Aussie family baffled as Commonwealth Bank shuts account with 'no explanation'
Commonwealth Bank has responded after a woman claimed her and her partner's accounts were closed with 'no explanation'. The woman said they had been customers of the bank for the last 10 years and held multiple accounts, including credit cards and a car loan, along with shared accounts.
Brooke* said she and her partner both got text messages 'out of the blue' last Monday from Commonwealth Bank advising them their accounts would be closed. The mum-of-two told 2GB's Ben Fordham Live program there was 'nothing' unusual about their accounts and she had 'no idea at all' why they were being shut down.
A Commonwealth Bank spokesperson told Yahoo Finance that decisions to end relationships with customers were 'not taken lightly' and were 'made on a case-by-case basis'.
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'We consider a number of factors before taking the careful decision to close a customer's account and we ensure we inform the customer of that closure decision,' the spokesperson said.
'While we appreciate some customers want more information in relation to account closure decisions, there are limitations on what can be shared, which include our regulatory and legal obligations.'
Brooke said the couple was told they had until the end of May to shut down their accounts.
She noted that her partner's account was blocked last Wednesday, leaving him unable to buy anything while he was at work. Her partner is an Australian citizen with English heritage.
'He called them back and they released the block and said they are not obliged to tell us why and they have the right to shut all accounts,' she said.
On Thursday, the couple received a letter in the mail listing the accounts that would be closed, with all accounts to be closed except the car finance payment.
Brooke said the letter gave no further explanation about why the accounts were being closed.
'We're a young family, we've got two kids at home. It's my partner's account, he is the breadwinner of the family, I'm on maternity leave,' she said.
'Our rent comes out of there, everything comes out of there. So pretty much now we have to move everything over to a completely different bank.'
Other listeners said a similar thing happened to them as well.
Commonwealth Bank customer Tara Zaw told Yahoo Finance her accounts were closed down last year 'out of nowhere'.
She said the only explanation she got was that it was a 'commercial decision', with a worker at her local branch unable to give her an explanation.
"It's like I'm literally just an everyday user so I don't know why you're shutting down my account... I'm basically getting banned from CommBank and I'm like, 'Hello, is this how Australian banks treat customers?' because I am so confused right now,' she said.
Zaw said the only reason she could think of was that she regularly received money from her family back in Myanmar to go towards essentials like groceries, which the bank had flagged in the past.
Commonwealth Bank could not disclose why Zaw's accounts were closed for 'privacy reasons' but said it considered a number of factors before deciding to close a customer's account.
Generally, some reasons why banks may end relationships with customers include managing risks if activity relates to money laundering or the financing of terrorism or sanctions is detected.
Other reasons could include legal and regulatory obligations around fraud and scams or indicators of any crime, and aggressive and abusive behaviour by the customer.Sign in to access your portfolio
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