Why has my account been blocked? Your questions answered

Imagine having all your shopping at the checkout, rushing to pay and get home, only to find out your account is blocked. Fuming, you leave the shopping where it is and stomp out of the shop. You know there’s money in your account, and you know it hasn’t been stolen, so why is this happening?  Why?  Why?

Everyone knows that banks will freeze an account when reported stolen or if you have attempted fraud.  For the average person who has neither of the above it can be frustrating at best and really problematic at worst.

What it means if your account is blocked

When your account is blocked it means you can’t make any purchases using your debit card.  It also means any direct debits or standing orders will not get processed.  Access to your funds will also be blocked therefore, you can’t withdraw cash out at ATM or Post Office and you can’t make any payment transfers.

The main reasons accounts get blocked:

• To protect you from unauthorised access
• Suspected fraud
• Lack of use
• Suspicious transactions
• Disputes with your bank
• Reported lost or stolen

What most account holders don’t know is that many digital banks don’t set the rules around blocking accounts.  It is the ‘issuing’ bank that sets the rules around account freezing and processing transactions.  These companies provide the technology to enable your account provider to exist, they have a relationship with Mastercard or Visa and they set the regulate the account features and restrictions.

Why is it happening more often?

In 2002 the Proceeds of Crime Act came into place and banks are under a legal obligation to ensure they monitor customer accounts for suspicious activity.  As a consequence, this is now a much more common reason that banks freeze accounts, even if it for a payment of £40.

Fraudsters have dramatically increased fraud in the UK in recent years. They stole £754 million from customer accounts in 2021, a 30% rise from 2020.  Furthermore, transfer scams amounted to £355 million, an increase of 17%.  The data reported shows a fraud scam is happening to 24 people an hour in the UK, amounting to £2 million per day.

What to do it if is blocked?

• Contact your bank and find out.  It can be a quick and easy process.
• Log in to your online banking and review your transactions for any unfamiliar payments or deposits.
• Open a new bank account

How do I avoid being blocked in the future?

It is not possible to predict when your bank will freeze your account but to minimise the chances of your account being block we suggest you:

• Contact your bank if you are expecting an odd payment into your account or going out of your account.  This will forewarn the Fraud team and they may be less likely to freeze the account if it is an expected payment.
• Ensure you used pins entry after your 5^th contactless payment
• Don’t give your debit card to anyone else to use
• Understand the limits to your account and don’t use it outside of those limits

Suits Me Accounts

Although Suits Me also need to abide by the regulatory requirements and UK law, there is a commitment to ensuring we have no or minimal ‘false positives’. We use advanced technology to ensure your account isn’t blocked if you haven’t committed any fraudulent activity. If your account does become temporarily blocked, we have the fastest turn-around time to re-opening. In fact most customers do not even notice their account has been blocked.

Suits Me offer personal accounts providing banking-like features to manage your money with a free deliver contactless debit. Rewards come as standard and there are no minimum deposits.

Join thousands of people who wanted to an account to suit them.

Summary

In summary, a frozen account can disrupt your life and cost you money if direct debits bounce.  The POCA (Proceeds of Crime Act) legally requires banks to monitor every transaction on your account.  Notably, technology conducts most of the monitoring using rules pre-set by the issuing bank.  This monitoring protects you from fraud, and accounts with no suspicious activity will be quickly unfrozen.