Is a claim being made against you for the debt from an account you thought you had closed?

26/08/2019

Withdrawing all your money from an account does not mean you have closed it. The bank may continue to charge maintenance fees even if the balance is zero and no movements have been recorded. However, it will not be able to charge you any additional fees, commissions or interest on the overdraft arising solely from fees or commissions charged to the account.

If you have an account that you do not use, banks are required to inform you of any potential expenses that might arise. If they continue to charge fees or commissions to the account they must also inform you by periodically sending you the bank movements and the annual summary of interest, fees and commissions.

Another possible scenario is where we give a verbal order to close an account and, after some time, we receive a notice from the bank claiming the debt arising from the negative balance of the account we had supposedly closed, since the request was never formally processed.

Therefore, if you are considering closing your account, give your bank express instructions in writing. This way you can provide evidence of having completed the formality and you will avoid problems such as being confronted with a debt you were not aware of.