A 30-year-old National Australia Bank customer was shocked when he received a letter telling him the bank would close his account in six weeks for no reason.
Shane Lucas, 49, abruptly received a message on Tuesday saying he had until October 14 to close all his NAB accounts. Then the bank would wait two weeks before doing it for him.
“You have until October 14, 2023 to withdraw the remaining funds in your account(s) and repay the money you still owe us,” the bank wrote to Mr Lucas.
“If accounts and services are not closed by October 19, 2023, we will close your accounts and services.”
“I got the letter on Monday and thought, what the hell is this?” Mr Lucas told Daily Mail Australia.
Shane Lucas was shocked when he received a letter from his bank saying they would be closing all his accounts within six weeks
‘I called NAB three times and asked, ‘What the hell is going on here?’
“He was a young guy and he was quite good and we talked about it and he was quite stunned.
“He said, ‘I’ve never seen anything like that.’
The NAB letter stated that the account was closed ‘in accordance with section 143 of the Banking Code of Practice’.
Section 143 of the Banking Code of Practice states that a bank ‘may under its terms and conditions close an account of yours if there is a credit on that account’.
This section states that the bank will give reasonable notice, ‘pay you the amount of the account balance’, but may charge ‘a reasonable amount’ for closing accounts.
Despite promising to pay the customer the remaining amount in his account, the letter told Mr Lucas that any remaining money could be transferred to the Commonwealth Government as ‘unclaimed money’, and that amounts below $20 could be transferred to the NAB Foundation.
The letter does not provide any explanation as to why NAB is considering closing Mr Lucas’ account
However, if the bank owed money, the account remained open until the debt was settled.
At the bottom of the letter, NAB states that all queries should be emailed to the account closure section.
“Our branches and call centers cannot help with this,” the bank advises.
Mr Lucas said he does not know why his personal and business accounts are being closed.
“I’m as honest as you are,” he said.
‘I do not drink. I don’t go to the pub. I don’t gamble.
“I’m just a family man running a small business. My bank account (and I) couldn’t get any cleaner.
‘I pay my suppliers and am paid by my customers. I didn’t write ‘duck’ on any trades.”
A spokesperson for NAB told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday that they do not comment on individual cases.
However, they made it clear that any money they sent to the Commonwealth government could be claimed from them at any time ‘by its rightful owner’.
Major banks have conditions stating that customers may not use their services if they exhibit behavior that, in the bank’s opinion, is offensive, intimidating or threatening to others.
Mr Lucas said that when he read about this in an NAB brochure, he complained to this local branch about why the bank should be allowed to do this, but was dismissed as ‘stupid’.
He has since been told that the account closure was not a punishment for raising that objection.
According to Mr Lucas, this single letter is the only message he has from the bank about the impending closure of the account.
“There’s no email, there’s no online banking, there’s no notifications,” he said.
‘What if I was abroad and didn’t get that letter?’
Frustrated by the lack of communication, Mr Lucas went to his local bank manager.
“He went through my personal and business accounts and there’s nothing in there,” Mr Lucas said.
“He couldn’t see on his screen why they closed my account, so the branches don’t get any information.”
“When I said, ‘is it because I brought Bitcoin?’ He said that’s probably the problem.’
A NAB spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia they would comment on individual customer cases
NAB announced in July that it would halt “transactions to high-risk cryptocurrency exchanges” to save customers from “an epidemic of scams.”
‘If you attempt to make a payment using your NAB Visa credit or debit card at any of these exchanges, the transaction will be declined and you will see a message saying ‘Issuer Declined Transaction”, a Q&A on the announcement said.
There was no talk about closing accounts.
Mr. Lucas said he hasn’t sent money to a Bitcoin exchange in a while.
“I’m a shrimp – not a Bitcoin whale,” he said.
‘I’m not a big multi-millionaire. I’m just an average guy.’
After this, Mr Lucas says he is done with NAB and has asked around, but discovered that some banks are refusing to do Bitcoin transactions.
‘Go ahead and gamble. You go to the pub. You can go to a brothel with Asian sex slaves, they’re fine with that, but you can’t buy Bitcoin?’ said Mr. Lucas.
‘If I’m going to buy a car and it’s a lemon of a car and a bad investment, then that’s my choice.
“If I’m going to buy Bitcoin and I buy at the top and sell at the bottom, that’s a bad investment, that’s my choice.
“No one is holding a gun to your head and telling you to buy this or see this.
‘It should be a free society where we have the right to buy what we want. I’m not doing anything illegal.’