Brothers’ bank accounts closed after loan request
TWO brothers who applied for a Bounce Back Loan to help them relaunch their award-winning restaurant have had their bank accounts closed down with no reason being given.
Feridun and Faruk Yavuzel, who are originally from the Kurdish part of Turkey, won a battle to keep Faruk in the country after the Home Office said he wouldn’t earn enough to justify letting him stay.
They had to close the Oz Urfa restaurant in City Road, Cardiff, in 2017 because Faruk wasn’t allowed to work while the immigration battle was under way.
Later, when he was granted permission to remain in the UK, they reopened it in another premises in nearby North Road.
Now they have been put under further stress after the NatWest Group contacted them out of the blue to say their personal and business bank accounts were being closed.
The letter said: “We have recently undertaken a review of the banking arrangements that you have with us.
“We have, with regret, reached the conclusion that we will no longer provide these facilities for you.
“Consequently, you will need to make alternative banking arrangements within 60 days of the date of this letter. These arrangements must be outside of the [NatWest Group plc], which includes National Westminster Bank plc.
“We assure you that we have only reached this decision after careful consideration.
“However, our decision is final and we are not prepared to enter into any discussion in relation to it.”
Feridun Yavuzel said: “The bank has shut down three personal accounts and one business account.
“We’ve had loans in the past but we always paid at the right time and there was never any trouble.
“Like most other small businesses, we have had a hard time because of Covid-19 and we applied for a Bounce Back Loan.
“The bank turned us down and then told us our accounts were being closed. I think it is terrible.”
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme is a Government initiative to support small and medium-sized businesses. The Government provides lenders like NatWest with a guarantee for 100% of the loan.
Businesses can borrow from £2,000 up to £50,000, up to a maximum of 25% of their turnover. The interest rate is fixed at 2.5%. For the first 12 months interest is paid by the Government, and then by the borrowing business for the remainder of the loan term
In July the Guardian reported that NatWest had shut the accounts of some small business customers who applied for Government-backed loans to help them get through the pandemic, leaving them distressed and unable to access their cash.
Several customers of the 62% taxpayer-owned bank contacted the paper to complain that their accounts had been suspended or closed down without explanation after they put in a loan application.
The Office for Budget Responsibility has warned recently that up to 40% of the loans could default. If that happens, it could cost the taxpayer £16bn.
The NatWest group has been responsible for more than a fifth of the lending across the three Government-backed loan schemes.
However, there have been claims that the bank initially struggled under the weight of loan applications, and that the fraud checks that needed to be carried out were causing issues.
It is not clear how many accounts have been closed following Bounce Back Loan applications.
A Facebook group called “NatWest Closed Down My Account” that was set up in January now has more than 2,500 members, with many posting similar claims.
A spokesman for the NatWest Group would only say: “We do not comment on individual customer cases owing to confidentiality.
“However, we would never close a customer’s account without good reason.”