A mum-of-three has 'just £9 to feed her children for a whole week' after her bank account was reportedly frozen unexpectedly.
Lisa Cullen claims that she is unable to access her funds after discovering the account had been frozen on Sunday, July 26, and now has less than £10 to last for next week. The 41-year-old, from Northenden, near Manchester, alleges she received no prior warning that her account would be suspended and so didn't have any plans in place to make sure she still has money available to feed her kids.
She only discovered the problem when trying to pay with her debit card and it was declined. Lisa, who has been left without an explanation, says she is unable to access over £120 in the account to buy essentials for her family.
Her children, aged 15, 13 and 9, have also just broken up for the school holidays, reports Manchester Evening News.
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“I went to the shops on Sunday with my daughter and my card was declined," Lisa said.
“I knew there was money in there, so I tried calling the bank and couldn’t get anywhere with them.”
Suits Me is a "hassle-free" alternative to online banking and provides customers with an e-money account and a contactless debit card. Lisa was informed that the enquiry has been passed to the company's Compliance Team to investigate, but has been offered no alternative solution and could go '60 days' without money.
“My DWP payments were paid into there,” she added.
“They said they’d sent me an email to say my account had been frozen but I’ve had nothing and no notice that it was going to happen. They’re just holding onto my money and I can’t access it.
“I’ve explained to them that I have three children and I’ve got no money to feed them. I must have emailed them around 40 times but we’re just going round in circles.
"I can’t speak to anyone in compliance and I can’t get any explanation for what’s happened.”
Lisa said she is now unable to log into her account altogether and said she has since seen similar reports online from other Suits Me customers. On Monday, she even drove to the bank company’s offices in Knutsford to try and get help with the situation.
“I don’t know what to do,” she said.
“I drove to the headquarters and they told me they had no managers available to speak to me. All they told me to do was to speak to the DWP about my money, but that’s not the issue."
Lisa said she's a relatively new customer with the bank and only joined as a "temporary thing," but admits she will never go near the company again.
"It doesn’t help that it's the start of the school holidays with three children," she added.
"We were going to go on days out and do things, but we’re stuck at home now because they’re holding my money to ransom - I've done nothing wrong." I'm going to have to borrow money from people and that will just put me behind because I will need to pay it back.
"I’m obsessively watching my electric meter go down and starting to worry that I won't be able to feed my kids. This is supposed to be a nice time at the start of the school holidays, but instead I'm just stressed out."
Suits Me said it was unable to comment on the situation, and added that it operated all accounts in line with its terms and conditions.
A Suits Me spokesperson said: "We cannot comment on an individual customer’s circumstances. However, Suits Me operates its customers’ accounts in line with their terms and conditions, relevant legislation and the guidance given by the Financial Conduct Authority."
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