The Student Room Group

Bank closed cant apply for any

I’m 17 year olds and I was with Barclays Bank for around 2 years now. I believe I have gotten a cifas marker. Barclays randomly closed my account but with no reason whatsoever, I contacted them and asked what the reason was and they forwarded me onto the fraud department. They said there was no information on the system about why my account has been closed. I am really in need of a card right now but can’t seem to get accepted anywhere. I applied for santander and they sent a letter saying they were unable to open my account due to some sort of fraud issue? I rang them up today and they sent me to the fraud department which on the letter it stated they could give me the exact reason why, when I called they said it didn’t give a reason as to why my account had been closed and gave me no reason whatsoever and could not help me any further, same with Barclays Bank. They gave me the littlest bit of advice to ring CAB which I will get in contact with today. I’m starting an apprenticeship very soon and I will need a card but I applied for a monzo and starling today but none seem to have accepted me. This is getting very stressful for me as I have never had an issue with my card

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Reply 1
Original post by Anonymous
I’m 17 year olds and I was with Barclays Bank for around 2 years now. I believe I have gotten a cifas marker. Barclays randomly closed my account but with no reason whatsoever, I contacted them and asked what the reason was and they forwarded me onto the fraud department. They said there was no information on the system about why my account has been closed. I am really in need of a card right now but can’t seem to get accepted anywhere. I applied for santander and they sent a letter saying they were unable to open my account due to some sort of fraud issue? I rang them up today and they sent me to the fraud department which on the letter it stated they could give me the exact reason why, when I called they said it didn’t give a reason as to why my account had been closed and gave me no reason whatsoever and could not help me any further, same with Barclays Bank. They gave me the littlest bit of advice to ring CAB which I will get in contact with today. I’m starting an apprenticeship very soon and I will need a card but I applied for a monzo and starling today but none seem to have accepted me. This is getting very stressful for me as I have never had an issue with my card

Banks don't tend to arbitrarily close accounts for fraud where no fraudulent activity has taken place....

There's something you're not telling us.
Original post by Anonymous
I’m 17 year olds and I was with Barclays Bank for around 2 years now. I believe I have gotten a cifas marker. Barclays randomly closed my account but with no reason whatsoever, I contacted them and asked what the reason was and they forwarded me onto the fraud department. They said there was no information on the system about why my account has been closed. I am really in need of a card right now but can’t seem to get accepted anywhere. I applied for santander and they sent a letter saying they were unable to open my account due to some sort of fraud issue? I rang them up today and they sent me to the fraud department which on the letter it stated they could give me the exact reason why, when I called they said it didn’t give a reason as to why my account had been closed and gave me no reason whatsoever and could not help me any further, same with Barclays Bank. They gave me the littlest bit of advice to ring CAB which I will get in contact with today. I’m starting an apprenticeship very soon and I will need a card but I applied for a monzo and starling today but none seem to have accepted me. This is getting very stressful for me as I have never had an issue with my card

Sign up to Revolut and get a card shouldn't have any issues
Reply 3
Monzo does CIFAS now, as with most new banks, so you're going to have to serve out your punishment for doing F.
Original post by InterKnow
Sign up to Revolut and get a card shouldn't have any issues

Revolut are Cifas members :wink:
Reply 5
Original post by IWMTom
Banks don't tend to arbitrarily close accounts for fraud where no fraudulent activity has taken place....

There's something you're not telling us.

I don’t know if they’ve closed my account due to fraud I’m only guessing as I’ve done my research as to why accounts get closed. I’m a female who’s 17 in education and have no idea about fraud or anything even related. My bursary loans were coming in and the only thing that did ever happen was my card got lost but I found it a couple days later on the bus, someone handed it in scratched and damaged and my online banking would not let me log in at this moment of time. This is when I applied for a new card and rang barclays telling them the situation, although i did fail the security test the first around confirming last purchase which was impossible to note as I’d made many purchases within that month
Reply 6
Original post by Anonymous
I don’t know if they’ve closed my account due to fraud I’m only guessing as I’ve done my research as to why accounts get closed. I’m a female who’s 17 in education and have no idea about fraud or anything even related. My bursary loans were coming in and the only thing that did ever happen was my card got lost but I found it a couple days later on the bus, someone handed it in scratched and damaged and my online banking would not let me log in at this moment of time. This is when I applied for a new card and rang barclays telling them the situation, although i did fail the security test the first around confirming last purchase which was impossible to note as I’d made many purchases within that month

They referred you to the fraud department.... how does that not make the situation plain and clear?!

Did you report the loss immediately? Are you sure you didn't "lend" your card to a fella who promised you some free money? Be honest and we can assist.
I'm guessing OP lost her card, someone found the card, details were copied, fraud happened. OP didn't check her history of transactions and failed to notice fraud had taken place. OP didn't report it to the bank or cancel her card so the bank assumes it was OP.

