Debanked: Co-operative Bank Issues 60-Day Closed Account Notice

The Co-operative Bank has closed my account – in other words, and without justification, I have been debanked.

Debanking is adequately defined in this Wikipedia citation,

De-banking, more commonly spelled debanking, also known within the banking industry as de-risking, is the closure of people’s or organizations’ bank accounts by banks that perceive the account holders to pose a financial, legal, regulatory, or reputational risk to the bank.

Examples of this include the enforcement of anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws, the closing of bank accounts of sex workers,^[1] and people considered to be politically exposed persons.^[2]

The closure of accounts is generally performed without giving a reason and without the prospect of appeal. De-banking can have severe consequences for individuals, as it cuts them off from many activities in society.

By country

United Kingdom

Following the Nigel Farage Coutts bank scandal in 2023, in which Coutts & Co. removed politician and broadcaster Nigel Farage as a client, the UK Government launched an investigation of de-banking practices within the UK banking industry.^[3] The Financial Conduct Authority reported that banks in the UK were closing nearly one thousand accounts daily, with just over 343,000 closed in 2022, compared to about 45,000 in 2017.^[4]

In September 2023, the FCA announced that it had found that banks had not been closing customers’ accounts for political reasons. There had been four accounts that the FCA investigated for potentially having been closed for political reasons, but it found that the reason had actually been for the way the individuals had behaved towards the staff of the respective banks. Nigel Farage dubbed the outcome ‘farcical’.^[5]

On Tuesday, 18/02/25, I received an email from a Julie Harrison of the Co-operative Bank’s ‘Fraud Operations’ Department, falsely alleging Fraud , in spite of being provided with the  information she requested.

The email stated,

“The account has been placed under investigation due to credits received on it. Please can you answer the following questions below in order for us to complete a full investigation of your account.
·       why are you receiving credits into the account with the beneficiary name of AFP Group Ltd?
·       Why are you getting credits into the account from numerous companies/third parties ie: Stripe Payments UK, NAME REDACTED (NR), Citibank Ire Fin S?
·       Why are the funds being withdrawn from the ATM?
·       What purpose are you using the Co-operative Bank personal account for?
·       What is your current home address?
·       Please visit your nearest Co-operative Bank branch with your passport
·       Please send documentation to support the credits into the account to fcmrecipients@co-operativebank.co.uk
Failure to respond or provide sufficient evidence to the requested information may result in your account being closed.
Yours sincerely,
Julie
Fraud Operations”

Pursuant to the subsequent telephone conversation I had with a certain Jennifer of the Co-operative bank [on 19th February, 2025] the morning following Julie Harrison’s email, I provided the requested information, as listed above.

However, within 2 hours of the call, I received an email with the title, “Account Closed – 60 Days Notice to Close”, purporting to close the basic Cashminder Account on 19th April, 2025.

I responded with the following message. As can be seen, I have fook all to hide, as well as fook all going into the account – a little over £2k in Buy Me A Coffee donations.

This is what I wrote:

Dear Julie Harrison, for and on behalf of Co-operative Bank and its ‘Fraud Operations’ Team,

Pursuant to the telephone conversation I had with a certain Jennifer of the Co-operative bank on the morning of 19/02/25, following your email, below, I would like to reiterate the facts as I expressed to her, in case they were not conveyed clearly to you and your ‘Fraud Operations’ department.

I am Trustee of Development at A-FP Media Group, a company that was originally created in 2012 for the purpose of producing films and other media content, the address of which is A-FP Media Group, 207 Regent Street, London W1B 3HH.

It was through this legal entity that the film, The Great British Mortgage Swindle was released in 2019. Any and all credits into my account are made as donations for the work associated with A-FP Media Group. I am not a paid employee.

Stripe UK  is the third party financial company through which I receive donations from those who appreciate my work which takes the form of essays and podcasts/discourses at roguemale.org and at Substack.com  where I also publish my work.

I also have an application on my website from a company called BuyMeACoffee  which provides a donation button on my website. Those donations are then paid into my account via Stripe.

As is plain to see, anyone can view my BuyMeACoffee page at the site which shows the individual donors who have ‘bought me a coffee’.

