The first day I wanted to open an account in Barclays I simply walked into a branch and asked one of the staff about the different accounts they have and their offers. She told me that the only free of charge one is our Cash Card. But you can only use it in the cash points. For your online banking you need the other one which will cost you just 5 pounds per month. I accepted because I knew that HSBC will charge me 8 pound so I asked her to book an appointment for me. Keep this in your mind, I shall come back to it at the end…
This afternoon, I walked into the branch in which I had my account. I went to the branch manager’s office, showed the letter to him and started complaining about the contents of it… “What’s this? You are irresponsible! This is irrational! This is ridiculous! I don’t have any correlation with the government! It’s not about the sanctions! You can’t do this … Blah blah blah…” He just replied: “I know, but according to the rules…” but I was so angry, so I interrupted: “Rules? Which rules? That’s all about the government! I am an ordinary Iranian national!”. Again he replied: “No, it’s about the Iranian nationals!” I shouted: “If you you don’t know the rules, I suggest you go and read them! Anyway, I myself now want to take my money out of here…”
Then I just did the process and went to another bank called Royal Bank of Scotland. I explained the situations for them and they told me they’ll open a bank account for me for free and I can do anything, including the online banking with it. At least they treated well. I emphasized: “I am an Iranian national. Are you sure I won’t have any problem with this account?” and she replied: “Sure! We have many Iranian clients”. So I asked her to book an appointment for me!
Just to check some other banks I went to the Lloys TSB. They gave me the same answer. They told me they don’t know why Barclays has done this and this is not a law coming from the higher authorities.
Finally I went to another branch of Barclays and told them I want to open an account and I am Iranian and I’ve heard that we can’t have an account here because of the sanctions! They told me: “No, you definitely CAN open an account here. But you can only have a Cash Card in our bank.” I told him: “But I want to do online banking!”. “Yes, you can!”, he replied!
I came back home and checked the Barclays website on the internet. Apparently I can do online banking and all with a Cash Card. I deduced that the banker deceived me for 5 pounds per month in the first day! So I shall transfer all my money to the RBS. Moreover, this is an irresponsible action of the Barclays or any other banks to close certain clients’ accounts only because of their nationality!!!
