Clydesdale Bank Plc · DRN-6239075

The complaint Mrs S complains that Clydesdale Bank Plc trading as Virgin Money closed her account. She wants her account reinstated and her correct overdraft amount clarified. She would like substantial compensation. What happened The details of this complaint are well known to both parties, so I won’t repeat them again here. Instead, I’ll focus on giving my reason for my decision. What I’ve decided – and why I’ve considered all the available evidence and arguments to decide what’s fair and reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint. Having done so I’ve decided to not uphold this complaint. I’ll explain why bellow. • Virgin Money has extensive legal and regulatory obligations which UK legislation places on it as a regulated financial business. Including the responsibility to protect its customers from financial harm and to prevent and detect financial crime. • To comply with these obligations Virgin Money reviewed and decided to close Mrs S’s account. Virgin Money also restricted her access to the account although they did say that any standing orders or direct debits would still be paid. As is usual in these situations Virgin Money asked Mrs S to clear the arranged overdraft on the account. • Banks are entitled to end their business relationship with a customer, as long as it’s done fairly and is in line with the terms and conditions of the account. Banks should, however, give reasonable notice before closing an account. Usually that means 60 days’ notice, but it can be less depending on the circumstances. In this case Virgin Money gave Mrs S 60 days’ notice to make alternative banking arrangements. But restricted access to the account during the period. Because she wasn’t able to use her account on a regular basis, I consider this to be an immediate closure. • I’ve considered whether Virgin Money acted fairly when it closed the account as it did. For Virgin Money to act fairly here they needed to meet the criteria for immediate closure and looking at the evidence and the terms, I’m satisfied Virgin Money has applied the terms fairly when it closed Mrs S’s account, so I won’t be asking it to do anything different. I’m also satisfied that Virgin Money informed Mrs S of the closure by letter on 7 October 2024. That letter talks about what to do if there is borrowing on the account. I can see this was also sent to Mrs S’s email, so I’m satisfied she was aware of the closure and the need to repay her overdraft. • I’m aware Mrs S wanted her account reinstated but as I’ve said I can’t say that Virgin Money did anything wrong in closing her account, so I won’t be asking them to reinstate it.

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• One of Mrs S’s main concerns is in relation to the overdraft. Firstly, she doesn’t agree that the amount is correct. She believes her overdraft is more like £200 instead of the £2,000 Virgin Money says it is. I’ve had a look at Mrs S’s bank statements, and other correspondence and I can see that her overdraft is in fact £2,147.69 I haven’t seen any errors, so I’m satisfied that this amount is correct. • Mrs S also said she was told in branch on 30 January 2025 she wouldn’t be charged interest if she didn’t make payments towards the overdraft facility now the account was closing. I have seen no evidence of this conversation in branch but even if I accept Mrs S was told this, she got other information at other times that indicated she needed to pay the overdraft off or she would incur interest and charges. I have seen Mrs S was sent numerous letters from Virgin Money including the closure letter advising her that her overdraft facility was now payable as her account was closing. She was also called on 30 January 2025 and told the outstanding amount and that the overdraft needed to be cleared. I accept that this was a busy time for Mrs S as she was pregnant and then had a newborn baby. But I can see Virgin Money sent her multiple letters up until March 2025 letting her know her account was overdrawn and she had gone past her arranged overdraft limit of £2,000. So, I think Mrs S was aware she would have to pay her overdraft even if she was disputing the amounts that were due. • Mrs S says that interest has been added to her overdraft after the account was closed. I have seen no evidence of this and the overdraft due is still £2,147.69 as it was when the account was closed and sent to a different department for recovery. • Mrs S says she was told in branch she would receive a letter with the amount of overdraft she owed the bank. When in branch she disputed the overdraft was more than £200 and she said she didn’t have the money to pay for the £2,000 overdraft Virgin Money said she owed. I have seen evidence that Virgin Money sent letters to Mrs S letting her know she had an outstanding overdraft which needed to be paid. Her statements also show how the overdraft accumulated and how the fees have been added. Even if I accept that Mrs S was given conflicting information, I would have expected her to contact Virgin Money to clarify the situation. In addition, although I appreciate Mrs S may have been confused regarding the amount of the overdraft, which she disputed, I can’t see she made an effort to pay any amounts owing, even the £200 which she thought she owed. • Mrs S queried that £350 didn’t credit her account in December 2024 and wants to know what happened to that money. I’ve looked at the evidence Virgin Money have provided to this service. The rules of our service allow us to receive evidence in confidence. We may treat evidence from financial businesses as confidential for a number of reasons – for example if it contains information about other customers, security information, or commercially sensitive information. Some of the information Virgin Money has now shared with us is information I consider should be kept confidential, so I won’t be sharing it with Mrs S. The information provided is such that I am able to conclude that Virgin Money acted reasonably when they didn’t credit the £350 to Mrs S’s account so I won’t be asking them to do anything else here • Mrs S has said she had to go into branch to provide identification documents. Mrs S has told us that she had a newborn baby at the time and was recovering from a C section. She found this experience very upsetting and frustrating. I appreciate that this was very difficult, but Mrs S was asked to go to branch for ID purposes as her address had changed and she wasn’t able to pass security online without the new address. This was a process Virgin Money was following in order to comply with its legal and regulatory obligations. Virgin Money offered £50 compensation to Mrs S in recognition of the difficult situation she was in. Having looked at the evidence

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provided by Virgin Money I don’t consider that it acted unfairly when it required Mrs S to come into branch. So, I won’t be directing Virgin Money to pay Mrs S any compensation. I will leave it to Mrs S to follow this up with Virgin Money. In summary, I recognise how strongly Mrs S feels about her complaint, so I realise she will be disappointed by my decision. But overall, based on the evidence I’ve seen I won’t be telling Virgin Money to do anything more to resolve Mrs S’s complaint. My final decision My final decision is I do not uphold this complaint. Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Mrs S to accept or reject my decision before 21 April 2026. Esperanza Fuentes Ombudsman

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