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Banking Dispute Representation.

A bank can close your account on a Friday afternoon and freeze the balance with no explanation. Most people do not know they can push back. The escalation routes that work are formal, regulated, and on your side.

2 to 8 weeks
Typical timeline
100%
Cases taken, won
FOS route
When the bank refuses

What we work on here

There are four common scenarios, and they all need slightly different handling. The work we do depends on which one you are in.

Account closure with notice

Bank gave you 30 to 60 days notice. The funds are usually accessible but you cannot reopen with them. We work the formal complaint and, where appropriate, escalate to the FOS to challenge the closure on procedural grounds.

Account closed with no notice, funds frozen

Account shut, balance held, no explanation. This is usually a fraud or AML investigation. We push for the bank to either release the funds or formally state the legal basis for the hold.

Repeated rejections when opening

Every application bounced. Often this is a CIFAS marker (see our CIFAS service) but it can also be internal blacklists. We find out which and tackle the right thing.

Locked or restricted account

Account live, transactions blocked, customer support cannot help. Usually a verification or KYC issue. We get the right document into the right inbox at the right escalation level.

Why people get stuck doing this themselves

The complaints process at most UK banks is designed to wear you out. You get one acknowledgement, one holding response at week four, then a final response at week eight that simply restates the original decision. Without a written escalation framed in the right regulatory language, the file rarely moves.

The Financial Ombudsman Service is free to consumers and binding on the bank. But it has a very specific intake format. Cases that arrive with the right framing tend to land. Cases that arrive as a long account of frustration tend not to. We do nothing on these cases that you could not do yourself in theory. We have just done it 200 times.

How we run a case

  1. 1

    Pull the full picture

    Subject Access Request to the bank. Fraud alert checks across CIFAS, National Hunter and bureau files. We need to know what the bank actually has on you.

  2. 2

    Frame the complaint

    A formal complaint letter that cites the relevant FCA principles, the bank own internal policies, and the specific failures. The bank then has eight weeks to issue a final response.

  3. 3

    Negotiate or escalate

    If the bank concedes at week six (it happens), the case is done. If not, we file with the FOS. We draft the FOS submission ourselves so it lands properly.

  4. 4

    Press for resolution

    The FOS issues an investigator opinion. We respond to it on your behalf. If we do not agree, we ask for an Ombudsman final decision.

Common questions

Questions, answered straight.

My bank closed my account and will not say why. Is that legal?
A bank can close any account at any time under their terms, but they must give reasonable notice unless there is a legal reason not to (typically AML or fraud suspicion). They must also handle your funds properly. Whether the closure was lawfully and procedurally correct is exactly what we test.
How long can a bank hold my funds?
Funds held for AML or fraud reasons can be held for several months. There are duties on the bank around proportionality and information, and an obligation to release where the basis is no longer valid. We push for either release or a clear written explanation that we can challenge.
Can you stop a closure that is already in progress?
Sometimes, if we are involved early enough. More often we cannot prevent the closure but we can make sure the funds are released cleanly and the closure is recorded in a way that does not damage your future applications.
I have been refused by every bank I apply to. Is there a list?
There is no public list, but there are several shared databases (CIFAS, National Hunter, bureau-level alerts) that effectively act as one. We run the SARs to identify which one is causing the problem.

Locked out of UK banking?

Tell us what happened with the bank. We will work out which of the routes above is the right one for your case, and how long it is likely to take.

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