Reply to: Cater Allen - Terminated account 60 days notice

[GunnerMilligan]

you need to contact the Ombudsman

I've just had exactly the same happen. We are a UK Ltd company (start-up going for 18 months). I just logged onto to make some payments and the account was not available. When I called, they told me they had issued a letter back in October giving us 60 days notice. We never received such a letter. When asking for a reason, the operator wouldn't give us one. Apparently the letter that was sent to us doesn't specify a reason either. This was a solvent business that had been reasonably quiet in the last month or so, but there is certainly nothing dodgy going on!!

I find it unfathomable that no one from CA thought it fit to give us a call and that we are not going to get an explanation. Some jumped up banker has made a sweeping decision to close specific company accounts that are legitimate businesses. This is causing innumerable problems getting paid by suppliers and paying our own suppliers.

They tried this on with me too.

My debit card started failing, embarrassing me. Then I found I couldn't access my account online. I called up Cater Allen and they said my account was terminated. After I gave them a piece of mind, they relented and said it was just "suspended". However, after many months of back-and-forth I couldn't get it fixed, so I ended up contacting the Ombudsman.

As soon as the Ombudsman contacted them, they reinstated my account and agreed to pay €20.

My case was small though. If your business has been seriously disrupted by the Santander takeover, you are probably entitled to a lot more compensation than that. A bank can't just go round shutting down accounts on a whim. It's insanity.

The form is simple enough:

https://help.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/help?form=gcw

[Glencky]

Thanks for the info, I'm storing it all away for the future!

[Calvin]

I have my business banking with santander and find their online banking ready to use. However I'm now out of my free first year and have to pay £7.50 a month.

[Glencky]

Really? NatWest's compares well to the competition?! I'm surprised! Only reason I ended up with them was after issues with Cater Allen I needed to sort something out quickly. They're not theones I have my personal current account with but I'd kept my student account open with them for years so I had a long history with them. The combination of that (me thinking that might help) and their free banking pushed me their way - and it's been fine so far. But I don't like the internet banking side much! it's irritating.

However although I have a basis for comparison on personal banking I have none for business banking so maybe they're a lot better than the competition!

[JustinTime]

Thanks, that's very helpful. I'll try treating 'em mean to keep 'em keen..!

I seem to remember NatWest having a very good internet banking platform. It was certainly better than any that I've used since.

[Glencky]

It's going back a bit but when I began contracting I banked with Natwest. After a year they invited me in to discuss the end of free banking, how much I'd saved, how much I'd now have to pay.

I wrote to them advising I was switching to Cater Allen. Natwest rang offering continued free banking. I declined. They rang back offering to come to my house to discuss further.

So I wouldn't altogether dismiss the possibility of Natwest being prepared to extend it if the deal (i.e. your company bank balance) is in their interests.

Thanks, that's very helpful. I'll try treating 'em mean to keep 'em keen..!

[I just need to test it]

Eventually I got one with NatWest who have free business banking for a year (suspect they'll shaft me after that but I've got time to shop around).

It's going back a bit but when I began contracting I banked with Natwest. After a year they invited me in to discuss the end of free banking, how much I'd saved, how much I'd now have to pay.

I wrote to them advising I was switching to Cater Allen. Natwest rang offering continued free banking. I declined. They rang back offering to come to my house to discuss further.

So I wouldn't altogether dismiss the possibility of Natwest being prepared to extend it if the deal (i.e. your company bank balance) is in their interests.

[Glencky]

Not even a 50% saving on Mosul hotels?

Hahahahahahaha Experian, even !! my mistake. Been doing a lot of business travel this year..!

[jamesbrown]

ordered my Expedia file etc but nothing

Not even a 50% saving on Mosul hotels?

[Glencky]

I think this issue might be about a targeted withdrawal from certain market sectors.

I had terrible problems in January when I started contracting. I was going to go with Cater Allen as my accountant recommended them and had special terms (at the time I was most interested in 'easy to open' and 'free banking for a period) and this should have been both. Unfortunately they rejected my account opening with no explanation - familiar to the OP I suspect.

I called them to try to get an explanation of some kind but they declined to give one. I - as some others have suggested - suspected they were considering me a financial crime risk so immediately ordered my Expedia file etc but nothing. All was as I expected - squeaky clean. There was no reason whatsoever for them not to allow me to open an account (I wasn't even going for any lending e.g. overdraft).

Eventually I got one with NatWest who have free business banking for a year (suspect they'll shaft me after that but I've got time to shop around).

[MarillionFan]

Has this happened to anyone else? I have been banking with Cater Allen for 5-6 years and my account has always had a very healthy surplus, all of a sudden I have received a letter stating that they are terminating my account and they don't have to tell me why. I have always been extremely happy with them so this has come as a complete shock! can anyone shed any light on the matter and can anyone recommend another good business account?

Maybe calling your company Islamic Jihad Computer Solutions Ltd was a mistake?

[andyc2000]

Does anyone business bank with Metro? I have a personal account there and Business is free for balances over 5k. All staff apparently are trained for buysiness banking. I'll be using these if CA do anything like this to my account.

[jamesbrown]

As if the banks ever really had a problem with money laundering ...

Seriously, though, this is ridiculous. Foreign transactions equals dodgy?? I have some overseas clients. Sounds like MyCo will have to stop trading soon if it can't get a business account anywhere then

I agree, but this appears to be the case. The pattern with Cater Allen closing accounts seems to be largely related to foreign connections (Director moving overseas etc.). It isn't clear exactly how they're discriminating and whether foreign transactions in themselves are important (they probably aren't, and afterall Cater Allen offer multi-currency accounts), but the risk profile seems to have been re-weighted towards plain vanilla UK-based operations.

[borderreiver]

Cater Allen and a bunch of other banks have been reducing their exposure to what they consider "risky" clients (notably those with foreign citizenship or regular foreign transactions) as the business risks associated with money laundering and other regulations increase.

As if the banks ever really had a problem with money laundering ...

Seriously, though, this is ridiculous. Foreign transactions equals dodgy?? I have some overseas clients. Sounds like MyCo will have to stop trading soon if it can't get a business account anywhere then

[jamesbrown]

I doubt it.

Maybe they've just decided all those free contractor accounts are not worth keeping and they're looking to get rid of some of them. Either way, it doesn't improve my opinion of them

Nah, this is purely regulatory, or rather a heavy-handed response to regulation. Cater Allen and a bunch of other banks have been reducing their exposure to what they consider "risky" clients (notably those with foreign citizenship or regular foreign transactions) as the business risks associated with money laundering and other regulations increase. Check the recent news and you'll see examples across the banking sector (Santander, HSBC etc.).