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AU Bank frozen my account without any prior intimation due to inactivity

meadityaraj

TF Select
VIP Lounge
Hello Everybody, I had a zero balance account in AU Bank which stayed inactive from some months. Yesterday one of my friend sent me a sum of 20,000 which got credited to my account. I tried doing upi transactions through it, it got cancelled then tried IMPS and NEFT everything failed. Today through video banking service of au bank (which is also pathetic) got to know that my account has been frozen due to unsatisfactory banking experience. And in order to do rekyc to withdraw my amount from the bank I had to visit bank which would take another 7days to get authenticated following which I can access my account. And other way to access my funds is to close the account. I requested to close the account and gave reason that without prior intimation my account was frozen. I asked them at what date through which mail id did you guys send me any intimation, they were speechless and repeatedly said almost everybody got the intimation. What do you mean almost? Such un responsible behaviour by the bank. What if I would have been on a outstation trip and got my account frozen without any prior intimation. I would have stranded.
What actions can I take against them?
@TechnoFino
Kindly advice.
 
Dear AU Bank Customer Care,

I hope this message finds you well.

I am writing to express my deep concern and seek clarification regarding the recent freeze on debit transactions in my account. To my utmost surprise, I discovered that my account was subjected to a debit freeze without any prior intimation or warning.

Despite understanding that there may be legitimate grounds for such an action, I am extremely troubled by the lack of prior notification. If there was any communication sent to me regarding this matter, please provide a reference to that correspondence.

Due to this unexpected freeze, I found myself stranded in an unfamiliar city, Varanasi, while traveling. I was under the impression that my bank account was active and funds were available for my use. This assumption was based on the credit transactions reflected in my account, which reassured me that I had sufficient funds to facilitate my travel.

The abrupt freezing of my debit transactions not only caused significant inconvenience but also posed a serious risk to my safety and well-being in an unknown location.

I kindly request you to address the following concerns:

  1. The specific grounds on which my debit transactions were frozen.
  2. The reason for the absence of prior intimation regarding this action.
  3. A reference to any communication sent to me concerning the freeze, if applicable.
  4. Measures the bank can take to ensure such incidents do not recur in the future.
I have lost complete trust that you understand the urgency and gravity of this situation and will expedite your response to resolve hence I have requested to closure of my account. But who is responsible for such irresponsible act? I am definitely going expedite this happening with the relevant authority but at the same time I want to know If there was any communication sent to me regarding this matter, please provide a reference to that correspondence because I have found none.

I have sent this mail to them. Lets see what they reply, keeping this as an written proof I will file a complaint with RBI ombudman.
 
Quick question: was this account opened online?

It might not have been a full-KYC account just yet.

Any which way, not much to say without knowing details on account status.
 
Quick question: was this account opened online?

It might not have been a full-KYC account just yet.

Any which way, not much to say without knowing details on account status.
yes it was a full KYC account. I used to use it during college regularly. afterward when my company made it mandatory to have a salary account in hdfc following which it got inactive.
 
yes it was a full KYC account. I used to use it during college regularly. afterward when my company made it mandatory to have a salary account in hdfc following which it got inactive.

Account inactive. Received money. You can’t take out without KYC. Simple.

Kolkata Knight Riders India GIF
 
Why don't you visit the branch once?
Your account may became dormant, and it's normal.
Thank you for the suggestion, there's no problem visiting the branch, but on what grounds they can freeze my account under no prior notice yet receive money (credit transaction) and also charge annual debit card charges? Yes I agree it was dormant I didn't do debit transactions but the account regularly had credit transactions not of big amounts but my gpay had it as my default account so anybody who used to send me money through gpay would use to get credited to this account.(ig it shouldn't be considered dormant if credit transactions were done).
 
Account inactive. Received money. You can’t take out without KYC. Simple.

Kolkata Knight Riders India GIF
I agree. But how come I would know that I got to do Re-kyc. There must be some intimation from the bank right, re-kyc has to be done in your account or it's pending something of this sort. Because it was a full kyc account. It should not be like one day I wake up and get to know my account has been frozen because re-kyc was not done. My outrage would have been nonsensical If the bank had sent me any message or mail that rekyc is pending failing which your account will be frozen. Still considering maybe I'm at fault I have sent a mail asking reference to any correspondence, if there is any and I missed it then it's definitely my fault. But I check my emails regularly there was nothing of this sort. also I rechecked all emails today from AU bank there's none of this sort.
 
Yes, it does seem like you’re gunning for RBI compensation. Still, are you sure you were not at fault in any way?
I won't seek any compensation. I maybe at fault, nobody can be perfect. Even if I'm at fault there should be given a fair opportunity of being heard. Which I was not given which is foundationally against laws of natural justice. If re-kyc is not done account gets frozen it's simple. But freezing the account without any intimation regarding such action due to kyc expiry is what I have a problem with. But as of what the customer executive said it was because unsatisfactory banking relationship with the bank which sounded silly to me.
 
I won't seek any compensation. I maybe at fault, nobody can be perfect. Even if I'm at fault there should be given a fair opportunity of being heard. Which I was not given which is foundationally against laws of natural justice. If re-kyc is not done account gets frozen it's simple. But freezing the account without any intimation regarding such action due to kyc expiry is what I have a problem with. But as of what the customer executive said it was because unsatisfactory banking relationship with the bank which sounded silly to me.

Banks love dismissing people under the guise of secrecy. It is we who have to run after them for everything when s**t hits the fan.
 
I agree. But how come I would know that I got to do Re-kyc. There must be some intimation from the bank right, re-kyc has to be done in your account or it's pending something of this sort. Because it was a full kyc account.

An account not used for a while will become dormant. This 'while' is usually a year or two.
 
Banks love dismissing people under the guise of secrecy. It is we who have to run after them for everything when s**t hits the fan.
Yes this is for what I will run behind them, so that nobody else goes through this. You can even go through my mail that I have sent.I have asked them what steps the bank can take in future so that it doesn’t repeat. Also somebody from the AU bank team called me because of the closure request, I asked them why my debits have been frozen, they had no idea about it. Even I don’t have any. Only answer they have is unsatisfactory banking relationship. Can Under such ground they freeze any account? Unsatisfactory as a word can be subjective how can we as a consumer will know what’s satisfactory for the bank and what’s the definition of satisfactory relationship as per bank. If they expect there consumers to have a satisfactory relationship they should intimate the consumer what all activities are under satisfactory relationship as per the bank. if not done bank will categorise it as an unsatisfactory relationship. I’m privileged I have other means to use funds and it’s not much of a pain to me. Since AU started by providing zero balance accounts I believe there must be a big chunk of account holders who are poor and freezing accounts like such can restrict such people from there bread and butter. Which is very much inhuman. The bank shouldn’t do anything like such without prior notice even if the consumer is in fault.
 
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