Woman shocked after getting letter that says UOB will close her accounts

SINGAPORE: A woman took to social media to express how surprised she was to receive a letter from United Overseas Bank (UOB) the third-largest bank in the country.

A Ms Gal Goh wrote on the COMPLAINT SINGAPORE Facebook page on Oct 20, with an update on Oct 28, to share the letter she’d received from the bank.

“Why UOB has the sudden to cease all my accounts without any explanation? I don’t own a cents (sic) in any banks. I paid my credit card promptly. I have all my saving, insurance and giro with Uob. And they also grade me as their privilege customer. What happen to my saving policy and fixed deposit?There is no compensation and I have to start somewhere all over again!” she asked in her original post, requesting advice from netizens.

In the update to her post, she added that the UOB accounts of her son and mother are also going to be closed, which presumably means they received a similar letter. The Independent Singapore has reached out to Ms Goh, as well as to UOB, for an update or further comment.

The letter, which was a computer-generated one that does not require a signature, has the heading “CLOSURE OF UOB ACCOUNTS.” In it, Ms Goh was informed that by November 15, 2023, the bank will be “unable to continue maintaining” the credit card accounts, cashplus accounts, and balance transfer or personal loan accounts” that she has with UOB.

The letter provides additional instructions for loans, payment plans and what to do with various types of accounts, but does not otherwise give the reason or reasons why UOB is closing Ms Goh’s accounts.

It ends with instructions for her to cut her credit cards in half for security purposes, and to call UOB’s call center at 1800 2222121 if she needs any assistance.

Some commenters on her post told her that the best thing is for her to go to then bank and talk directly to the staff to find out why her accounts are being closed. However, as Ms Goh is not in Singapore, she will need to wait until she gets back to the country before she can talk to UOB.

In the comments, Ms Goh also said that UOB had frozen her accounts in June for an investigation, but added that the scam officer had contacted her to tell her she had been cleared. After this, UOB unfroze her accounts.

One netizen gave the following advice: “Singapore has seen a surge in scams, prompting the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to implement stricter regulations. All banks are now required to address these issues. To demonstrate their commitment, many individuals are opting to close their bank accounts temporarily, signaling their support for the necessary changes. Once you’ve closed your account, it’s advisable to open a new one. This approach was taken by my bank as well. After about a month, UOB informed me that they had to close my account once more. While I was able to open another account, I’ve temporarily switched to other banks for financial transactions and ceased using UOB altogether.”

/TISG