My original post was to see if anyone had any advice for me as this is not normal banking practise.
Well you are certainly right, it is not normal. But it may well mean that the bank are only just starting to discover that perhaps someone got up to some mischief inside the bank....
If that is the case then it will take sometime to sort out, the best approach is to keep up the dialog and also ask for a moratorium on the loan until the situation is settled.