I ran a small business as a limited company for a few years until 2006 which 
did not succeed.  After approximately a year during which time the business 
was wholly dormant, we applied to dissolve the company and got on with our 
lives.

Now, we're not the most efficient people here, and it's been a while, but we 
discovered that there remains around £550 in the old company bank account, 
so I phoned the bank's business call centre a couple of weeks ago and, on 
their advice and reassurance, I wrote out a cheque for the majority of the 
funds and paid it into my personal bank account.

Nothing happened.

So I went into the business bank's branch today and was told that the 
account was suspended because the company had been dissolved and I did not 
have access to the funds, which were now accessible only by the Treasury 
Solicitor - exactly the opposite of what I had been told two weeks earlier.

The bank claimed that they wrote to advise us that we needed to withdraw any 
cash from the accounts prior to the dissolution, but no communication was 
ever received.  Indeed, if it had been we would have sprinted to the bank, 
chequebook in hand to get at the cash.  Further, despite not having access 
to the account and not being able either to pay in or withdraw funds, we 
have been charged the bank's standard monthly "management fee".

The cheque which I paid into my personal account was refused.  My personal 
bank is charging me £30 for the pleasure.

I have spoken to the Treasury Solicitor's Bona Vacantia department (who were 
extremely helpful, by the way) and I need to apply for the funds, but I have 
to pay £200 for the privilege.  This is a time-consuming process and 
involves separate letters from HMRC's company tax and VAT departments to say 
that we don't owe them anything, witnessed copies of identification of all 
the shareholders, multiple signatures and notarised statements.

My question is, therefore, whether I can reasonably claim the following from 
the bank:

1. The £200 fee which I have to pay to the Treasury Solicitors to apply for 
the balance of the funds;
2. The refund of the monthly management fee for the period from when the 
company was dissolved to date;
3. The refund of the charge imposed by my personal bank for a 
bounced/returned cheque;
4. The costs of preparing the application to the Treasury Solicitor.

Any thoughts?  I'd be interested to hear if anyone has had a similar 
experience in going after a bank on a business account issue rather than a 
personal one.  For obvious reasons I haven't identified the bank.  Yet.

TIA

"Trent C" <TrentC@invalid.invalid> wrote in message 
news:FbmdnQMYlMx6_G3XnZ2dnUVZ7rmdnZ2d@brightview.co.uk...
>I ran a small business as a limited company for a few years until 2006 
>which
> did not succeed.  After approximately a year during which time the 
> business
> was wholly dormant, we applied to dissolve the company and got on with our
> lives.
>
> Now, we're not the most efficient people here, and it's been a while, but 
> we
> discovered that there remains around £550 in the old company bank account,
> so I phoned the bank's business call centre a couple of weeks ago and, on
> their advice and reassurance, I wrote out a cheque for the majority of the
> funds and paid it into my personal bank account.
>
> Nothing happened.
>
> So I went into the business bank's branch today and was told that the
> account was suspended because the company had been dissolved and I did not
> have access to the funds, which were now accessible only by the Treasury
> Solicitor - exactly the opposite of what I had been told two weeks 
> earlier.
>
> The bank claimed that they wrote to advise us that we needed to withdraw 
> any
> cash from the accounts prior to the dissolution, but no communication was
> ever received.  Indeed, if it had been we would have sprinted to the bank,
> chequebook in hand to get at the cash.  Further, despite not having access
> to the account and not being able either to pay in or withdraw funds, we
> have been charged the bank's standard monthly "management fee".
>
> The cheque which I paid into my personal account was refused.  My personal
> bank is charging me £30 for the pleasure.
>
> I have spoken to the Treasury Solicitor's Bona Vacantia department (who 
> were
> extremely helpful, by the way) and I need to apply for the funds, but I 
> have
> to pay £200 for the privilege.  This is a time-consuming process and
> involves separate letters from HMRC's company tax and VAT departments to 
> say
> that we don't owe them anything, witnessed copies of identification of all
> the shareholders, multiple signatures and notarised statements.
>
> My question is, therefore, whether I can reasonably claim the following 
> from
> the bank:
>
> 1. The £200 fee which I have to pay to the Treasury Solicitors to apply 
> for
> the balance of the funds;

No, the primary mistake in not clearing the account before you closed the 
company was yours.  The mistake that the bank made in (wrongly) telling you 
that you could withdraw the money did not cause you this loss.

> 2. The refund of the monthly management fee for the period from when the
> company was dissolved to date;

possibly

> 3. The refund of the charge imposed by my personal bank for a
> bounced/returned cheque;

quite possibly, this is down to the bank's mistake

> 4. The costs of preparing the application to the Treasury Solicitor.

