Commercial loan provider: investigates BIL & makes outrageous false accusations

Hi Guys

I am writing this post on behalf of my brother in law who runs a small haulage company.

On the 14th of December my brother in law wrote to his provider asking them would it be possible for a three month restructure of his commercial loan as his cash flow was quite low and he was finding it difficult getting payments in.

On the 15th December he got a telephone call from his provider asking him to meet with them immediately. He met with them on the hour.

When he got there he found the atmosphere icy and knew that there was something not right. He was met by three bank officials and a security guard within listening distance and brought into a meeting were he was interrogated.

During the meeting he said "I am sorry but I have to stop you there as I think you have the wrong person"as their claims were so outrageous.

They accused him of having money hidden and that he had a nerve to ask for a restructure of the debt!

When he questioned them about were such absurd nonsense had come from they said they had being investigating him for quite some time.

He left in a state of daze. All of this is unfounded lies. My brother in law is as straight as a dye.

Where can he go from here?

That's pretty dreadful, almost sounds like the bank officials were chancing their arms. I'm not sure why they would do this unless its a tactic they use to try and blow the cover on some customers who may have additional unreported funds stashed away somewhere.

As a starting point I think your BIL should write down all the accusations that were made against him at the meeting. Because this was all verbal, if it is ever challenged its his word against theirs, but at least by writing it down now while its fresh in his mind he has his own record of what was said.

I presume their is a relationship manager of some description who is your BILs normal point of contact when dealing with the bank. I think your BIL should try and contact him regardless of whether or not he was one of the 3 that he met. Its very awkward because he has immediate financing problems which he needs to try and get sorted out asap. He should again deny as lies all the accusations that were made against him and again seek their assistance to help him overcome this short term problem.

If the bank do not entertain him he should formally complain to them, setting out the accusations made against him and his assertion that they are totally without foundation.

Under the Code for Lending to SMEs [broken link removed] they are supposed to work with SMEs in financial difficulties, so if they are not seen to do this he can complain to the Central Bank or the Credit Review Office.

Agree with Rudolph. It does sound like a tactic they use to weed out what they may perceive as customers who are hiding funds. Did they show your BIL proof of their investigations?

If they made specific claims, they should be able to back them up.

Agree that he should ask for the claims/accusations to be made in writing.