Get on the phone to the fraud department and explain otherwise you're gonna have trouble opening an account for a while.
Original post by Anonymous
Get on the phone to the fraud department and explain otherwise you're gonna have trouble opening an account for a while.

Tbh they're unlikely to accept a verbal explanation now, they've already terminated the relationship.

I'd expect to be essentially given a call centre runaround then fobbed off to a 3rd party.
Reply 9
Original post by IWMTom
They referred you to the fraud department.... how does that not make the situation plain and clear?!

Did you report the loss immediately? Are you sure you didn't "lend" your card to a fella who promised you some free money? Be honest and we can assist.

Right okay so. I’m a bit frightened of the consequences which is the reason I haven’t been very honest. Im in a position where I really don’t know how to get myself out of as I have strict-ish parents but what happened was, one of my “friends” told me they needed my card to transfer some money over into my account, and they were a very well trusted friend who already had my card details saved so I obviously trusted them so much with them having my details on their phone. I asked obviously why my card details were needed or why he couldn’t use his own card. I was told that my card was the last option and it still seemed sketchy to me so I didn’t allow it but he still used my details anyway. (Which I’m now aware I shouldn’t have been so calm about) i didn’t think much of it truly and honestly as ive never been involved ever in a situation like this and at the time, I believed I was just committing to an act of kindness kind of thing? I was very skeptical about this because he did have his own card but I was very naive and clueless at the time. So at this moment of time, I had access to log into my online banking and I had seen a payment of £200 made from a random person whilst I was at school. I was told beforehand when he used my card details to transfer the money immediately to him so I did not thinking anything of it whilst I was busy, in school. I know I made a huge mistake even allowing him to have my details even though I said no when he asked. I really did trust him and he’s had my details for about 2 years now so you could maybe understand that, as a 17 year old girl I was very very clueless about all of this fraud money stuff people are doing and how cards and things are needed. Anyways, so after the money was transferred to his account, I used my card fine for about two weeks? Until I had noticed my online banking randomly stopped working? It wouldn’t let me log in and said my online banking is temporary blocked. I was so confused as I literally hadn’t used my card at all for anything or given my details out, just to the people I trust the most. It had a number to ring on the online banking app so I gave it a call and the women gave me a security test thing which i kind of struggled to answer because the questions were stuff like, “what was the last purchase you made on this date” etc which was hard to answer because I hadn’t shopped for around 3-4 weeks prior to this. So the woman told me to call back when I had an idea or information on my purchases which yes is common knowledge but as a 17 year old who attends sixth form there was plenty of work due in and this situation caused extra stress on my head, so I figured out my last purchase which was made via just eat and so I called back the man told me it says absolutely nothing as to why your account has been closed and there’s no more information I can possibly give you sort of thing. So I left it for like a month or two as we’ve been in lockdown i didn’t really apply for any cards until around a week ago? I applied for santander online and I hadn’t even sent my ID off or proof of adress and they sent me a letterr regardless saying that we’re unable to open you an account with us and something about cifas?? Obviously my parents were the first to read this and they assumed I had been doing fraud and on the santander letter, it had given a contact number and they said they can give any information as to why your bank has been closed with any other branch so my parents called santander and they said we can’t do anything and don’t know the reason, I told them the situation and how on the letter it said stuff about fraud and cifas, I wasn’t referred to the fraud department the guy on the phone suggested I called the fraud department they also said the exact same, they don’t know the reason but they suggest we called barclays again? So My parents called barclays and they gave me another security test which I passed this time but he had literally 0 information online as to why my bank had been closed down. I apologise for not being very honest within this, I’m just terrified that my parents will think I’ve done some sort of fraud as I’m a girl, this looks really bad and will only ruin the trust i have within my family kind of thing? I’m not sure if anybody can help me out I’m so stressed on what on earth I should do. I applied for a under 18’s starling account and a monzo too but I didn’t get accepted. This is a really big mistake and I’m aware I shouldn’t have trusted anyone with my card details but this person was basically family to me. If anyone knows any way I can resolve this issue please let me know as I’m starting an apprenticeship soon and I’ve done some research online and apparently a cifas marker can stay up to 6 years!? I cant do 6 years without a card. I’m struggling to find a card for a 17 year old that doesn’t do cifas checks or whatever. But if anyone has any advice for me on this horrible situation I’m stuck in, please let me know as soon as, I would really appreciate it
