A mum-of-three has been left with less than £10 and fearing she will be unable to feed her children after her bank account was frozen without warning or an explanation.
Lisa Cullen began banking with Suits Me two months ago and claims her account was put on hold on Sunday (July 24). She had visited the shops with her daughter and was told her card has been declined.
As the 41-year-old knew there was money in the account, she rang the company but says she was 'unable to get anywhere with them'. The account, which had more than £120 in it, was used to buy essentials for the family.
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Without that money, Lisa says she has only £9 until next week and is particularly concerned that this has happened as her children - aged 15, 13 and 9 - have started their summer holidays. The mum says she had plans for her family, but now they are being forced to be 'stuck at home'.
Lisa said: "I went to the shops on Sunday with my daughter and my card was declined. I knew there was money in there, so I tried calling the bank and couldn’t get anywhere with them.”
Suits Me describes itself as a 'hassle-free alternative to traditional banking' and provides customers with an e-money account and a contactless debit card. Lisa says she has been given no reason why her account has been frozen, and said she has been told the issue is with Suits Me’s Compliance Team to investigate.
Lisa says she has since been told she will have to wait up to 60 days to gain access to her money, MEN reports. She said: “My DWP payments were paid into there. They said they’d sent me an email to say my account had been frozen but I’ve had nothing and no notice that it was going to happen. They’re just holding onto my money and I can’t access it.
“I’ve explained to them that I have three children and I’ve got no money to feed them. I must have emailed them around 40 times but we’re just going round in circles. I can’t speak to anyone in compliance and I can’t get any explanation for what’s happened.”
Lisa is now unable to log into her account at all and claims she has seen similar reports from other customers. In a desperate attempt to get the situation resolved, she drove to the bank company’s offices in Knutsford on Monday (July 25).
She said: "I don’t know what to do. I drove to the headquarters and they told me they had no managers available to speak to me. All they told me to do was to speak to the DWP about my money, but that’s not the issue."
The mum-of-three is particularly concerned about this issue happening at the start of the school holidays, as she had made plans to go on days out and spend quality time with her children. Now she says her family is 'stuck at home' due to her money being held to 'ransom'.
Lisa said she joined the bank two months ago as a ‘temporary thing’ and said she never wants to use the bank again. She said: "It doesn’t help that it's the start of the school holidays with three children. We were going to go on days out and do things, but we’re stuck at home now because they’re holding my money to ransom - I've done nothing wrong."
"I'm going to have to borrow money from people and that will just put me behind because I will need to pay it back. I’m obsessively watching my electric meter go down and starting to worry that I won't be able to feed my kids. This is supposed to be a nice time at the start of the school holidays, but instead I'm just stressed out."
Lisa said she now wants other people to be aware of the situation in case it happens to them. She said: "I don't feel like they should be able to do this to people, especially at the moment when everyone is struggling. £120 is a huge amount to people these days."
Suits Me said it was unable to comment on the situation, and added that it operated all accounts in line with its terms and conditions. A Suits Me spokesperson said: "We cannot comment on an individual customer’s circumstances. However, Suits Me operates its customers’ accounts in line with their terms and conditions, relevant legislation and the guidance given by the Financial Conduct Authority."
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