Bank accounts

Your bank doesn’t have to explain why they’ve closed your account, but they:

• aren’t allowed to treat you unfairly or close an account because of bias or discrimination
• must follow the terms and conditions of the account and act in line with their statutory, regulatory and legal obligations
• must give you reasonable notice.

 Check your bank account terms and conditions to see what the notice period is. We may be able to help if your bank or account provider didn’t give you enough notice that it was going to close your account and, as a result, you:

• lost money, for example, because you missed a standing order or direct debit payment and had to pay late-payment fees
• couldn’t access banking facilities and had to find a new account
• couldn’t make or receive payments, which has affected your – or your business’s – reputation
• have negative information on your credit file because of the bank account closure or its consequences. 

Your bank, building society or current account provider may charge you if you: 

• go overdrawn without an agreed overdraft in place
• exceed your agreed overdraft limit, if you have one
• make payments, or try to make payments, when there isn’t enough money in your account.

These charges are different to standard monthly charges such as account usage fees, or fees for special services such as CHAPS payments. To find out how we approach complaints about charges for accounts that come with added features, see our page on packaged bank accounts.

You can bring your complaint to us if you're unhappy because: 

• your current account charges are too high
• you believe your account provider shouldn't have applied the charges
• there was a sudden increase or another change to the way your account provider applied the charges.

The Current Account Switch ServiceCurrent Account Switch ServiceCurrent Account Switch Service allows you to switch your current account to a new provider in a simple and stress-free way. 

This service comes with a switch guaranteeswitch guaranteeswitch guarantee, that means your new bank is responsible for moving your account within seven working days, including by:

• arranging for your old account to be closed
• opening your new current account
• moving your balance, and
• switching your payments. 

People come to us when they’re unhappy because they tried to move their current account and:

• there was a problem with closing the old account
• there was a problem with moving direct debits to the new account
• they had to pay charges, or had issues with their credit report, because of a direct debit not being paid
• the bank or building society took longer than expected to switch accounts
• the bank or building society didn’t pay them a bonus that was promised for switching accounts
• the bank or building society didn’t issue them with debit cards for their new account
• the bank or building society didn’t transfer their overdraft or offer a new overdraft.

If you’ve had a problem moving your current account, we may be able to help.

The distribution of profits to account holders – for example, the Nationwide’s Fairer Share Payment scheme – is not usually something we can consider complaints about.  

So, we're unlikely to be able to help you with a complaint about:

• the eligibility criteria of such a scheme
• how it was advertised
• the you were paid, or
• how it was paid.  

But, if there was an problem with your account which prevented you from meeting the eligibility criteria, we may be able to help. 

When digital records replaced passbooks, some banks and building societies continued to issue passbooks for their customers’ convenience. As a result, many passbooks are still around. 

If an account has not been used, and the bank or building society has lost contact with the account holder, it will become ‘dormant’. The account will be recorded under the customer’s name on a register of dormant accounts, held by the bank or building society.

You should approach the relevant bank or building society first, if you:

• believe your account has been registered as dormant, or
• you've found a passbook that shows there is money still in the account. 

If they say the account is closed – but can’t tell you when it was closed or prove that it is – we may be able to help.

You may wish to bring your complaint to us if you believe: 

• your bank unfairly reduced the interest rate on your savings account
• you didn’t realise you could have moved their money to another account paying a better rate of interest
• you didn’t realise your account’s initial interest-rate deal had ended and you were receiving a lower rate of interest
• your bank advised you incorrectly about using your account and how this might affect your account’s interest rate.

We can’t tell a bank or building society what interest rate to apply to a savings account.

But, if you’re unhappy with the advice or information you were given – or the way your bank, building society or another financial business handled a change in interest rates – we may be able to help.

You may be unhappy because your bank:

• transferred money from an account you hold that was in credit to reduce your debt on a loan, credit card or another account, without telling you or asking for your permission first
• returned a payment from one of your accounts because it didn't have enough money in it, and you believe it could have used money from another account which was in credit, so that it didn't have to charge you for returning the payment
• took money from your personal account to reduce debt on a joint account – or the other way round.

Banks are typically allowed to set off money in this way – even if it’s not specifically set out in your account’s terms and conditions. But if you bring a complaint to us about this, we’ll look into whether your bank acted fairly.

We may ask you for:

• a copy of the ‘notice to close’ letter, with details of how much notice the bank gave you and the reasons the bank gave you for closing your account
• account statements
• evidence of whether you had access to the account during the notice period
• whether the bank held any money or released money to you, including any benefits or salary payments.

We’ll also look at how your bank has supported you if:

• your account was overdrawn
• you’re in financial difficulty.

Your bank has a right to charge you for things like exceeding the overdraft limit on your current account.

We can’t consider a charge unfair simply because of its cost, but we'll look at how it’s affected you, as a customer.

If you’re experiencing financial difficulty or you're vulnerable, we’ll look at how your bank or building society took this into consideration and tried to help you. We'll also consider whether you:

• have concerns about how the account was sold to you
• should not have been given an overdraft
• are vulnerable or in financial difficulty.

See our guidance for consumers on financial difficulty

We'll also want to know whether your bank or building society:

• provided relevant information in the terms and conditions
• clearly explained why it increased any charges
• gave you enough notice that they would be changed its charges
• discussed other options with you
• considered how a charge might affect you and offered you support if you needed it.

We'll look at whether the provider of your new account did anything wrong of unfairly when they switched your current account. This may include looking at: 

• the information you received as part of the application process
• whether the bank or building society pointed you to, and clearly explained, the terms and conditions of the switch offer or the new account
• whether the bank or building society met the conditions of the switch guaranteeswitch guaranteeswitch guarantee.

If we think you've lost money by switching your current account, we'll tell your bank or building society to put things right, for example, by:

• refunding charges and interest
• paying an incentive or bonus that the customer may be entitled to
• correcting any issues with their credit report, if appropriate.

These complaints often involve accounts that haven't been used for many years, or even decades. So, it's difficult to find clear evidence about exactly what happened. However, where possible, we'll look at

• a record of the account being closed on the bank or building society’s dormant accounts register
• whether the bank and building society carried out all the necessary searches to find the owner of the account.

In most cases, we don’t find any new evidence to show the account isn’t closed. But if we do, and we think you’ve been treated unfairly, we’ll tell the bank or building society to put it right. This may be by:

• refunding charges and interest
• paying an incentive or bonus that the customer may be entitled to
• correcting any issues with their credit report, if appropriate.

Your bank is entitled to set and change interest rates on savings accounts. But we can look at whether they applied any changes to interest rates fairly. 

We'll usually look at: 

• the terms and conditions that applied to your account when the bank changed the interest rate and whether they followed these correctly
• whether the bank gave you: 
  • any advice when opening the account – and, if so, whether that advice was reasonable
  • clear and timely information about any changes to your account's terms and conditions or its interest rate
• what steps your bank or building society took once it became aware of the problem.

We’ll look at whether your bank used the right of set off fairly. For example, we’d usually expect them to have: 

• given you a reasonable opportunity to repay the debt before they took money from another account
• made it clear to you that it could use your money in this way, at least 14 days before using the right of set off
• checked you hold both accounts in the same way, for example, both accounts are only in your name.