No, see the answer to 1

HTH

tim

>>I ran a small business as a limited company for a few years until 2006
>>which
>> did not succeed.  After approximately a year during which time the
>> business
>> was wholly dormant, we applied to dissolve the company and got on with 
>> our
>> lives.
>>
>> Now, we're not the most efficient people here, and it's been a while, but
>> we
>> discovered that there remains around £550 in the old company bank 
>> account,
>> so I phoned the bank's business call centre a couple of weeks ago and, on
>> their advice and reassurance, I wrote out a cheque for the majority of 
>> the
>> funds and paid it into my personal bank account.
>>
>> Nothing happened.
>>
>> So I went into the business bank's branch today and was told that the
>> account was suspended because the company had been dissolved and I did 
>> not
>> have access to the funds, which were now accessible only by the Treasury
>> Solicitor - exactly the opposite of what I had been told two weeks
>> earlier.
>>
>> The bank claimed that they wrote to advise us that we needed to withdraw
>> any
>> cash from the accounts prior to the dissolution, but no communication was
>> ever received.  Indeed, if it had been we would have sprinted to the 
>> bank,
>> chequebook in hand to get at the cash.  Further, despite not having 
>> access
>> to the account and not being able either to pay in or withdraw funds, we
>> have been charged the bank's standard monthly "management fee".
>>
>> The cheque which I paid into my personal account was refused.  My 
>> personal
>> bank is charging me £30 for the pleasure.
>>
>> I have spoken to the Treasury Solicitor's Bona Vacantia department (who
>> were
>> extremely helpful, by the way) and I need to apply for the funds, but I
>> have
>> to pay £200 for the privilege.  This is a time-consuming process and
>> involves separate letters from HMRC's company tax and VAT departments to
>> say
>> that we don't owe them anything, witnessed copies of identification of 
>> all
>> the shareholders, multiple signatures and notarised statements.
>>
>> My question is, therefore, whether I can reasonably claim the following
>> from
>> the bank:
>>
>> 1. The £200 fee which I have to pay to the Treasury Solicitors to apply
>> for
>> the balance of the funds;
>
> No, the primary mistake in not clearing the account before you closed the
> company was yours.  The mistake that the bank made in (wrongly) telling 
> you
> that you could withdraw the money did not cause you this loss.
>
>> 2. The refund of the monthly management fee for the period from when the
>> company was dissolved to date;
>
> possibly
>
>> 3. The refund of the charge imposed by my personal bank for a
>> bounced/returned cheque;
>
> quite possibly, this is down to the bank's mistake
>
>> 4. The costs of preparing the application to the Treasury Solicitor.
>
> No, see the answer to 1
>
> HTH
>
> tim

Thanks for the prompt reply, Tim.

My thinking is that the bank claims to have written to me advising me to 
clear the account before the company was dissolved (which I didn't receive), 
which suggests that they accepted some responsibility for keeping me 
informed.  Indeed, their website claims  that they maintain personal 
relationships and keep in touch with useful advice - something which they 
clearly failed to deliver on.

"Trent C" <TrentC@invalid.invalid> wrote in message 
news:FbmdnQMYlMx6_G3XnZ2dnUVZ7rmdnZ2d@brightview.co.uk...
>I ran a small business as a limited company for a few years until 2006 
>which
> did not succeed.  After approximately a year during which time the 
> business
> was wholly dormant, we applied to dissolve the company and got on with our
> lives.
>
> Now, we're not the most efficient people here, and it's been a while, but 
> we
> discovered that there remains around £550 in the old company bank account,
> so I phoned the bank's business call centre a couple of weeks ago and, on
> their advice and reassurance, I wrote out a cheque for the majority of the
> funds and paid it into my personal bank account.
>
> Nothing happened.
>
> So I went into the business bank's branch today and was told that the
> account was suspended because the company had been dissolved and I did not
> have access to the funds, which were now accessible only by the Treasury
> Solicitor - exactly the opposite of what I had been told two weeks 
> earlier.
>
> The bank claimed that they wrote to advise us that we needed to withdraw 
> any
> cash from the accounts prior to the dissolution, but no communication was
> ever received.  Indeed, if it had been we would have sprinted to the bank,
> chequebook in hand to get at the cash.  Further, despite not having access
> to the account and not being able either to pay in or withdraw funds, we
> have been charged the bank's standard monthly "management fee".
>
> The cheque which I paid into my personal account was refused.  My personal
> bank is charging me £30 for the pleasure.
>
> I have spoken to the Treasury Solicitor's Bona Vacantia department (who 
> were
> extremely helpful, by the way) and I need to apply for the funds, but I 
> have
> to pay £200 for the privilege.  This is a time-consuming process and
> involves separate letters from HMRC's company tax and VAT departments to 
> say
> that we don't owe them anything, witnessed copies of identification of all
> the shareholders, multiple signatures and notarised statements.
>
> My question is, therefore, whether I can reasonably claim the following 
> from
> the bank:
>
> 1. The £200 fee which I have to pay to the Treasury Solicitors to apply 
> for
> the balance of the funds;
> 2. The refund of the monthly management fee for the period from when the
> company was dissolved to date;
> 3. The refund of the charge imposed by my personal bank for a
> bounced/returned cheque;
> 4. The costs of preparing the application to the Treasury Solicitor.
>
> Any thoughts?  I'd be interested to hear if anyone has had a similar
> experience in going after a bank on a business account issue rather than a
> personal one.  For obvious reasons I haven't identified the bank.  Yet.


