blonde poker forum

I received a call last week from my local branch manager to enquire about some transactions on my account in the last few months. I explained I had won a live poker tournament (£50k), and was sending people their percentages back. He asked me not to do this in future as Head office don't like it and there is a possibility they will close the account down if I did it again. Just yesterday after my account did nothing in the mean time, he called to let me know that head office had sent a notice down that unfortunately the account would be closed. I have sold pieces to the same people around 4 times in the last year, I play cash for myself and don't use the account for many other transfers except for the usual stuff (Rent/Bills).

Has anybody else had experience of this?

Bit lost as to where I go next, they gave me 2 months notice.

Another bank?

I know of a famous pro player this happened too.

He arranged a meeting, took all info (graphs ptr's etc etc) and he is now a very welcome customer with his regular big cheques!

It looks fraudulent thats all. Go in, explain face to face

Hope it gets sorted

Have heard this about HSBC several times, but not about any other bank. So yeah, see George's advice above.

Yes, it will have to be. Was looking on any suggestions? The part I am worried about is occupation, any ideas? That is the only bank account I have ever had.

you arent doing something illegal so just open another acct .................... or buy a big mattress

[ ] thin!

Recently moved to Santander when HSBC wouldn't give me an account, pretty decent so far

I know but have heard many banks flat out rejecting you if you list as poker player for a new account.

HSBC closed my account for same reason last June- once u get the 2month notice u have no chance of getting it overturned regardless of how much money/what account u got- apparently once it flags up you are done for, and its totally random as to when it flags up

Just say u work for blondepoker and list Flushys address as its work address- thats what i did haha

Been with both, Lloyds>>>>>>>>>HSBC, esp for transfers which I do all the time.

I have a Halifax account which I only use for cash transactions. My wages don't go in there, just transfers, poker site deposits and [ ] poker site withdrawals.

Never had any problem with them at all.

sovietsong!?

you dont hear that said much about santander (worst customer services apparently) but I have found that they are good, and they even gave me £200 to transfer my account as I had a mortgage with them.. £100 if you dont I think

lol cos

If you cba with the hassle then I'd suggest banking with Santander as the majority of there staff are completely incompetent so if you do a lot of transfers that aren't super urgent they are gtd to mess a few of them up and will compensate you for there stupidity. A friend of mine banks with them and they just kept messing up her transfers, even ones where the details where saved on her account and they just kept giving her £50/100, one month she got £400 off them just off this, so ridic. I believe they do this because they get a ton of complaints which gets them huge fines so if they do this people wont make an official complaint, pretty com. Both me and me Dad transfered to them for the £100 offer a while ago, it wasn't worth the hassle and neither of us bank with them anymore.

Blatant 'I've got a female friend' brag.

I did have  ;D

Man, I know this tilt, I've had joke bank problems over the last 20months.

Firstly, I get a call from Natwest explaining that they don;t like how I manage my accounts and I should try keep more money in my accounts for longer if I want to remain a "private banking" customer - two weeks later I get another call saying my accounts are going to be closed. This was tilting cos I have a £5k overdraft in this account which is pretty useful for cash flow (when i go broke) and without a job I'm lucky to get a £200 one anywhere else so after a 2hour chat with my accoutn manager they agreed to re-open the account, with a overdraft of just £3k and I would no longer be able to have "private banking" regardless of how much money i had in the accounts.

Today I went into the branch to open a US$ account and the women said because of my history (??) there is no way I'm allowed one and that my accounts are once again under review, the branch manager interviewed me and asked "why I don't have more money in my bank more often" wtf, joke rubs lol. He says that unless my "banking pattern" improves in the next 6 weeks Natwest will no longer require my business....So I tell him he can go fuck his accounts if my money isn't good enough for him and he says we'll "review in 6 weeks"

So I leave and head to HSBC to open a $ account there and they ask me what it's for, I explain I am a poker player and I give an indication of the amount I'm wanting to send to the account initially, they say if its gambling we don;t want anything to do with it you're money is no good here.

So I head over the road to Lloyds TSB and I open a $ account there, this is fine and the poker thing goes down fine, they say I need to open a current account alongside my new internation account and I say well give me the same account as Natwest and I'l shut my natwest account and open up here. They say YES, lets do that, after 30mins filling forms out the only account they can offer me is a "Cash account" with £0 overdraft, no internet banking and no debit card - i get a cashcard that i can ONLY use at L-TSB ATM's. She explains this to me and then asks, "so do you want to go ahead and transfer everything from natwest and close those accounts?" LOL wtf you'll be alrite natwest might be popmus, judgemental dicks but at least they can give me a debit card.

WTF is with banks, if you have £'s in your account, can give a reasonable account of where the money came from if it's a high cash amount proviing it's legitimate, don;t incur charges/bounce DD's then why the fuck would they care if you're a vicar, poker player or violin repairman - and why they feel the need to treat poker players like they are drug dealers is beyond me.

DO yourself a favor, get all your money in cash and hide it under your bed, at least you'll know its safe from drunk overpaid bankers and you'll be allowed to access it whenever you want.

