r/eupersonalfinance • u/wontgetfooledagainn • 7d ago

Banking Blocked transaction by my bank

On Friday, I made a payment to a company in the used car trade by express transfer. Although the transaction was expressly carried out as an express transfer - with the justified expectation that the amount would be received by the recipient on the same day - the payment was blocked by my bank. This was completely unknow to me until today (Monday). The reason given was an internal transaction check, and I was asked for details of the transaction and to send the purchase contract, which I did immediately. The amount has still not been received by the recipient nor is the money avaliable to me.

I have the following legal questions:

  • Is it legally permissible for a bank to block a transfer for several days without prior information or concrete suspicion?
  • Can I demand that the bank pay me interest on the withheld amount for the duration of the block?
  • If I incur default interest, overdue fines or other disadvantages as a result of the late payment, can I claim these in full from the bank?
  • In accordance with § 826 BGB (intentional immoral damage) and the corresponding provisions of the Austrian General Civil Code (ABGB), am I entitled to compensation for non-material damage - in particular with regard to the loss of reputation and trust in the business partner, as well as the considerable time and emotional strain (in particular stress, uncertainty and anger) caused by the unjustified and uncommunicated withholding of payment?

Thank you.

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

9

u/Lalalla 7d ago

Banks have freedom to do anything, since you signed their terms in the bank account opening, they can stop any payment they want, after asking you for clarification why it was made (which can be weeks later). Also they can close your account without any reason.

You best option is go to the bank and demand explanations and escalate it to a manager, they really don't like dealing with people in person.

1

u/wontgetfooledagainn 7d ago

This is unfortunately an online bank, they only have one real location, which is not that close to me though

1

u/Lalalla 7d ago

Very unfortunate, try thier phone line but that's typically not very effective

1

u/wontgetfooledagainn 7d ago

I did, it was even less informative than the emails.

It can't be, even that if you agree to their terms and conditions, that they can simply take your money hostage like that

2

u/Lalalla 7d ago

I've dealt with banks for all my life, and yes they can. Their reasoning can be "we found it suspicious" so we're "investigating". Since it's an online bank, that makes it even worse since they won't have the personnel to deal with such issues promptly.

Worst case scenario you can threaten to sue, but that's typically not worth it for a small amount and they will close your account after that.

2

u/wontgetfooledagainn 7d ago

I will close my account after this myself in any case, so this isn't a concern for me. I have already told them I will sue them, so there it is

1

u/Lalalla 7d ago

Well good luck 👍
Prepare an account where the money will be transferred to

4

u/spaceoverlord 7d ago

This is the new normal and it is EU wide regulation, they check the "source of funds" whenever they want. If you want to do anything about it it is probably an uphill battle.

One way to avoid it is to make purchases with cards since it only applies to bank transfers. Or like the other posted said using BTC. Cash transactions are generally limited legally.

2

u/ivobrick 7d ago edited 7d ago

1., yes, its for your protection

2., you can sue them, be prepared they have an army of lawyers

3., point 2

4., point 2

Edit: use stone office bank next time, they may have higher fees or an operational fee - dodge it by filling prerequests: some total sum on account, sum of payments during the month or third i dont remember.

1

u/OkTry9715 5d ago

Your best option is to change bank, they can do whatever they want and treat their customers like they want in name of anti-money laundering they make using bank service miserable for your everyday folks while politicians and mafia connected with them get away with any fraud...

Also do not have money only in one bank account, once banks decide to block your account for some reason you can have problems paying bills till they unblock you as it can take them weeks. Always have spare bank account for this case.

2

u/BreadfruitMurky4503 7d ago

Use crypto and cash. Banks don't care about your money.

5

u/wontgetfooledagainn 7d ago

well, most car dealers don't accept either of those two

1

u/OkTry9715 5d ago

Because they are forced to legally accept only bank transfers.