Original post by Anonymous
Right okay so. I’m a bit frightened of the consequences which is the reason I haven’t been very honest. Im in a position where I really don’t know how to get myself out of as I have strict-ish parents but what happened was, one of my “friends” told me they needed my card to transfer some money over into my account, and they were a very well trusted friend who already had my card details saved so I obviously trusted them so much with them having my details on their phone. I asked obviously why my card details were needed or why he couldn’t use his own card. I was told that my card was the last option and it still seemed sketchy to me so I didn’t allow it but he still used my details anyway. (Which I’m now aware I shouldn’t have been so calm about) i didn’t think much of it truly and honestly as ive never been involved ever in a situation like this and at the time, I believed I was just committing to an act of kindness kind of thing? I was very skeptical about this because he did have his own card but I was very naive and clueless at the time. So at this moment of time, I had access to log into my online banking and I had seen a payment of £200 made from a random person whilst I was at school. I was told beforehand when he used my card details to transfer the money immediately to him so I did not thinking anything of it whilst I was busy, in school. I know I made a huge mistake even allowing him to have my details even though I said no when he asked. I really did trust him and he’s had my details for about 2 years now so you could maybe understand that, as a 17 year old girl I was very very clueless about all of this fraud money stuff people are doing and how cards and things are needed. Anyways, so after the money was transferred to his account, I used my card fine for about two weeks? Until I had noticed my online banking randomly stopped working? It wouldn’t let me log in and said my online banking is temporary blocked. I was so confused as I literally hadn’t used my card at all for anything or given my details out, just to the people I trust the most. It had a number to ring on the online banking app so I gave it a call and the women gave me a security test thing which i kind of struggled to answer because the questions were stuff like, “what was the last purchase you made on this date” etc which was hard to answer because I hadn’t shopped for around 3-4 weeks prior to this. So the woman told me to call back when I had an idea or information on my purchases which yes is common knowledge but as a 17 year old who attends sixth form there was plenty of work due in and this situation caused extra stress on my head, so I figured out my last purchase which was made via just eat and so I called back the man told me it says absolutely nothing as to why your account has been closed and there’s no more information I can possibly give you sort of thing. So I left it for like a month or two as we’ve been in lockdown i didn’t really apply for any cards until around a week ago? I applied for santander online and I hadn’t even sent my ID off or proof of adress and they sent me a letterr regardless saying that we’re unable to open you an account with us and something about cifas?? Obviously my parents were the first to read this and they assumed I had been doing fraud and on the santander letter, it had given a contact number and they said they can give any information as to why your bank has been closed with any other branch so my parents called santander and they said we can’t do anything and don’t know the reason, I told them the situation and how on the letter it said stuff about fraud and cifas, I wasn’t referred to the fraud department the guy on the phone suggested I called the fraud department they also said the exact same, they don’t know the reason but they suggest we called barclays again? So My parents called barclays and they gave me another security test which I passed this time but he had literally 0 information online as to why my bank had been closed down. I apologise for not being very honest within this, I’m just terrified that my parents will think I’ve done some sort of fraud as I’m a girl, this looks really bad and will only ruin the trust i have within my family kind of thing? I’m not sure if anybody can help me out I’m so stressed on what on earth I should do. I applied for a under 18’s starling account and a monzo too but I didn’t get accepted. This is a really big mistake and I’m aware I shouldn’t have trusted anyone with my card details but this person was basically family to me. If anyone knows any way I can resolve this issue please let me know as I’m starting an apprenticeship soon and I’ve done some research online and apparently a cifas marker can stay up to 6 years!? I cant do 6 years without a card. I’m struggling to find a card for a 17 year old that doesn’t do cifas checks or whatever. But if anyone has any advice for me on this horrible situation I’m stuck in, please let me know as soon as, I would really appreciate it