A friend, whose initials are NAME REDACTED [NR], has been making a donation of £XX per month for the last 8 years or so by way of his appreciation of my output on my RM site.

Similarly, Citibank Ire Fin S is but another financial third party through which donations are received and distributed into my personal account.

The question as to why I withdraw funds from the ATM is easily answered – it is for the same reason that anyone takes cash out: to pay for day-to-day items.

Thus, the personal account is used for the typical purpose of making purchases, on-line and/or in the physical world.

In the light of which, it is now incumbent upon Julie Harrison and the Fraud Operations Department to provide the material evidence in support of the apparent claim that the payments into my Cashminder account are in any way fraudulent and that this is the reason for the pending close of my account.

In the event such evidence does not exist, then it would seem reasonable to issue a full apology, compensation for the distress this has caused me and a complete restoration of the account.

Yours sincerely,

Michael

On Saturday, 22nd February, 2025, I subsequently tried to log into the on-line account but a message popped up stating that access was denied for ‘security reasons’ and that I should call the bank in order to re-establish my access.

The operative, as is the common practice, gave her name only as Rhona.

A thirty minute phone call ensued in which I ripped into the matter with considerable and righteous indignation. The MP3 of the call has been requested via a Data Subject Access [DSAR]

The DSAR made on 23rd February and the ‘Bank’ has 30 days with which to comply and it reads thus,

Data Subject Access Request

Notice to Agent is Notice to Principal, Notice to Principal is Notice to Agent.

Aaron Fleming

Team Manager

Fraud Operations

Chief Operating Office (COO)

The Co-operative Bank

4^th Floor,

Delf House,

Skelmersdale WN8 6NY

Dear Aaron Fleming, for and on behalf of the Co-operative Bank,

Re: NAME OF ACCOUNT HOLDER

Bank Account Number XXXXXXXX

Address: ADDRESS OF ACC HOLDER

1. Please supply the personal data you hold about me and the above referenced account, as held in any and all files, sub-files, folders, emails and other forms. This is to include, without exception, the following items:
2. The recordings of my phone conversations with the call centre operatives Jennifer and Rhona of 19^th February and 22^nd February, 2025.
3. The decision, whether in writing or oral form, that was made to close my Cashminder account in 60 days.
4. The terms and conditions relied upon which I am allegedly in breach of.
5. The full name(s) of the individual(s) responsible for the decision to close my account.
6. Any and all communications, directives and instructions that may have been issued by the Executive Office and/or management of the Coventry Building Society and/or Co-operative Bank pertaining to any and all reviews of my account, either generally or specifically to said.
7. I require the above to made available to me in printed writing and, for the recorded phone calls, in MP3 format.
8. It may be helpful for you to know that Data Protection Law requires you to respond to a request for personal data within one calendar month.
9. If you do not normally deal with these requests, please pass this letter to your Data Protection Officer as a matter of urgency.
10. If you need advice on dealing with this request, the Information Commissioner’s Office can assist you. Its website is ico.org.uk, or it can be contacted on 0303 123 1113.

    Yours sincerely,

(AUTOGRAPH)

NAME OF ACCOUNT HOLDER

Now, whilst the banks’ do issue denials that individual account holders get debanked for their political views and/or opinions and their shop-window operation the FCA (which they fund) has supported these denials, one does have to wonder if all of this is as a consequence of my 16 years’ worth of cogent, accurate and sustained criticism of the Multiple Frauds of the Financial system and that this has recently been brought to the attention of new CEO of the Co-operative Bank, a man who goes by the name Steve Hughes of the Coventry Building Society who recently bought out the Co-op for a reputed sum of £780 million.

Given the fact I have nothing to hide and that there has been no explanation as to the reasoning behind its decision to close the account, I will update this expose of the unlawful actions of the Co-operative Bank as and when there is anything worth sharing.

In the meantime, and should you be able to assist and support me during this time, please consider chucking a few quid into the pot via the BuyMeACoffee button and/or taking out a paid subscription at my Substack page.

Thank you to all my supporters – it’s truly appreciated.

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