Clowns.

<3 HSBC

I was in there recently and had to explain what all the PPower transactions were.
They loved it and told me stories of other gambling customers.

Probs different for me though as I also have a wage paid into my account.

Amazed that they let you keep £3k of the overdraft LilDave when they found out what you do!

I despise HSBC.

I can only get a £100 overdraft and every Monday I get a call from a little Indian woman asking me shit loads of questions about all the transactions on the account at the weekend (all betting deposits/withdrawals).

I wouldn't mind if I actually thought it protected me, if it was Tunisia bet or some of these new dodgy Chinese gaming sites, but week after week its the same companies, huge companies like William Hill, Ladbrokes and Betfair. They could make a note that you like to use these sites and they are safe but no, no, every Monday my account is suspended till I get a long call from Mumbai.

I really want to move banks but it seems so much effort to change my card details on all gaming sites, my shares account, tell every I have new details, etc.

ffs.

Hsbc threatened me with the same as I was using my account to lay bets off from my shops . Even though account was always I'n credit they said if I kept doing it would close account . Ending up using runners for small pay 2 offload bets . Hsbc are a joke

Banks will lend money to anyone that can prove they don't need it.

Following on from the sub-prime fiasco, banks were meant to be getting their act together, yet it seems easy to have a mortgage/overdraft still with no reliable source of income.

feel your pain dave, banks are so tilting and stuck up. I'm a fan of the share account and mattress combo.

I lolled @ violin repair man.

yeah the old call of shame from your bank, such tilt.

"Hi Mr Nicholson, can we confirm some transactions were yours? ***5minutes of tilt secrurity questions (they rang me!)***

then they make you feel like a broke degen reeling off hundreds of transactions, usually ending with 4 or 5 in a sleazy sounding club from 3am lol

I'm with Bank of Scotland. One thing I've become wary of (and that I just generally dislike) is the customer service experience when you go to the tellers in the branch. Someone sends me a cheque, I'm walking near my branch, so I hand it in. Show bank card, hand cheque over, sign receipt, simples? No, not simples. They're all trained to 'utilize' this experience to dig around for info on their customer. 'So are you having a nice day?' When they ask this, just don't even reply. They don't care about your day. It's an intro question so that they can start asking you a bunch of other stuff about you.

the most painful thing is when it goes.

'can I ask you what you are going to do with this money'

my favourite is either

'i am prolly going to punt it up' or 'why would In tell a complete stranger what I plan to do with my money, I find it quite amazing you would even ask.

They usually put their eyes down and get on with it.

Banks are running scared of any "unusual" transactions. They are very wary in the current climate of complying with Money Laundering Regulations/the new Bribery Act etc.

They are taking the sledgehammer to crack a nut approach. Reasoning with them isn't easy even if you are acting lawfully.

They will be very cautious about anything not fitting a normal model.

Tempting fate here after recent transactions and more staking - but First Direct are absolute class for me. No issues, no onerous security checks, happy with transactions and great customer serviice

First Direct are HSBC.

when i was with Royal Bank of Scotland i got 20k in cash out and the women insisted that for cash transactions of that size she needs to write on the form what im doing with it- i told her im going to P Diddys party and gonna spend it there, she replied "No we need to know the real reason"

Even when u tell the truth with the banks you cant win

I had a similar problem as was using various different sites to gamble on. HSBC asked me to come in the branch to speak to them, i explained the situation and all was ok

haha :D

That's what confuses me. I have no problems with First Direct and transactions etc only queried once and that was a first deposit onto DtD online which was cleared by 'phone call.

Yet loads of you are saying HSBC , who own FD, are keen to close you down for stuff that FD sanction everyday?

Had a student account with HSBC, maxed the overdraft at a grand, never really used the account. Interest free though so was in no rush to pay it off. Knew that I had to deposit a token amount at certain intervals so as to make it seem I was using the account.

Forgot to do so on one occasion, and get a phone call one Saturday am to inform me they will be charging me interest from the next month, the conversation goes as follows:

Me: "Can I pay that off now then please?"
Her: "How will you do that? You have no money in the account."
Me: "Err, from another account!!"
Her: "How will you do that?"
Me: "Because I have money in another account".
Her: "How much can you pay?"
Me: "The full amount. I then wish to close my account".
Her: "But how will you pay?"
Me: "With. A. Card. From. Another. Account."
Her: "Let me pass you through to payments"

Payments line rings out.

Her: "The payments team aren't in today."
Me: "The payments team of HSBC bank aren't in today, on a Saturday?"
Her: "That is right"
Me: "So why ask me to pay today?"
Her: "You will have to pay on Monday"
Me: "Monday is a Bank Holiday. I assume payments won't be in then either".
Her: "That is right. You will have to pay Tuesday."
Me: "I'm back at work on Tuesday. I'm busy, I won't have time to pay this."

