Hello everyone, i have a Cifar marker since April 2021 when Starling bank reported me to Cifas as i tried to open a bank account with them using a Fake bank statement as proof of address
They opened my account and then not very longer after they closed it and reported me.
At this point right now i’ve got 2 missied salaries as I don’t have any bank account. Even prepaid banks are refusing me straight away, I don’t know what to do.
My employer is waiting for me to provide them a new bank account in order to pay me my last 2 salaries but I couldn’t open any kind of account. I tried current account, Basic, Prepaid, every bank its closing it after i open it.
Please some advice or any bank in UK who accepts people with cifas marker, i’ desperate
I wholly disagree. Inability to open bank accounts for 6 years, making it almost impossible to receive a salary or benefits (or any income at all) isn’t in any way proportional to what’s happened. Nor should a bank (a private business and the aggrieved party) be the ones deciding on the punishment for fraud.
CIFAS markers have been a bugbear of mine for a long time, leaving people unbanked has serious consequences even though they are issued in secret with no hint of due process.
Anyway, unfortunately @Samuel1999, this is hard to solve. Basic bank accounts are normally no more open to people with CIFAS than any other types of account. You can try as many banks as you can, but many people in your situation have to resort to getting paid into someone else’s account, despite the risk of financial abuse this exposes them too. I wish I had some better news, but first step just try everywhere you can think of.
You may also want to try going into branches and talking to them, they might be able to help more than just online.
I agree with appealing the CIFAS but this part isn’t accurate. Banks can (and mostly do) refuse basic accounts based on CIFAS markers, as they can refuse basic accounts that they have any reason to believe will be used for fraud.
This can also be appealed with a complaint to the financial ombudsman, but I don’t know of any such appeal that was successful.
Interesting, I have worked with a person who has been refused basic bank account due to a CIFAS. We appealed this to FOS and got nowhere, we were told banks have the right to refuse the account if they suspect the person of fraud. They applied to many accounts and were refused to all of them without being told why (this was 2019), and so I assumed it’s common practice? But the link you posted suggests there’s some way to force the bank to accept the customer?
"If you’re bankrupt or have a record of fraud, you will not usually be allowed to open a bank account. Also, you may be refused permission to open a current account if you have a poor credit rating. However, if you’re bankrupt or have a poor credit rating, you may be able to open a basic bank account.
A bank or building society can refuse to open an account for you. They don’t always have to give you a reason, and there’s usually nothing you can do about it."
There’s no nuance involved when somebody commits fraud by submitting forged documents. They either did it, or they didn’t and they’ve confessed that they did. They should be lucky they didn’t end up with a prison sentence.
I think we should focus on helping the poster here, not getting into too many semantics or judgements.
They’ve admitted what they did. They want advice on how to move on in their lives. What they should have done or why they did things are to some degree irrelevant.
I always thought basic accounts were legally mandated within certain banks. I’d echo advice from others to go into a bank and ask to have a meeting with a banker to discuss all options.
Nationwide seem to be good at this, HSBC is large and offer a basic account so may be helpful.
OP look for small local building societies, like Yorkshire Building society, nationwide FlexBasic and go to branch in person
Try your luck with the appeal but I believe it’s unlikely you’ll get it removed. Don’t apply for main current accounts as you might get banned from those banks themselves by their internal systems when they flag and close your account
Building societies offer savings accounts, and you might be able to get your wages or benefits paid in, but in order to take the money out you’ll probably need to go into the branch. Direct Debits will be out of the question. Some might offer a cash machine card, but the only building society offering a current account, apart from Nationwide, is the Cumberland.