don’t?

I know a minority don’t pay what is due, but it represents an enormous amount.

DaisyAnneReturns

Freya5

growstuff

Farage doesn't need a business account. He pays himself through a company to avoid personal income tax and is the company's only employee.

Who are you to say he doesn't need a business account.

If you are calling yourself a business you should have to show you are a business. Why should anyone not pay tax on all their income?

I'm registered with HMRC as a business and I've paid tax on all my income. However, I've never had a business account. I did contact my bank about it, but was told that my income was too low and irregular for a business account and they were happy for me to carry on using a personal account. HMRC doesn't care whether tax is paid through a personal or business account.

The issue with Farage is that he pays corporation tax rather than personal income tax, which is perfectly legal.

Germanshepherdsmum

If you call it a bank and say you had an account with it what are people to assume Beverly? There is one officer and no assets in excess of liabilities - you don’t think that’s worrying? If it was calling itself a bank that’s extremely worrying to me, if not to you, and perhaps Metro have done you a favour.

For heaven's sake - read the words I actually wrote instead of making assumptions and making stuff up!

The organisation Our Duty is not a bank, I never called it a bank, it does not describe itself as a bank and I never said I had an account with it. I have no connection with it at all.

The bank mentioned in my post was Metro Bank, which is a bank, who decided that it did not want the Our Duty organisation as a customer. I do not and never have had an account with Metro Bank, although I could if I chose to because it is, in fact, a bank.

For anyone who’s interested in the actual subject of this thread, which is banks closing accounts of people whose opinions they don't agree with, it's happened again. RBS have apparently closed the joint account held by Professor Leslie Sawyers and her husband. She's the Equalities and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland. There is an article in The Times about it.

Hope that's clear.

My apologies, I have re-read your post and misunderstood. Looking at Our Duty’s accounts, it’s entirely feasible that the account was closed due to lack of funds.

Farage aside, for the moment, it appears from various media articles that bank accounts are being closed to an extent that we were not aware of until he became a victim. Unfortunately, being the contentious individual he is, the waters are being muddied.

The closure of the account with RBS of Professor Lesley Sawyers (the Equalities and Human Rights Commissioner for Scotland) and her husband Allan McKechnie, is worrying. She has, apparently, banked with them for 32 years. Allegedly, no explanation has been given and the matter is not up for discussion.

Bearing in mind that we are all reliant on our bank accounts to conduct every-day transactions, from simple shopping expeditions at the supermarket, paying our bills, etc... not to mention that we are being encouraged to become a 'cashless' society - if banks actually are conducting campaigns against individuals on the basis of their beliefs or opinions, then this is IMO seriously concerning. How much of this is hype as opposed to reality, I don't know - we only have the media to rely on and their reporting will depend on their political slant, which is also worrying.

But, considering how essential it is to have a bank account and how difficult it would be to live a normal life without one (where the hell do you put your money if no bank will take it?), then I think banks should have a duty to tell you why they are closing your account. For the majority of people, a bank account is an absolute necessity, not a 'shall-I-or-shall-I-not-bother-with-one' option.

I know banks are not obliged to give a reason for closing an account, but considering how difficult it is to function without one, perhaps that needs to change?

We don't need to know why Farage is being 'unbanked' - but he does. Or maybe he does but is exploiting the situation for political reasons - which is really not helpful if, indeed, there is a 'plague' of bank account closures.

Yes, excellent post Dickens. I have said all along that this is not about Farage, although clearly it is for him, but it is for the rest of us to worry about. We should not be in the position of needing to worry about having our accounts closed and find ourselves in that very difficult position.
We regularly transfer money to New Zealand, sometimes small amounts for the children for gifts or to help out our daughter who is in the process of getting a divorce, or sometimes larger amounts as in a gift from her grandmother’s estate, not huge as far as estates go, because my mother didn’t leave a huge estate, but more than would be given as a birthday gift. Will our bank suddenly decide to debank us because of this? We’ve done absolutely nothing illegal but it all worries me and I think it should worry us all.

