Closing a bank account.

dublintuition

Hi

Have a quick question about a bank account. A good friend of mine has a current account with a well known bank. Now, a good couple of years ago she performed a foreign exchange, and the price of this exchange was billed to the account she had with them. This made that account overdrawn by about 2euro or so.

Now, typical her, she has let that escalate to about 80euro now at this stage, when interest is added. :rolleyes: However, she is not working at the moment, and on the dole, and has since become alot more worried about bills like this, since she no longer has the means to pay them.

So today, we went to the bank together to close the account. She didnt have cash to pay the balance, and the lady behind the desk, who was lovely, said she couldn't close the account unless it was at zero.

Now I said nothing because its not my business, but I just wasn't too sure this was true, is it?

She just wants to close the account so she can pay off the 80, maybe 20 a week or something, so its not going up.

Now I know she could do that anyway, as it probably won't rise much higher in 4 weeks, but I'm just wondering about her right to close the account as a consumer

thanks

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I honestly can't see how you could close an account if you owed the bank money against it. Just pay the amount over 4 weeks and then close it.

Paulw

Yes, as far as I'm aware, the account has to be empty to be closed. Until the time that the debt is paid, interest can be added.

djt0607

as far as i am aware, she has no right to close that account as she owes money. She cannot close the account to avoid paying interest on top of the 80 euro.

If it was a case that it would take her 4 weeks to clear this debt (20euro/week), the amount of interest gained on 80euro would be minimal.

LouOB

Tell her to go back into the branch with the account and talk to a manager. Tell them the situation and look at the account activity. If she could offer a contribution say 25euro as an olive branch not probs. But banks charging dormat accounts is the norm and a pain

If they are being unreasonable tell them their request for 80 is denied and they can bill account all they want. You will tell EVERYONE what a shower they are including your family/rich relatives etc
They will quickly change their tune

Sleipnir

LouOB wrote: »

If they are being unreasonable tell them their request for 80 is denied and they can bill account all they want. You will tell EVERYONE what a shower they are including your family/rich relatives etc
They will quickly change their tune

"Bank in €80 bill shocker"

Yeah, they should forego the €80 owed by this one customer because otherwise all their customers will leave. :rolleyes:

They won't change their tune for eighty quid!

dublintuition

thanks for the advice.

Its not that big a deal really, she can borrow the cash if she needs to, I was just wondering about whether or not she had an entitlement to close it or not. I know that I closed my cc account while there was still 60euro on it, but I know that's different.

thanks anyway

parsi

Well when the account is closed it means that everything is squared-off and settled.

If it's in credit you/I close the account and expect the bank to handover the bobs immediately.

If it's in debit you close the account and the banks expects you/me to handover the bobs.

dudara

Moved to Banking & Insurance & Pensions

dudara

Toots

LouOB wrote: »

Tell her to go back into the branch with the account and talk to a manager. Tell them the situation and look at the account activity. If she could offer a contribution say 25euro as an olive branch not probs. But banks charging dormat accounts is the norm and a pain

If they are being unreasonable tell them their request for 80 is denied and they can bill account all they want. You will tell EVERYONE what a shower they are including your family/rich relatives etc
They will quickly change their tune

Hang on a minute, this isn't a bank error, its a case of a small overdrawn balance being left by the customer until fees and charges accruing on it have amounted to €80. From the sounds of it, the customer isn't disputing this either. If the account is overdrawn without permission, the banks are perfectly entitled to charge fees on it.

The branch manager may offer to refund some of the interest, but TBH if the account is going to be closed off, they might not be able to. It couldn't hurt to ask, he/she might do it as a goodwill gesture. However, depending on the amount of fees being refunded, the manager may have to apply to the regional manager for authorisation on it.

She can't close off the account with an overdrawn balance, but as others have said, if she lodges €10 or €20 per week, the overdrawn balance will be cleared fairly quickly and then she can close off the account without the bank having to write it off.