Closure was discovered when group tried to make a payment to cover student’s university accommodation
We run a charity that awards scholarships to underprivileged medical students in Zimbabwe. When I tried to make a payment to cover a student’s university accommodation, a message informed me that our charitable account no longer exists. I called Lloyds and was told the account had been closed. We were given no warning. It will leave the students we support homeless and unable to complete their exams. Lloyds says it has returned the £88,000 balance by cheque but we have not received this and can’t cash it, anyway, since we no longer have an account.
NOH, London
Yours is an increasingly familiar story. The rate at which accounts are being frozen or closed has reached record levels, according to complaints website Resolver. The banks aren’t entirely to blame. They face punitive fines if they are found to have breached anti-money-laundering regulations and, with online fraud soaring, they have had to increase their vigilance. The problem is that an increasing reliance on algorithms and automated protocols to detect suspicious or uncharacteristic activity means that some are proving overly vigilant.