I agree with Dickens and maddyone I am not a Farage fan gran but I am thankful for the publicity he has brought regarding debanking

We have family scattered across the globe and it is not unusual for money to be transferred between us for various reasons. Sometimes large amounts when it comes to holidays etc.

maddyone

Yes, excellent post Dickens. I have said all along that this is not about Farage, although clearly it is for him, but it is for the rest of us to worry about. We should not be in the position of needing to worry about having our accounts closed and find ourselves in that very difficult position.
We regularly transfer money to New Zealand, sometimes small amounts for the children for gifts or to help out our daughter who is in the process of getting a divorce, or sometimes larger amounts as in a gift from her grandmother’s estate, not huge as far as estates go, because my mother didn’t leave a huge estate, but more than would be given as a birthday gift. Will our bank suddenly decide to debank us because of this? We’ve done absolutely nothing illegal but it all worries me and I think it should worry us all.

Transactions might look 'dodgy' on paper - but might be perfectly legal and above board, and customers should at least have the right to know if they are suspected of laundering so they have the opportunity to correct the 'information' if necessary.

It is unfortunate that Mr Farage is the driver here because he will not be trusted to be honest about it and will exploit the situation for his own political ends so, like you say, this is not about him now. Individuals on the other side of the political spectrum are also having their accounts closed, so it would seem that there really is a problem.

I would just like the reporting to be factual and not coloured by the anti 'woke' brigade's - nor the 'leftie' faction's hype.

Facts and the truth is what we need. Maybe this has been going on for some time - or maybe not, at the moment we just don't know.

Like you, I've transferred largish sums to relatives abroad for birthdays etc and to 'help-out' on occasions. My bank has never queried them - maybe because the recipients have the same surname - but I share your concern.

So if we are transferring this thread from Farage's attempt to get publicity to "ordinary people," just how many Gnetters have actually had their bank account closed? Not people you know, or somebody someone told you about but you, yourself.

What is the relevance of that question. I wasnt involved in the post office scandal I still was concerned about what happened there.

DaisyAnneReturns

So if we are transferring this thread from Farage's attempt to get publicity to "ordinary people," just how many Gnetters have actually had their bank account closed? Not people you know, or somebody someone told you about but you, yourself.

Well, hopefully, it's not so widespread as to include any Gnetters having their accounts closed.

But there's two issues here - PEPs are in one category, and mere mortals who might be conducting nefarious transactions with money being laundered in the process, in another... and possible there are those with a foot in both, who knows? We've only got the media to rely on for the information so speculation is natural.

But if banks are indeed closing accounts because they don't approve of their customer's opinions - and again, we've only go the media as a source of information at the moment, so it could all be twaddle, I do think we should take an interest - as we have and that's why this thread has meandered from Farage to 'ordinary people'.

Anyone this happens to would be in shock, so, thanks GSM for clarifying some of the legal issues, thanks also to the GNs who posted reports from reliable sources, and kudos to WWM for the long, and yes daunting, list of how to go about dealing with the situation. Hope none of you ever have to use it.

Surely banks are just like any other business though, be they pub or greengrocers? They may turn customers away if they choose.

I asked if anyone had been in this position because I just don't believe the reports I'm reading. It feels as if, every day that goes by, I trust fewer and fewer sources.

I agree Daisy. Banks are like any other private business which may turn customers away if they wish. They also close the accounts of people who consistently overdraw without permission or who owe bank fees which they won’t or can’t pay. There are many people on GN - if there were such a widespread problem of accounts being closed for no reason it’s reasonable to assume this would have happened to a member. But it seems not.

DaisyAnneReturns

Surely banks are just like any other business though, be they pub or greengrocers? They may turn customers away if they choose.

I asked if anyone had been in this position because I just don't believe the reports I'm reading. It feels as if, every day that goes by, I trust fewer and fewer sources.

If that’s what you believe, why has Jeramy Hunt warned the banks?