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

Dickens His experience is no different form any other person less well known. Once one bank chucks you out, no other bank wants to touch you, and many other banks will not let you open a ccount with them either..

I think the system is outrageous and can best be described as being operated like a kangaroo court. The person told their account is being closed, cannot find out why and cannot defend themselves. A bit like justice in China, North Korea and Russia, and other dictatorships.

MaizieD

^Regardless of what anyone things of Farage - and I don't think highly of him at all - if he's being victimised for no good reason, then this whole PEP issue needs looking into.^

As far as I can make out, Farage's initial claim, which he made on various social media,(and I've seen his tweet) was that his accounts had been frozen because of his support for Brexit. He has used this to portray himself as a victim and perpetuate the leave/divide (because without that he loses his meaning in life and his time in the limelight).

It seems to me that it doesn't require a great deal of brain to work out that a bank with which has held his accounts for 30 or 40 years(depending on which story you're reading), during which time he has made his anti EU beliefs extremely clear, is going to freeze his accounts for such an infantile reason. There must be something more serious in their rationale for their action. But we will never know because of bank/client confidentiality.
The fact that he has been turned away by 9 other banks (announced by him on twitter yesterday) tells me that it is something rather more than an error, the act of an overzealous jobsworth or a political vendetta.

Must admit I've not read much about the situation MaizieD - I tend to 'zone' out when I see his name in the media. Which probably means I shouldn't comment on things I'm not clued-up on!

To suggest that he's had his account closed because of Brexit is bonkers though. If this were the case I'd imagine there'd be hundreds of high-profile Brexit supporters / campaigners being 'unbanked'.

One can only speculate... why 9 other banks have declined his custom. It's easy to blame "corporate prejudice" and he knows that he can exploit his 'victimisation' because any information given is between him and the bank(s) and the public will never know the truth.

M0nica

WWM3 Despite these regulations being meant to apply to wealthy individuals from foreign countries having bank accounts here, these rules are being overused on people who have absolutely no criminal connections and wouldn't know how to launder money if they tried.

Despite all the measures you mention people are having difficulty finding out what has happened and why, and are having difficulty opening new accounts. Appeals to the Ombudsman take time - and what do you do in the meanwhile.

I am truly shocked by the complacency being shown by so many who usually know better.

I am glad Nigel Farage has brought this out in the open, however justified, or not his claim may be - and he disputes Coutts' claims.

Of course because he is Nigel Farage, it does not occur to anyone on GN to believe him. This thread is a wonderful exercise in unconscious bias and people not seeing they have it, even when it jumps up and down in front of them waving flags

This.
Well said Monica.

Normally I would say that banks shouldn't be able to close your account if they don't like your views. However, in Farage's case I would make an exception

I wonder where the banks would stand legally if someone challenged them.

I was listening to Radio 4 in the car so not sure of the programme. It was made clear that Coutts requires a minimum of £1 million in loans or investments or £3 million in savings. Garage just kept repeating he has plenty of money in his current account….. i.e. none of the accounts mentioned. When pressed about whether he would relocate to Europe he was evasive.

So unsurprisingly the story about Nigel Farage turns out to be tripe:

“There is one problem with all of this. It doesn’t appear to be true.
In fact, according to a new report by the BBC, the decision to close Farage’s Coutts bank account was based not on his political views, but on the fact that his bank balance was below the threshold required by the elite provider.
According to the BBC’s Business Editor Simon Jack, “Coutts requires its customers to borrow or invest at least £1 million with the bank or hold £3 million in savings”.
Farage admitted to the BBC that he did not meet that required threshold.
His claim to have been unable to find another bank willing to give him an account also does not appear to be true. According to the BBC, Coutts’ owners actually offered him an alternative account at the high street bank Natwest, which he has not yet taken up.”

Nigel Farage
@Nigel_Farage
·
Jun 29
The establishment are trying to force me out of the UK by closing my bank accounts.

I have been given no explanation or recourse as to why this is happening to me.

This is serious political persecution at the very highest level of our system.

But it wasn’t closed for that reason GrandtanteJE65 it was closed for having insufficient funds in it.
Read the latest page on here 😁 granted there’s a lot to take in.

Primrose53

Whitewavemark2

Oreo

Interesting reading WhitewaveMark2 and it seems from that list that any of us could easily fall foul of our banks.Highly worrying in fact.
It also appears that NF hasn’t done anything more than accidentally let his account fall below a certain amount needed.

No it seems that Farage has used the issue for his own political ends.

Remember he said that his account was closed FOR POLITICAL REASONS .

No he did not! he said he assumed it was for political reasons as he could think of no other reasons having held his accounts since 1980 ish.

But he wasn’t telling the truth was he!

Primrose53

Whitewavemark2

Mine isn’t unconcsious bias i am totally consciously biased - I loathe the individual. He is no friend of Britain.

OMG You’re still wounded aren’t you because of Brexit? This stress is doing you no good. 😉

Sorry?!

It sounds odd to me that a bank would close someone's account because they did not agree with his opinions, but like any business they presumably have the right to ask you to take your custom elsewhere.

A bank is legally obliged to prevent money laundering or money being transferred to terrorist organisations, or moved around to avoid taxes due on it etc.

Presumably, closing an account is one way of safeguarding the bank from accusations of illegal practices, which doubtless was the bank in question's first concern re Mr Farrage.

