Brooke and her partner have been customers with Commonwealth Bank for ten years... a single phone call has left the couple rattled

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A Commonwealth Bank customer has been left furious after being told almost all of her family's accounts would be closed without explanation.

Young mother Brooke and her partner - who is from the UK and is now an Australian citizen - have been customers with the bank for about ten years.

She told 2GB on Wednesday she and her partner got a call and text last week telling them his accounts, along with the pair's shared accounts and credit cards, would be closed by CommBank on May 31 and they need to remove their money.

The only account that would be left was their car loan which is accruing interest.

'This was out of the blue. My partner called them thinking it was a scam but they told him it was real and they gave no reason why,' Brooke said.

She said that was on the Monday and by the Wednesday they had blocked the accounts so that her partner 'couldn't even buy a drink at work'.

'He called them back and they released the block, but said they weren't obliged to tell us why the accounts were being closed,' Brooke said.

'We got a letter from them on Thursday listing the accounts that were affected but there was still no information about why they were shutting them.'

 A Commonwealth Bank customer has revealed how the bank shut down her and her partners accounts 'out of the blue'

She said there was no problem about money going into the accounts as her husband was getting regular paycheques while she was on maternity leave.

The pair now have to go through the ordeal of switching banks and then chasing up all their direct debit payments to organise for them to use the new accounts. 

'We've got no clue why they've decided this, we've done Google searches and it seems to have happened to other people before and the story is the same,' Brooke said.

She added she was concerned about whether it would affect their credit score.

According to the Banking Code Compliance Committee, Australian banks reserve the right to close a customer's account and this would be outlined in their terms and conditions.

The committee recommends banks provide a list of reasons in their fine print and let the customer know directly when closing accounts, but it's not required.  

These can include if the account is dormant, it belongs to a deregistered company, or the account owner has failed to satisfy identity checks.

Legal concerns can also lead to account closures such as suspected links to fraudulent activity, money-laundering, terrorism financing and transactions involving countries under sanctions.

Banks can also shut accounts if they deem they are 'misused', for example excessive gambling, where the bank does not want to be seen as enabling the behaviour.

Customers who believe their account has been closed in error can contact the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

According to the banking code committee, banks reserve the right to close accounts though it recommends reasons are provided

According to AFCA, 'It is helpful if a financial firm explains why an account was closed but there can be valid reasons for not explaining the decision to their customer. 

'If so, we may be satisfied the financial firm acted reasonably even though it did not say why the account was closed.'

AFCA said financial institutions have a choice to stop providing a service but it can require them to extend account closure dates or provide compensation to customers.

'Decisions to end relationships with customers are not taken lightly and are made on a case-by-case basis,' a Commonwealth Bank spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.

'We consider a number of factors before taking the careful decision to close a customer's account and we ensure we inform the customer of that closure decision.

'While we appreciate some customers want more information in relation to account closure decisions, there are limitations on what can be shared, which include our regulatory and legal obligations.'