Hang up phone. Utterly irate. Pay balance and close account on the Tuesday vowing never to have anything to do with them again. If someone owes me a grand, I will take that money however and whenever it is offered. If I am a global operator like HSBC, I probably have someone in payments in on a Saturday. Unbelievable.

lol, that is brill.

I know obviously - thats why I said hope not tempting fate lol

 Ahrt

Im with RBS and theyve never had asked about any of my transfers or transactions.  When I have a decent amount int he account they offer me all sorts of upgrades, when my account is low they offer me loans, overdrafts and credit cards :P

Hate banks as I get cash every day it's under my pillow lol I started banking with a credit union nip I'n everyday and put money I'n . Ran by volunteers great bunch and a 200 sub is only 6 pound added on . And what ever you have I'n you can get withdraw without questions and is open till 7 pm . Might not be every ones cup of tea but suits me

Sounds quite decent for anyone in the poker business tbh especially the bit I've bolded.

Banks have to, by law, record and notify all complaints to the FSA.

Once a complaint is lodged they have 5 days to issue an initial response. After which they have a further 28 days in which to rule on the complaint and make neccessary recompense or if more investigation required negotiate a new timescale with the client.

Some, like Lloyds Banking Group waste a lot of money and manpower by fully investigating the complaint and settling somewhere near the 28 day mark then report the complaint as settled.

Others like Santander deem it cheaper to quickly look and see if they are at fault and offer compensation quickly. They actually can save money by just accepting rather than have to pay the wages of people to investigate fully. They then report as settled to FSA.

FSA and other companies actually use average time taken to settle complaints to rate companies in complaint reporting

Geo

By law if the bank is calling you they must ask you questions to ensure that they are indeed speaking to the account holder. This is not the individual banks decision this is law.

It tilts me and my colleagues when we have agreed to call a client back with info we may have to go look for and even though it may only be 5 minutes later and we have agreed to call them back that we have to go through the whole vetting procedure again.

Geo

Where ever you live I'm sure there is a credit union . You need I'd and you can't get a small loan until you have been with them for about 3 months . The first loan is 200 and then for eg if you have 2k I'n savings you can have 6k and the 2 k stays I'n savings . It's pretty straightforward . I go I'n everyday even get a cup of coffee . Told a few mates and they are with them . Hope info helps

Govt/bank people are clearly all morons


HELLO MADAMEBEAN I AM CALLING FROM YOUR BANK

(http://www.jack-frost.co.uk/fonejacker/fonejacker_george_agdgdgwngo_4.jpg)


Now I just need you to answer some security questions.....



How about no?!

But sir I need to verify who you are... I am calling from YOUR BANK.


Why don't you prove who you are first mr calling from a blocked number.


But I have to verify you're the bean mr bean.


You'll be alright you mong, prove who you are first, or just hang up you pleb you only want to try and sell me something that costs me money.

 rotflmfao rotflmfao Dat Titbean.

Lol,

it's quite simple, tell them you aren't prepared to give that info then phone your bank on a number you are comfortable with. They will have a record of the call if it was a geniune call from them, after you have passed security vetting of course.

Makes life less stressful in my experience.

The rules have been put there for your safety, whether we agree with them or not.

I'm obviously a moron as I work for a banking group, however I still don't give the details over the phone and will always choose to say I won't give this info and then phone my bank myself.

I won't even get involved in discussions about "offshore" call centres  ::)

Geo

ha Geo you are miles above 99% of the sector you work in!

There are clearly alot of idiots in this world though. It's all just so inept. We go through this every time they phone me and every time I explain kindly that if I were to give out the answers to my security questions to every blocked caller it'd get pretty stupid. They then say but yes sir it's policy and then there is just noise.


Funnily enough they phoned me once and after 20 minutes of me just refusing to answer his questions/abusing him about the systems he worked within the confines of I got to the point where I gave him some credit, and just said look fair play to you for still being on the line you're no George now what did you want then though I probably don't want it rotflmfao

it really is fun using the George voice just repeating all their questions back to them :D

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MTFauI8INY

ABSOLUTLY LOVE THIS ^^^ - NEVER BEEN SO CLOSE TO THE TRUTH! WP DAVE THE RAVE!

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/yN5IJYkTdsU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

thats my fave George clip!

no,no,no madame you need to understand, when we go to the steam clean, the monies will get wet

Reading through this I am kind of glad to see some people have the same problem as I have.

I've done a quite a few transfers with Natwest and they are always nosy *****. Not to mention everytime I go into the CC branch they always want to open another account or tell me how to use or 'spread' my money. I've heard all of the stories before we'll take £10k out of your account, put it into shares, but you are 100% covered, 2 years later you have about 4k...

Banks should be grateful we put our money in and keep out of our way! Every single time I go into branch it's the same old crap. I am happy enough to have a current/savings and leave it at that!!! Although the most annoying thing is that on both accounts I have a limit of £250 and it's rather embarrasing when you can't get any more out of the bank. My savings has quite a bit it and when you can't get out a minimal amount like more than £250 it's a joke.

I am moving to Barclays when I can be bothered!  Kd