Also I forgot to mention, barclays suggested I ring the CAB which I am going to ring now for any advice but I didn’t want to mess up by saying anything wrong or stupid.
Original post by dylgeo
Monzo does CIFAS now, as with most new banks, so you're going to have to serve out your punishment for doing F.

I didn’t do f, read the reply below I’ve only just done my research and realised what has happened.
I haven’t committed financial fraud, if that was the case I wouldn’t have came onto this for advice. Read reply below
Reply 13
Original post by Anonymous
Right okay so. I’m a bit frightened of the consequences which is the reason I haven’t been very honest. Im in a position where I really don’t know how to get myself out of as I have strict-ish parents but what happened was, one of my “friends” told me they needed my card to transfer some money over into my account, and they were a very well trusted friend who already had my card details saved so I obviously trusted them so much with them having my details on their phone. I asked obviously why my card details were needed or why he couldn’t use his own card. I was told that my card was the last option and it still seemed sketchy to me so I didn’t allow it but he still used my details anyway. (Which I’m now aware I shouldn’t have been so calm about) i didn’t think much of it truly and honestly as ive never been involved ever in a situation like this and at the time, I believed I was just committing to an act of kindness kind of thing? I was very skeptical about this because he did have his own card but I was very naive and clueless at the time. So at this moment of time, I had access to log into my online banking and I had seen a payment of £200 made from a random person whilst I was at school. I was told beforehand when he used my card details to transfer the money immediately to him so I did not thinking anything of it whilst I was busy, in school. I know I made a huge mistake even allowing him to have my details even though I said no when he asked. I really did trust him and he’s had my details for about 2 years now so you could maybe understand that, as a 17 year old girl I was very very clueless about all of this fraud money stuff people are doing and how cards and things are needed. Anyways, so after the money was transferred to his account, I used my card fine for about two weeks? Until I had noticed my online banking randomly stopped working? It wouldn’t let me log in and said my online banking is temporary blocked. I was so confused as I literally hadn’t used my card at all for anything or given my details out, just to the people I trust the most. It had a number to ring on the online banking app so I gave it a call and the women gave me a security test thing which i kind of struggled to answer because the questions were stuff like, “what was the last purchase you made on this date” etc which was hard to answer because I hadn’t shopped for around 3-4 weeks prior to this. So the woman told me to call back when I had an idea or information on my purchases which yes is common knowledge but as a 17 year old who attends sixth form there was plenty of work due in and this situation caused extra stress on my head, so I figured out my last purchase which was made via just eat and so I called back the man told me it says absolutely nothing as to why your account has been closed and there’s no more information I can possibly give you sort of thing. So I left it for like a month or two as we’ve been in lockdown i didn’t really apply for any cards until around a week ago? I applied for santander online and I hadn’t even sent my ID off or proof of adress and they sent me a letterr regardless saying that we’re unable to open you an account with us and something about cifas?? Obviously my parents were the first to read this and they assumed I had been doing fraud and on the santander letter, it had given a contact number and they said they can give any information as to why your bank has been closed with any other branch so my parents called santander and they said we can’t do anything and don’t know the reason, I told them the situation and how on the letter it said stuff about fraud and cifas, I wasn’t referred to the fraud department the guy on the phone suggested I called the fraud department they also said the exact same, they don’t know the reason but they suggest we called barclays again? So My parents called barclays and they gave me another security test which I passed this time but he had literally 0 information online as to why my bank had been closed down. I apologise for not being very honest within this, I’m just terrified that my parents will think I’ve done some sort of fraud as I’m a girl, this looks really bad and will only ruin the trust i have within my family kind of thing? I’m not sure if anybody can help me out I’m so stressed on what on earth I should do. I applied for a under 18’s starling account and a monzo too but I didn’t get accepted. This is a really big mistake and I’m aware I shouldn’t have trusted anyone with my card details but this person was basically family to me. If anyone knows any way I can resolve this issue please let me know as I’m starting an apprenticeship soon and I’ve done some research online and apparently a cifas marker can stay up to 6 years!? I cant do 6 years without a card. I’m struggling to find a card for a 17 year old that doesn’t do cifas checks or whatever. But if anyone has any advice for me on this horrible situation I’m stuck in, please let me know as soon as, I would really appreciate it

As suspected, there was more to the story...

Unfortunately for you, your account seems to have been used to launder money.

Submit a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) to CIFAS to see whether a marker has been lodged against you.
Reply 14
Original post by Anonymous
I haven’t committed financial fraud, if that was the case I wouldn’t have came onto this for advice. Read reply below

As far as the bank (and other financial institutions) are concerned, you were complicit in the laundering of money.

Sorry, but it's the harsh truth.
Original post by IWMTom
As suspected, there was more to the story...

Unfortunately for you, your account seems to have been used to launder money.

Submit a Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) to CIFAS to see whether a marker has been lodged against you.

Do you know how I do this? I literally have no idea what any of this is or how it works
Your friend set you up and you're paying for it. Unfortunately, that's life. I'd pick better friends. You're probably going to just have to deal with the marker.
Reply 17
Original post by Anonymous
Do you know how I do this? I literally have no idea what any of this is or how it works

https://www.cifas.org.uk/contact-us/subject-access-request
Reply 18
Original post by Anonymous
Your friend set you up and you're paying for it. Unfortunately, that's life. I'd pick better friends. You're probably going to just have to deal with the marker.

Come off anon and you can have some rep.
Reply 19
It would seem your account has been used for fraudulent purposes by someone you entrusted your details to which makes you complicit. I don't see you getting that mark removed unless you lie your way out somehow which is exactly what you can't do. Never make up stories about criminal activities.

As for getting an account you will need to apply to someone that isn't checking for CIFAS or they will almost certainly reject you. Anything about Monzo being an option is out of date.