richarddance

I have been working for Xerox Emirates for the past few years, and due to the economic downturn have decided to come back to the UK.

I have about £25k in my Starlingbank account which has been frozen.

They have closed my account until i can verify where the funds are from, since i was consulting for multiple companies i am finding it difficult to get paperwork, we all know what the ME is like for paperwork.
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Dear Richard


Information has come to light which is of concern to Starling Bank, as such we are closing your account.

Under the terms and conditions of your account, we can withdraw banking facilities by giving you notice in writing, and in-line with company policy, we don't elaborate further on how we've reached this decision.

Your account has now been closed

We can’t provide any further information on this decision and unfortunately our customer service team will be unable to provide any further clarification on this matter.

Thank you for your co-operation.



Team Starling

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I cannot access my money what is the best action to take.

scot47

Old hands in Saudi always advised newcomers to ship money out as soon as it arrived in your local bank account.

I think that advice applies to all over, but Starlingbank is a new one on me.

Pulaski

If you don't provide hard, provable* information about where the money came from, and fairly quickly, you will likely find the funds seized and subject to the asset forfeiture procedures. At that point you will have to provide the same information to the court, and either appear in court or retain a lawyer to appear on your behalf. I strongly recommend that you do whatever you need to do to persuade Starling Bank that the funds are legit, as it is likley to prove much more expensive and time consuming to get your money back through the court.

Your case is a text book example of why I have been telling people on BE for years, to contact their bank in the UK before wiring substantial funds into the account, otherwise the result may get ugly for at least a couple of reasons, as you may be about to find out!

* You need things like pay vouchers, invoices, contracts, task/ work descriptions (including locations), and all need to show thigs that can be checked - company names and registration numbers, addresses, phone numbers, names of owners and/or directors, etc.

BTW you say they have "frozen" your account. From the letter you have quoted, it looks more to me like they have closed your account, and the best you can hope for is that they'll send you a cheque. If a bank says they have "closed your account" I would not expect them to reopen it.

SanDiegogirl

That is one heck of a stark message from the bank. No indication of what they are doing with the money, and informing you that Customer Support cannot help you.

..... they did put a nice 'friendly' Richard though..... just the type of address you get from a scam artist !

FlameAura

We don't 'all know what the ME is like with paperwork'.

If it was all legit then I really don't see how you can not have any paperwork to show? Do they just deal cash in hand in the ME? Doubt it.

Sounds like they made the right decision to close your account as if you can't show a paper trail it sounds like dodgy work already.

richarddance

I am at IT network engineer, and i had full time job with Xerox UAE, on the weekends and evenings i would do private jobs for medium sized companies setting up computer systems, i had about 40 jobs who all paid by bank transfer to my UK account, the payments were over about 10 months paying between £200/500 depending how many hours i worked, they want documentation for all the entries, which i am finding impossible.

Please have some empathy as i spent most of my salary and this was my nest egg.

SanDiegogirl

Invoices. records of hours worked .... ?

richarddance

I showed they my advertising, but they did not accept this they want evidence that is notarised, or they intend to confiscate my money.

Invoices and records of hours are not acceptable to them.

If Starlingbank had a branch then i could go to see them, as they are a mobilephone bank i have to email them or send them information on the app.

richarddance

All the format i provided the evidence was not acceptable, but they did not say what was acceptable, i am not a solicitor so do not understand the laws here, not sure what to do,

I am at my wits end, so will probably have to give up.

SanDiegogirl

Hang on though.... surely the bank just cannot take the money... ?? confiscate it without a reasonable explanation e.g money laundering, tax evasion ?

This bank has had some excellent reviews - surprised it could/would get away with this.

Banking Ombudsman....?

I'm assuming the bank is keeping the money - although the message to the poster does not say this. The OP's post gave me the impression he was in danger of losing the money.....

spouse of scouse

I tried to find you a government resource but couldn't. This link is the best I could find to explain the hows and whys of banks freezing accounts, it's a solicitor's site but it does say that involving a lawyer is unlikely to help. At least it gives you an overview of the process, which agency is involved in investigating suspected fraudulent activity, time frames etc https://www.crippspg.co.uk/guidance-...bank-accounts/

SanDiegogirl

People on the web are suggesting contacting the following organisation:

https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/

richarddance

"The remaining balance of £xx,xxx.xx will be retained by starlingbank"

As i cannot provide evidence the money is mine,

SanDiegogirl

....meaning what? The bank itself does not keep the money, but it goes where... ? the government, HMRC ? Boris Johnson's slush fund ?

angie_329

I looked up some info for you. A few options.

Citizens Advice

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/de...ing-societies/

https://www.gov.uk/complain-financial-service

The Gov site Informs you about the financial ombudsman and tells you to apply for a copy of Bank's complaint procedure. I think that is vital. There seems to have been no due process .

It's best to write and send a registered letter asking for a copy of their complaints procedure and keep a copy and the tracking receipt as a first step. You must now document all your dealing with them, if you have not done so already.

Their address is : Starling Bank, 3rd floor, 2 Finsbury Ave, London EC2M 2PP

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/

how to complain which guide

https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rig...udsman-service

OR before using the Financial Ombudsman you could try Katie Morley- if your case is already with Ombudsman she cannot take it up.

Katie Morley investigates, at Money Telegraph, is good at these sort of issues where there is no sensible communication between HQ and customer. You will need to write a letter for her signed and addressed to the bank authorising them to speak to her and to disclose your personal information.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/ka...-contact-form/

You are up against the AML people in the back office ( anti money laundering) who are not empowered to apply common sense.