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HSBC have told me that, after 20 years of loyalty from me, they are closing my account down. They say the reason for this is that they don't like the large amounts of cash that I pay in (yes I know, thinly veiled brag etc), plus there are lots of bank transfers between myself and others. This breaks the terms and conditions on the account apparently. The annoying thing is that they are also closing the two joint accounts that myself and my wife have which we use to pay the bills and have loads of direct debits and standing orders set up on them etc (going to be a real pain to sort that out I imagine).

Anyway, I want advice on which bank I should go to. Does anyone know which banks are cool with the inevitable cash going in that goes hand in hand with being a poker player? Any advice would be great because it is going to be a major ball-ache changing banks and I want to ensure I pick the right one so I don't have to change again.

Hi Stu,

Was proper good to see you in Vegas.

Banking? I do a lot of transfers, both ways, & transactions with Online Bookmakers, ditto, and have never had a problem. I'm with NatWest.

A common problem

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=37060.0

http://blondepoker.com/forum/index.php?topic=56501.0

Don't go near Santander.  They're shocking on so many levels, it's unreal. 

Can't recommend a bank as HSBC are my preference but obviously not yours!

The Halifax seem to offer a good account and most banks have a switching service that transfers all your Direct Debits

You can normally get a 100 quid bonus as well if it is the main account that takes payroll and you fully switch all DD's using the switching service

The Martin Lewis website is normally good for these deals www.moneysavingexpert.com

Dave

I was a beard for a pro gambler for a year, and to get a joint account we had to go in together and they asked a few questions. I thought it was going to be a real ballache but he was treated like a vip and they basically said, whatever mortgage you want, we can sort. He hasn't had a fixed income for 5 years or so, and whilst admittedly being well off, they could not have wanted him in the bank any more! This was Barclays. Good luck.

HSBC closed mine and I'm with barclays, they been fine

Did they give you a fixed rate? :)

Barclays have always been good to me.  No questions asked.

Thanks for advice so far guys. Any other recommendations welcome.

Also, what would you advise my approach should be when I go in to whatever bank I choose to open a new account(s). Should I be upfront with them about what I do to save problems in the future? Or should I not tell them and then try to be 'clever' and discrete with how I get my money into my account to avoid any alarms being triggered off?

I am erring on the side of just being open and honest with them. Partly because they will ask me what my job is, and of course I don't have one. Partly because they will ask to see my last 3 months bank statements apparently, and these statements will show a load of things going on in my account. And partly because it'll be pretty obvious after a while that my account is being used in a particular way and I don't want to have to change banks again so I'd sooner choose a bank that is cool with it from the outset.

Also I just prefer being honest and open in general since I feel this is the right thing to do and usually prevents problems in the future. But if people advise me to adopt a different approach then I will strongly consider it. Please let me know your thoughts guys.

Also...

What on earth does this mean????

HSBC did me also the fuckers, for 'Gambling transaction' pretty funny story, i was in the bank at the time on the phone trying to get as much as i could on an 8/11 shot.

Just tell them the truth, every time. It'll jump up & bite you in the future if you don't.

I had my account reviewed with Nat West, this was after my best mate who was a financial adviser left there. I moved to Barclays and the manager is a mate and all the staff know what I do and have never had a problem. I guess honesty is the best policy but often if the decision is made at a higher level I don't suppose there is much the branch staff can do about it.

Tikay is in quick and correct again

own a profitable company?

Well that's what I thought. But maybe if I tell them the truth all the banks will turn me down. I don't know, that's why I am asking for other people's experiences... have others been upfront with their bank and been allowed to open accounts?

Lol. Toooo good. Everyone knows I don't play footy for Scunthorpe and if you don't work but have or had :) money in Scunny it is assumed you are naughty

He gave me cash to place bets for him. I guess the term originates as beard= disguise. Worked fine whilst i was at home and could store money in the house, especially as my family is used to all this anyway. However, when i went to uni we decided to get the card. Got some hilarious stories from it all.

Ahhh makes sense.

I have used Nationwide BS for a while now and would recommend them but obviously I don't have the issues with large cash transactions that you have described. May be worth a try though

Def try Barclays though, we had a manager come over during our interview who mentioned the high turnover/amounts meant huge mortgage, and he must have been honest about his job.

Don't go near Lloyds tsb ... They even want you to have funds available when you write cheques use debit cards and go to the cash point ...... I mean what's all that about?

Can confirm Barclays don't give a flying fuck. Would recommend getting the premier account though just to make sure, they won't close an account if you're paying £17.50 a month for it.

Had exactly the same thing happen to me. My job description as "TV presenter" was surprisngly seen as slighty exaggerated!

 And I still haven't come up with an answer to the question- though it sounds from people that  I've asked that it's been Barclays and Llyods TSB

Never had any problems with Lloyds.

Confirmed Santander are the nut low ainec.

