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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I heard the same growstuff about the business account being refused. How else would you or I know of this? Also,surely if your funds fell below Coutts financial limit, the bank would contact the you to arrange a meeting to clarify this matter,not just arbitrarily shut down your account? Remember years ago, the bank manager wanted to discuss your account with you? Well why doesn't that happen, or appear to happen these days? Two days ago it was because NF was in receipt of Russian money,now it's an unsatisfactory bank balance? Wonder what it will be today?

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.

It seems that Farage had an account at Coutts Bank which is only available to customers of high wealth value, it seems that Natwest owns Coutts and offered him an “ordinary” account”.

Of course there are far less generous conditions on an ordinary account and he didn’t like the comedown.

Anniel

Casdon

Banks can close accounts for many other reasons too Monica.
finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-closed-account-now-140024229.html

I’m not judging Farage or anybody else, I just can’t see the point in fevered speculation about something we have only heard one side of the story about in all these specific cases. It’s being whipped up by the right wing in the media, and the government have announced what they are doing about it. Everything else is just half truths.

So now it is the “far right” stirring up trouble? I am the OP and I am not far right far left but a normal person who happens to be a member of the Conservative Party! I understand that in their zeal to stop money laundering and other dubious financial dealings the government legislated and articles in the broadsheet press say the banks used this Togo further than was ever intended. For those posters who obviously are well known lefties, you show how sanguine you are if banks attack their customers. Listen to Iain Dales show on LBC yesterday( Tuesday) He devoted the first hour to this subject and loads of ordinary people phoned in with their stories of their bank closing their accounts. This is not an unimportant matter. So stop dismissing this problem as a far right concoction. This Conservative govt is not far right and needs to sharpen up their policies on this and other matters.

I don’t think you read what I said properly Anniel, I was talking about right wing media, not right wing government. I was supportive of the government’s approach of looking further into the issue.

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😄😄😄)

I completely agree with you.

MayBee70

Why on earth are Nigel Farages banking problems even newsworthy?

Because it has drawn attention to what is happening to many people.
Isn’t that newsworthy?

Casdon

Banks can close accounts for many other reasons too Monica.
finance.yahoo.com/news/bank-closed-account-now-140024229.html

I’m not judging Farage or anybody else, I just can’t see the point in fevered speculation about something we have only heard one side of the story about in all these specific cases. It’s being whipped up by the right wing in the media, and the government have announced what they are doing about it. Everything else is just half truths.

So now it is the “far right” stirring up trouble? I am the OP and I am not far right far left but a normal person who happens to be a member of the Conservative Party! I understand that in their zeal to stop money laundering and other dubious financial dealings the government legislated and articles in the broadsheet press say the banks used this Togo further than was ever intended. For those posters who obviously are well known lefties, you show how sanguine you are if banks attack their customers. Listen to Iain Dales show on LBC yesterday( Tuesday) He devoted the first hour to this subject and loads of ordinary people phoned in with their stories of their bank closing their accounts. This is not an unimportant matter. So stop dismissing this problem as a far right concoction. This Conservative govt is not far right and needs to sharpen up their policies on this and other matters.

MayBee70

Why on earth are Nigel Farages banking problems even newsworthy?

Because it is happening to others.
To people who are not well-known.
To ordinary people being penalised by banks

Even if the Ombudsman finds in favour of the customer and the bank has to pay back illegal charges, then the bank can decide to close a customer's account even though the bank was the party found to be in the wrong.

MayBee70

Why on earth are Nigel Farages banking problems even newsworthy?

If he wasn’t such a high profile figure would you have known that this has happened to hundreds of people?

Why on earth are Nigel Farages banking problems even newsworthy?

It might be worth asking why his account has decreased. Where has the money gone?

Primrose53

growstuff

Debsododaband

I thought it was because he banked with Coutts and you have to have a certain amount coming in and savings up to 3 million pounds. He was offered another account with one of their other banks, as in Nat West, but he refused.

And lied about it. He's now claiming he was only offered a NatWest account on Thursday after this all blew up, but there's a video of him on his TV programme a few weeks ago stating he was offered a NatWest account.

Total rubbish! Last week he said he was going to make an announcement on his show at 7pm. 15 minutes before the programme aired he received a phone call from the Bank offering him a personal account only. This was no good to him as he needed a business account so he could pay his staff.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-6609703

Nigel Farage fell below the financial threshold required to hold an account at Coutts, the prestigious private bank for the wealthy, the BBC has been told.

It is understood he was subsequently offered a standard account at NatWest which owns Coutts.

Mr Farage has said he believes his account is being shut for political reasons and he has since been turned down by nine other lenders.

But people familiar with Coutts' move said it was a "commercial" decision.

It continues with more details.

M0nica

GSM So when banks refused to open an account for Dominic Lawson's daughter, it was because they had good reason to beleive she was involved in money laundering.

This is the point, it is clear what the rules are and has been for a long time, but too many of those having their accounts closed down are not people in positions to engage in money laundering and small businesses are ruined and individual's lives turned upside down, for reasons that no one can fathom. It is Kafkaesque.

No, that is not what has been reported about the closure of her account. We are not and cannot be privy to the details. It is not all about money laundering.

Why is Coutts talking to the BBC? Isn't a customers information private? I think this shows a further departure from the ethics we used to expect from Banks.

growstuff

Sorry Primrose it's not rubbish. How do you think I knew about the offer of a NatWest account? I'm not a clairvoyant.

So where’s your proof then? He was live on 29 June … that was my proof and you never knew before then.

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.

The company that took all the so called subscriptions from those who placed their faith in Farage and apparently for ukip you mean! paid through PayPal.

Accounts

GSM So when banks refused to open an account for Dominic Lawson's daughter, it was because they had good reason to beleive she was involved in money laundering.

This is the point, it is clear what the rules are and has been for a long time, but too many of those having their accounts closed down are not people in positions to engage in money laundering and small businesses are ruined and individual's lives turned upside down, for reasons that no one can fathom. It is Kafkaesque.