Regarding the Yorkshire vicar, he is entitled not to approve of the gay community, but his Building Society is just as entitled not to agree with him on this point.

Whitewavemark2

Oreo

Interesting reading WhitewaveMark2 and it seems from that list that any of us could easily fall foul of our banks.Highly worrying in fact.
It also appears that NF hasn’t done anything more than accidentally let his account fall below a certain amount needed.

No it seems that Farage has used the issue for his own political ends.

Remember he said that his account was closed FOR POLITICAL REASONS .

No he did not! he said he assumed it was for political reasons as he could think of no other reasons having held his accounts since 1980 ish.

Whitewavemark2

Mine isn’t unconcsious bias i am totally consciously biased - I loathe the individual. He is no friend of Britain.

OMG You’re still wounded aren’t you because of Brexit? This stress is doing you no good. 😉

If he has tweeted this reason it will be the reason Coutts has closed his account or they could come out and say it wasn’t.
Not enough cash in that account, not anything dodgy then.
If he has a personal account and a business account with them I can see this happening accidentally all too easily.

What I’m more interested in are all those other cases out there.

Mine isn’t unconcsious bias i am totally consciously biased - I loathe the individual. He is no friend of Britain.

M0nica

WWM3 Despite these regulations being meant to apply to wealthy individuals from foreign countries having bank accounts here, these rules are being overused on people who have absolutely no criminal connections and wouldn't know how to launder money if they tried.

Despite all the measures you mention people are having difficulty finding out what has happened and why, and are having difficulty opening new accounts. Appeals to the Ombudsman take time - and what do you do in the meanwhile.

I am truly shocked by the complacency being shown by so many who usually know better.

I am glad Nigel Farage has brought this out in the open, however justified, or not his claim may be - and he disputes Coutts' claims.

Of course because he is Nigel Farage, it does not occur to anyone on GN to believe him. This thread is a wonderful exercise in unconscious bias and people not seeing they have it, even when it jumps up and down in front of them waving flags

The unconscious bias sadly includes your own Monica, or you would have recognised that as many people on this thread have supported Anniel’s original post or have asked questions without prejudice, or remained neutral as have dissented. We all have bias, conscious or unconscious, whether we realise it or not.

I have seen an account on BBC website saying that Farage's account was closed because he kept insufficient cash in it, and he has been offered a different account at Nat West.
So, no dodgy dealings as has been suggested repeatedly on here.

Oreo

Tbh WhitewaveMark2 we don’t really know why Coutts closed his account as there are conflicting reasons circulating now on SM.One of which could be seen as political.
I wish we could focus more on this whole issue of having your account closed for no good reason tho, and not just Farage.

Well if you believe Farage ( I accept it is a stretch) he has tweeted from his swimming pool in Europe somewhere.

Saying that Coutts closed his account because of lack of funds - and - get this- he didn’t know that they have a funding minimum😄😄😄😄 - this from someone who worked in the city. He also admitted that he had been offered a nat west account.

Oreo

Tbh WhitewaveMark2 we don’t really know why Coutts closed his account as there are conflicting reasons circulating now on SM.One of which could be seen as political.
I wish we could focus more on this whole issue of having your account closed for no good reason tho, and not just Farage.

Absolutely. Just seen one chap, JJ something, onTalk TV, who thinks this is hilarious. I for one do not.

Tbh WhitewaveMark2 we don’t really know why Coutts closed his account as there are conflicting reasons circulating now on SM.One of which could be seen as political.
I wish we could focus more on this whole issue of having your account closed for no good reason tho, and not just Farage.

The regulations apply to everyone MOnica. As a solicitor I wasn’t able to accept cash from a client, no matter who they were. Money laundering regulations even apply if your client is an Oxbridge college as one of mine was - not that they would come along with a wad of notes, but you have to know your client and where their money came from. (Yes, I know, foreign students!)

M0nica

WWM2 Just because you are politically opposed to Farage, you are letting yourprejudices get in the way of a fair and objective view of what is happening.

An MP made an accusation about Farage in Parliament for which he has failed to provide evidence or repeat outside the House of Commons so that Farage can challenge it legally.

But you, and others are ignoring the stories that are in the news, usually at a local paper level, of ordinary people and businesses, who suddenly have their bank accounts closed, with no reason given. To do so, it is considered, may give criminals information as to how their nefarious behaviour was discovered.

But most of these cases are not criminals, they are ordinary people, who are victims of 'the computer says' because of confusion, mistaken identity or other error.

In the last day we have heard that Domenica Lawson, who has Downes Syndrome, has had her account closed because she was she was identified as a 'Politically Exposed Person', because her dead grandfather was once Chancellor of the Exchequer.

👏👏👏
IMO some may be biased about D Lawsons daughters experience, probably because he writes for the DM 😁

GrannyGravy13

Whitewavemark2

Your third point ^complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service (Fos)

That is all well and good but as the waiting list to even have a telephone appointment is approaching a year, what is a person supposed to do.

Well this. Obviously is something that needs looking at.

Like all public services it seems underfunded, perhaps it is time it was better funded by the businesses it oversees?

Oreo

But you said he had accounts closed for dodgy nefarious reasons! It seems not.

Maybe not but his explanation for the closure was