Barclays account under review for transferring £5000 from my Revolut account **RESOLVED**

[ukguy85]

Hello, 

On the 28th of September 2023, when I transferred £5,000 from my Revolut account to my Barclays account my account was frozen/restricted.

I had a total balance of around £8,500 in the account when it happened.

Barclays sent me an email asking me to fill out a form and explain this £5,000 transfer. I did submit the form to them and on Monday this week (2 Oct) I even asked them to submit additional information in order to explain the origin of the funds into my Revolut account as I really don't mind sharing why this payment came into my account (it's a payment for buying ad space from me from my websites). The sender simply had a Revolut account and is located out of the UK so it was convenient for me to receive it via Revolut. I prefer to keep my money with Barclays (well, not sure anymore) and that is why I transferred the funds once received to Barclays, there really isn't any other reason behind it.

The payment is not going to reverse from the sender's end, it's not a fraudulent payment.

Today (3 Oct) when I tried to find out my balance I noticed my balance was deducted by Barclays by £5,000. I called the fraud dept asking what happened, and they told me it's very normal for these funds to be deducted from the account whilst the account is under review. The direct debits I have in the account that are normally taken in the very beginning of every month were deducted successfully, so the account is sort of active but I cannot access it online. The rep also asked me how could I find out my account balance and I explained if you call the Barclays Complaints line and enter in the phone your account number, sort code, date of birth and security question then the phone system simply tells you your account balance so I know my balance right now is £3,522.90 instead of £8,522.90 but that is because they are reviewing this £5,000 transaction.

The last person I spoke with from the fraud dept. was the nicest one out of all the previous ones I spoke with, he explained to me everything and was patient and I asked him if by default someone looks into this only after 7 business days and it seems to me that they hold customer funds whilst doing nothing whilst the review takes place and he assured me they really don't work like this, and many times they have resolved similar cases even in less than 7 working days.

I also told him the system for submission of the answers to their questions allows online submission only once, you cannot view what you submitted or double check it, the only other way is to call over the phone, so he gave me an email address where I could submit more documents if needed, and he advised me to send a screenshot of my Revolut account and to basically explain again in the email the origin of the funds, which I did.

So I'm now waiting to hear back from them.

Edited October 3, 2023 by ukguy85

[theberengersniper]

Barclays appear to do this quite regularly. The payment originating outside the UK will have triggered their fraud alert.

Unfortunately, there really is very little you can do apart from let it run its course. You're fortunate you have funds you can still access, some people haven't been that lucky. Their fraud team are not allowed to tell you why they have your account frozen either, so there isn't really much to be gained by calling them. If you've submitted the information they've asked for, and anything else you think may assist them, all you can really do is ride it out for the moment.

[slick132]

Hi UKGuy,

This is a fairly routine occurance with B's but, in case they find against you and decide to close the account, you need to make sure you open, or already have, an account with another account provider.

You may hear nothing for several weeks - read other similar threads here so you see how these cases run ........

[ukguy85]

Yes, I don't rely only on them and would never rely on one single bank, I see how crazy it could be. 

I see in this forum for instance this guy said Barclays froze his account with £80,000:

But this thread doesn't have an ending, there is no report what happened in the end - is there a way for the user to be notified that others might be very thankful if he could share what happened in the end?

[dx100uk]

yea we know!!

sadly very few users ever comeback here after getting help....

ive posted again to the thread.

 

dx

 

[ukguy85]

Thanks, maybe because I'm a new user in this forum I cannot reply to the threads, are you able to respond to this thread as well please?

This user - ziake - said by 22nd of June he hasn't heard back, I'm wondering what happened since between the end of June and now, has he received any response? I'd be very happy to hear from him what happened in the end likewise.

Unless there is going to be a crazy reason why I cannot discuss or provide information, I really don't see a reason why I shouldn't update here once I hear back, and I'm intending to do so, unless of course the bank or anyone relevant would advise not to, but I cannot see why not to be honest...

Sorry, my bad, he said 22 days but his last post about it was on the 15th of June, still ... I'd be very happy to hear back from him what happened in the end. I couldn't edit my post so I'm posting it here.

[dx100uk]

just type no need to hit quote

lets see if they return.

dx

 

[Ethel Street]

You have been fortunate compared to most posters who had the same problem because usually people report that their whole account has been frozen and their DDs etc aren't paid, and they can't access it at all, and they can end up defaulting on mortgage payments etc.  Looks like it's only the £5k transaction that triggered the fraud alert that has been 'frozen' (by being removed from your account) and you can operate the rest of the account, DDs are being paid. Have I understood that correctly?

You are doing everything that we usually recommend when banks freeze an account because something that happened triggered a fraud or money-laundering alert.

