What to do if…
your bank account is marked dormant and you cannot make payments

What to do now

1. Contact the bank through a trusted route.

   • Use secure in-app chat, a branch, the number on your card, or the bank’s official website.
   • If the bank calls you and asks for details, you can end the call and call back using an official number.
   • Say: “My account has been marked dormant or inactive and I cannot make payments. What do you need from me to reactivate it?”

2. Ask what the bank has actually blocked.

   • Ask whether card payments, bank transfers, cash withdrawals, Direct Debits, Standing Orders, online banking, or incoming payments are affected.
   • Ask whether the issue is dormancy, inactivity, a verification check, returned post, or a security hold. Banks do not all use these words in the same way.

3. Ask for the fastest safe reactivation route.

   • Ask whether reactivation can be done in the app, by phone, by secure message, or in branch.
   • If a branch visit is needed, ask whether you need an appointment and exactly which ID or proof of address documents are acceptable.
   • Ask whether you must do anything after reactivation, such as logging in, confirming contact details, or making a small transaction if the bank tells you to.

4. Get clear confirmation before ending the call or chat.

   • Ask when outgoing payments should work again.
   • Ask whether failed payments will be retried automatically or whether you must send them again.
   • Ask for a complaint or case reference if the block has already caused missed payments, fees, or loss of access to essential money.

5. List essential payments due before the account is working again.

   • Put rent, mortgage, childcare, care costs, council tax, utilities, insurance, travel needed for work, and essential debt payments at the top.
   • Ignore non-urgent subscriptions and admin until the essentials are stable.

6. Contact urgent payees before a missed payment becomes worse.

   • Say your bank has temporarily blocked payments while it completes reactivation checks.
   • Ask for a short extension, a safe manual payment route, or a pause on late fees or collections while you regain access.
   • Ask them not to keep retrying a Direct Debit if that would add charges.

7. Use a safe temporary payment method only for essentials.

   • Pay from another account you control if you have one.
   • Use a trusted joint account only if you normally have authority to use it.
   • Use credit only if it is affordable and prevents a more serious immediate consequence.
   • Keep a note of what you paid, the date, and the reference, so you do not pay the same bill twice.

8. Protect money due into the account.

   • If salary, benefits, a pension, or a refund is due soon, contact the payer and ask whether the payment is likely to arrive, bounce, or need another route.
   • Do not change payment details through a link in an unexpected message. Use the payer’s official contact route.

9. Start the complaint route if the bank is slow or the block is causing harm.

   • Ask the bank to log a formal complaint and give you the reference.
   • Keep a short timeline of dates, failed payments, fees, and what the bank told you.
   • If you are unhappy with the bank’s final response, or the bank does not respond within the timeframe it gives you, often up to 8 weeks, you can usually take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.