Frozen accounts and blocked payments
Are you dealing with complaints from customers whose current accounts have been frozen, or whose payments were blocked? This page will give you an overview of the complaints we can help with and how we approach them.
We publish separate guidance on Fraud and scams and Vulnerability.
On this page
Got a complaint about a frozen account or blocked payment?
Complaints we deal with
People come to us for help when their payment service provider has frozen their account or blocked a payment. You may have done this because you:
- noticed unusual or suspicious activity on the current account and suspended activity while you checked whether the account was being used for unlawful purposes
- blocked a payment from their account, or flagged a transaction, while checking it was authorised by the customer and their account hadn’t been compromised.
Customers may also complain that you didn’t contact them to let them know you were freezing their current account or blocking a payment – causing them embarrassment or inconvenience.
They sometimes tell us they could have made alternative arrangements if they’d known their account was going to be suspended or a payment blocked.
Rules on frozen accounts and blocked payments
When we look at complaints about frozen accounts and blocked payments, we use the regulatory and legal standards that applied at the time of the event the customer is complaining about.
This will include legislation on:
You may also find it useful to look at the Financial Conduct Authority’s guidance on UK Payment Accounts: access and closures.
How we resolve complaints
We only look at complaints you’ve had an opportunity to deal with first. If your customer is unhappy with your decision, or you don't respond to them within the 15-day time limit, they can come to us.
Each case is different, so what we require will vary. But we’ll look at the facts and evidence from both you and your customer. What we consider will usually include:
- relevant laws, rules and regulations, guidance, standards and codes of practice that were in place when the event happened
- the terms and conditions of the account, including restrictions on the account and whether they were proportionate to the customer’s circumstances
- your reasons for blocking a payment or suspending an account, and the evidence that informed your decision
- your business’s relevant policies and procedures
- how you informed your customer that their account was blocked and whether you handled the matter in a reasonable way
- your reasons for not contacting your customer, if you didn’t alert them to the block
- your customer’s response to the block or suspension of their account
- evidence relating to what happened after the block was put in place or the account frozen
- any help you may have offered your customer to enable them access their account, such as one-time passcodes or other verification
- whether the block or suspension was likely to cause your customer financial harm
- call recordings relating to the block or suspension.
We may ask additional questions, or for specific information. For example, if you blocked a payment or suspended the account to carry out checks for fraudulent or other criminal activity, we will usually consider this reasonable. But we may ask for details of your concerns, how far you investigated and whether you contacted the police or another authority.
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If you didn’t contact your customer – and their complaint is about the consequences of the block – we’ll want to know whether you had good reason for this, for example, you:
- tried to contact the customer but couldn’t reach them, perhaps because you didn’t have the correct phone number or email address
- couldn’t be sure the mobile number you had for the customer was safe, or whether it had been compromised by a criminal.
We’ll want to see that you acted proportionately – especially if the customer is vulnerable – and how you tried to support your customer.
We follow the FCA’s dispute resolution rules (DISP)dispute resolution rules (DISP) and will take into account how you’ve tried to put things right.
If we uphold a consumer's complaint, we'll tell you what you need to do to put things right. We may also ask you to compensate them for any distress or inconvenience they’ve experienced as a result of the problem.
Case studies
Evan’s bank blocked payments on his current account
Banking and payments
Blocks on payments mean that Tesh and Iona lost out on an investment
Banking and payments
Business Support Hub
Businesses and consumer advisers can contact our Business Support Hub on 020 7964 1400 for information on how we might look at a particular complaint, or for guidance on our rules and how we work.
We also work with businesses and other organisations to help prevent complaints.