-- Speak to the fraud department, the bank counter/call centre staff will know nothing. Make sure a real human being is dealing with it, the original alert and freezing is usually triggered by AI.

-- Be polite and provide everything they ask for asap.

Looks like you are doing all of that so all you can do now is be patient. And act on recommendation upthread about always having a backup account with another bank. If it were to happen again all your accounts with Barclays could be completely frozen.

[ukguy85]

@Ethel Street - No, it's not 100% accurate what you understood, I cannot "operate" the rest of the account, I have no access to it, I can only hear my account balance and the DDs are being paid, but I have no online access to the account (via PC/Mobile) and the account is restricted, perhaps not restricted like some others described here but it cannot be operated right now.

I've just called the fraud dept asking for an update, they said there is no update yet but it can take up to 7 working days so they said there still a few days left.

[Ethel Street]

Thanks for clarifying.  Did you say the DDs were paid though?  That's a better position than some have found themselves in.

[ukguy85]

Yes, the DDs were deducted from the account this week whilst it's under review and were paid successfully. But the account is still under review and cannot be accessed online.

[ukguy85]

So today in the morning I got a text message from Barclays:

We need to speak to you before we can remove the block on your account. Please call the number on the back of your card and follow the steps to talk to our fraud team. Your Barclays team

I called them and got the account unblocked after asking me lots of questions to verify I'm the owner of the account. I was also advised to beware of scams etc.

The only thing I see now when I log into the account is that the £5,000 is deducted from the account and shown as "FUNDS REMOVED", I called them again to inquire about it, they told me since the case just got closed it would take 24-48h to see the funds back in the account, and if for any reason I don't see them - just give them a call.

I would update once this also settles or not.

 

[Ethel Street]

That's good news, now all you need is the money back!

It's also good that they are not telling you to bugger off they don't want you as a customer any more, which happens to some people.

[ukguy85]

I still don't see the money back in my account.

I called the fraud team again who sent an email to the relevant dept asking why the funds haven't been credited. I also called their complaints line who advised me it should happen very shortly, as I said I'd raise a complaint if not.

It's almost the weekend, so let's see, it took them 2-3 business days to deduct the funds (account flagged on 28/09, £5000 was deducted on 03/10) but I don't think I should have £5000 less in the account for the weekend because they move slow, so let's see, I'd keep you posted.

[ukguy85]

I did not get the £5000 back, they said they are sending it back to the "Remitting Bank" but the remitting bank doesn't have it neither, I guess I will have to get the FOS involved.

Really annoying.

[ukguy85]

Just an update, the originator of the funds is the reason for this, I couldn't get more information but I think I understand better what happened here, my account is back and active so this thread can be closed.

I am considering withdrawing the FoS complaint but would give it some time before doing so, from your concern (readers) this topic can be closed.

I think Barclays from a perpesective now has handled it okay, I am still considering changing to a different bank, I opened 2 other accounts just in case.

[dx100uk]

thank you for coming back to tell us.

 

[slick132]

Hi UKGuy

From what you've said, it's not clear if you have your funds back or not.

You have your bank account back to use but did you get the funds ?

[ukguy85]

I have the account back but without these funds, however the funds were flagged by Revolut from someone who paid these to me into my Revolut account.

 

[jk2054]

so the original sender of them flagged them to revolut? 

 

or revolut flagged your transfter between your accounts?

 

can you please clarify

[unclebulgaria67]

It appears whoever paid the £5000 to the OP wanted their money back, so they contacted their Bank, which is why Barclays got involved, as the money had been transferred into one of their accounts after initially being with Revolut.

 

 

[ukguy85]

Yes, what unclebulgaria67 said, the person who did this sent me "bad funds" and I have no way of knowing exactly what was bad with them, who is the one who really called them, I can't really tell.

I told the sender it wasn't okay, and that besides getting my Revolut account closed now this could have been worse. I will never deal with him anymore, whatever he did was extremely unprofessional.

I did start raising a FoS complaint but I'm thinking of closing it because I don't think the FoS would do much here, would you suggest to close it or leave it open in order to get maybe more relevant information that could help me here?

I am still extremely upset with this person, I've dealt with him before in my personal life but I don't trust him or his company anymore, never imagined it would come from him but I did explain my best to Barclays, which is my account is open with them - I am just furious about the whole incident but they are not the ones to blame here.

[unclebulgaria67]

Yes close the FOS complaint, as you won't get more information.

Perhaps the person did not have 100% authorisation for the £5000, so they had to submit request for Bank to get the money back.

As you say, don't deal with them again and always ensure there is a contract fully agreed, you can show a Bank if needed.

[jk2054]

your revolut account got closed because of this?

[ukguy85]

Yes, jk2054