Not upheld: account closure and denial of fund access complaint against TSB Bank plc

Decision detail

Summary

Mr H held a basic bank account with TSB which was restricted and subsequently closed on 27 June 2025 after TSB received a fraud report regarding two payments to his account. Mr H initially told TSB the payments were from a colleague who owed him money, but later claimed they were for completing tax return work. TSB declined Mr H's request for a bank transfer and issued a cheque on 9 July 2025. Mr H claimed he suffered significant hardship including missing a hospital visit to his terminally ill mother, who passed away on 5 July 2025. The ombudsman found that TSB acted fairly and within its regulatory obligations by closing the account without requesting further proof of entitlement, given Mr H's conflicting explanations and the fraud report, and did not uphold the complaint.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found that TSB had strict legal and regulatory requirements under the Payment Accounts Regulations 2015 to monitor accounts and could legitimately restrict and close basic bank accounts in specific circumstances. The ombudsman determined that TSB had a legitimate basis for not requesting further proof of entitlement because Mr H provided conflicting explanations for the payments (initially claiming money was owed to him, later claiming it was for tax return work), which would reasonably have concerned TSB. The ombudsman found that even if TSB had requested further evidence, Mr H's explanation would not have satisfied TSB's concerns given the regulatory and fraud-related context. The ombudsman concluded that TSB completed its review in a timely manner and acted within its terms and conditions by issuing a cheque rather than permitting a transfer.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website