Pretty sure Mr S banks with Barclays  /thread

I bank with HSBC and despite having large amounts of money flying in and out (brag intended) i've never had a problem with them.  In fact everytime i go in the staff are pretty friendly and just want to know where i'll be off and gambling.  Think the main reason is i've got a good relationship with one of the managers.  When I opened the account I was up front about everything and she had a friend who also played poker so understood it all. (of course they might be getting more strict as they just had a huge fine for allowing mexican drug lords to launder money unchecked).
I imagine the way it works is some head office report flags your account as having unusual payments etc then they send a report to your branch.  If the manager at the branch knows who you are and what you do they'll prob say its ok its fine because of x, y and z.  If they don't know you they'll prob be just like ok don't want any risks close this account down.
So my advice is go wherever (barclays prob best) but be honest and try and strike up a relationship with one of the managers (imply that you may be looking to invest/get a mortgage/pension etc - then they'll wet themselves at potential commission/bonuses etc). 
Also take the wife in : some beardy bloke on his own = not trustworthy, some beardy bloke with wife = regular husband.  Also do not where a sombrero.

yeh came in to say this.


Barclays annoy the hell out of my but from reading other views others would pee me off even more.

this is obv where i've been going wrong!

Sigh.

*Stares at two santander cards*

Never had a problem with Nationwide.

Only downside is getting foreign currency is difficult, but getting from the bank is the nut worst way anyway.

I've had more bank issues than hot dinners...

I have accounts at Natwest and Lloyds TSB, most bigger money movements now are from Lloyds and I frequently get phonecalls from my manager (who is an avid poker fan luckily) asking me to cut the number of third party transaction down (payments between poker players basically) the reason being that they have to security check every one and when I'm doing 15 in a week it makes the account unmanageable. In a bid to avoid this I have my two accounts at natwest, which are used mainly for living purposes and 2 at Lloyds with my $ account separate, as a result split between the 4 accounts I can do as many 3rd party Xfers as I want without causing any problems. I really think this is the best option.

Like Keys' said having a good relationship with your manager is great because now If I wanted to a payment of like £5k+ I just email the guy half an hour before warning him and he is always grateful. Since starting with this system I've had no problems at all.

Also, use moneybookers as well, helps cut this stuff.

SO my advice is to try get 2 accounts and split activity between them, that way you should avoid these problems.

Confirmed HSBC are just funny fuckers! Every time i used to pay money in they'd look at me like i must have nicked it or sold drugs and every time i took a load out they would ask me why i needed it.... None of your fucking business sir.


  I moved to Halifax, their switching service is awesome and never had one issue.  Get the account that costs about 12 quid a month as you get travel insurance, breakdown deals and a whole load of other stuff. They even insure iphones at no extra cost as long as you declare it in advance. The online banking with them is great too.

Santander suck on customer service but their 123 Current Account gives 3% interest on balances between £3k and £20k.

I bank with two and not sure I can recommend either.

Natwest is where my active accounts are and sometimes they can be a pain in the ass about big transactions. Although their staff are stupid, they don't bother looking into your different accounts which is LOL.

Your bank manager has to review 3rd party payments over £5k? What, before they get sent? And you message him to let him know you are making one 1st?

Really can't get my head around this.

Have always used Nationwide and never had a problem with normal day-to-day stuff and I have a reasonably high volume of transfers

The major downside to Nationwide is that they aren't big enough to receive international wires, (thin etc.) they do them through HSBC which means that you need to give overseas casinos an extra number that isn't on their standard wire form and that the cage don't seem to have heard of. Had 4 attempts at getting a wire through before opening a Santander account and I've been using that as a secondary account for the last year or so without any problems.

Honestly I think it all comes down to whether the bank manager likes you or not. The days I went in, the managers at Barcalays and HSBC were middle aged women that looked fairly bemused when I told them what I did and it was pretty obvious from the off that they weren't impressed. Manager at Santander was a mid-20s guy that found poker pretty interesting and snap set up the account no problem at all.

Definitely +1 for telling the truth though. They aren't silly, they'll work out that you don't have whatever regular job that you claim to have pretty quickly and its just gunna cause more trouble

Santander ooooh u have the stress to come ! Trust me !

And also cashback on council tax, utilities and media (e.g. phones, Sky, etc) payments.

I set them up as a 2nd current account just to make these direct debits from.

nah he doesn't need to review but out of habbit as a result of 2/3 of my transfers getting blocked whenever I am going to send anyone £5k+ I just email him and say £x going to X person later and he snap replies saying ty for letting me know will make sure it goes through and since I've started doing this I've never had a problem. I do the same If I am going to do like 5+ xfers on the same day.

Banks are just so tilting now.

It's important to do as many xfers on poker clients as you possibly can and reduce bank transfers to a minimum and it's only going to get worse due to money laundering regulations.

It's easier for a bank just to dump you guys than have to explain to regulators why they allow multi third party xfers.

And poker clients always say "we're not a bank, do your transfers somewhere else please!" it's a nightmare. Gouty right last sentence ofc sigh