The whole problem stems from not dealing with the dissolution of the company 
correctly. This surely the responsibility of th director(s), or the 
company's accountant. The bank seem to have behaved correctly apart from the 
call centre. Your chances of successfully claiming anything from the bank 
seem very poor.

Peter Crosland

On 3 Nov, 19:30, "Peter Crosland"  wrote:
> "Trent C" <Tre...@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>
> news:FbmdnQMYlMx6_G3XnZ2dnUVZ7rmdnZ2d@brightview.co.uk...
>
>
>
>
>
> >I ran a small business as a limited company for a few years until 2006
> >which
> > did not succeed.  After approximately a year during which time the
> > business
> > was wholly dormant, we applied to dissolve the company and got on with our
> > lives.
>
> > Now, we're not the most efficient people here, and it's been a while, but
> > we
> > discovered that there remains around £550 in the old company bank account,
> > so I phoned the bank's business call centre a couple of weeks ago and, on
> > their advice and reassurance, I wrote out a cheque for the majority of the
> > funds and paid it into my personal bank account.
>
> > Nothing happened.
>
> > So I went into the business bank's branch today and was told that the
> > account was suspended because the company had been dissolved and I did not
> > have access to the funds, which were now accessible only by the Treasury
> > Solicitor - exactly the opposite of what I had been told two weeks
> > earlier.
>
> > The bank claimed that they wrote to advise us that we needed to withdraw
> > any
> > cash from the accounts prior to the dissolution, but no communication was
> > ever received.  Indeed, if it had been we would have sprinted to the bank,
> > chequebook in hand to get at the cash.  Further, despite not having access
> > to the account and not being able either to pay in or withdraw funds, we
> > have been charged the bank's standard monthly "management fee".
>
> > The cheque which I paid into my personal account was refused.  My personal
> > bank is charging me £30 for the pleasure.
>
> > I have spoken to the Treasury Solicitor's Bona Vacantia department (who
> > were
> > extremely helpful, by the way) and I need to apply for the funds, but I
> > have
> > to pay £200 for the privilege.  This is a time-consuming process and
> > involves separate letters from HMRC's company tax and VAT departments to
> > say
> > that we don't owe them anything, witnessed copies of identification of all
> > the shareholders, multiple signatures and notarised statements.
>
> > My question is, therefore, whether I can reasonably claim the following
> > from
> > the bank:
>
> > 1. The £200 fee which I have to pay to the Treasury Solicitors to apply
> > for
> > the balance of the funds;
> > 2. The refund of the monthly management fee for the period from when the
> > company was dissolved to date;
> > 3. The refund of the charge imposed by my personal bank for a
> > bounced/returned cheque;
> > 4. The costs of preparing the application to the Treasury Solicitor.
>
> > Any thoughts?  I'd be interested to hear if anyone has had a similar
> > experience in going after a bank on a business account issue rather than a
> > personal one.  For obvious reasons I haven't identified the bank.  Yet.
>
> The whole problem stems from not dealing with the dissolution of the company
> correctly. This surely the responsibility of th director(s), or the
> company's accountant. The bank seem to have behaved correctly apart from the
> call centre. Your chances of successfully claiming anything from the bank
> seem very poor.
>
> Peter Crosland

I agree - although the bank might, as a courtesy, write to directors
to remind them to remove funds before dissolving the company, I can't
see that it has any obligation to do so.

I'm in the process of closing a company at the moment, and my
accountant has made absolutely clear that I *must* empty the bank
account before Companies House registers the company as closed.

On Nov 4, 9:40 am, Mouse  wrote:

>
> I agree - although the bank might, as a courtesy, write to directors
> to remind them to remove funds before dissolving the company, I can't
> see that it has any obligation to do so.
>

This begs the question as whether banks etc should be expected to 'wet
nurse' their clients including helping them to express the milk.

In message 
, 
peterwn  writes
>On Nov 4, 9:40 am, Mouse  wrote:
>> I agree - although the bank might, as a courtesy, write to directors
>> to remind them to remove funds before dissolving the company, I can't
>> see that it has any obligation to do so.
>
>This begs the question as whether banks etc should be expected to 'wet
>nurse' their clients including helping them to express the milk.

Well, they'll squeeze almost everything else.

-- 
< Paul >