If you’ve ever had your bank account closed, you probably know that it can happen unexpectedly due to numerous reasons. It’s mostly because of having a negative balance, using your account very little or not at all, or bouncing too many checks.
So if you are wondering, ''Can a closed bank account be reopened?'' keep reading our post to get an answer. We’ll go through the most common causes and offer some solutions to get your account up and running.
Why Would a Bank Close Your Account?
There are a few reasons why a bank may close your account.
If you have been using your account in a way that violates the terms and conditions set forth by the bank, it may close your account. This could include writing bad checks or engaging in other fraudulent activities.
In addition, it can happen for some benign reasons, so it’s important to get to the bottom of what exactly happened to your account. Yet, keep in mind that every customer matters, and there is stiff competition among banks out there, so all the reasons need to be taken seriously.
In most cases, banks will notify you about the potential closing of your account. Some will give you 30 days to make a direct deposit before closing it. Others will reopen it after you deposit money. But only one transaction will rarely make a difference.
Some of the most common reasons also include:
- Inactive account: If you don't use your account for a long time, the bank may close it.
- Deposits from questionable sources: If you receive money from a business or person with suspicious activity, it can trigger an investigation.
- Large deposits and withdrawals from an unknown source: If there’s a suspicious activity going on involving large sums of money going in and out of your account that’s not from a recognizable job, the bank may question it.
- Negative balance: If you’ve had a negative balance for too long or your overdraft fees piled up, that might also be a reason for closing your account.
- Suspicious activity: If the bank suspects that you're engaging in fraudulent activity, it will close your account and may report you to the authorities.
What Steps Should You Take After Reopening Your Account?
To figure out if a closed bank account can be reopened, you need to find out why it happened in the first place.
The first step is to call your bank and speak to customer service. It’s not a pleasant experience, but it’s important to know why you lost your bank account.
If it’s possible to reopen your account, you’ll have to bring in some form of identification, proof of address, and possibly make a deposit. Once you have all the required documents, you can open your account and start using it again.
Inactivity
If your bank account has been dormant for a long time, it might get closed.
In most cases, making a transaction to reactivate it won’t be enough. Instead, you’ll need to send a request to reopen your account. Then, you’ll often be required to make a deposit. Some banks even have minimum deposits to reactivate your bank account. But overall, this process is not complicated and shouldn't be an issue.
Suspected Fraudulent Activity
If your bank suspects that you are using your bank account for fraudulent activities, it will report it. The bank will file a Suspicious Activity Report, after which you won’t be able to reopen your bank account. This can create a really dangerous situation since you will be forbidden to open an account in another bank as well.
The only good thing is that your bank will, in most cases, notify you about filling a report for suspicious activities. In that case, you can prove that all your transactions were legal. However, in some cases, the bank will decide to close your account anyway because you are not a valuable customer to them.
Unpaid Negative Balance
In this case, everything depends on your bank policies. You need to file a request for reopening and pay the entire negative balance amount, along with all overdraft fees.
You also need to know that if the bank notices a bad pattern in your financial behavior, it can reject to reopen your bank account. For example, too many suspicious withdrawals and a negative balance may cost you not just a bank account closure. This behavior can cause irreparable damage to your credit score, and that’s the worst-case scenario.
In Conclusion
So can a closed bank account be reopened? It depends on your financial habits and behavior. You can easily avoid all the consequences we mentioned above. Since there is harsh competition, all banks aim to provide the best experience to their customers.
So if you have some doubts or suspect that something bad is happening to your account, call customer service and resolve all the issues before they affect your credit and reputation.
