Business Bank account for a discharged bankrupt

wok_boy

Hi there,

I need some advice.

I'm going to set up a Limited Company and need a business bank account, however I was only discharged from bankruptcy in April.

I know I'm going to have difficulty in opening one with the big 4 banks, can you recommend me a bank that would be sympathetic to a discharged bankrupt and wouldn't be a big hassle to set one up.

Are there any dangers in going for lesser known banks that will guarantee acceptance for a fee?

fiveyearplan

I haven't yet heard of a bank that will open one for you but if you find one please post the details.

Can you get someone else to open it for you?

wok_boy

fiveyearplan wrote: »

I haven't yet heard of a bank that will open one for you but if you find one please post the details.

Can you get someone else to open it for you?

If you mean family and friends, not a chance.

stubie

If you are setting up a LTD company then you are setting up a bank account for that company, not you.

You will be a director and an employee of that company. You are not opening account for yourself and I'm assuming that you are not a disqualified director?

I was discharged back in July and setup a LTD company in Sept. I open a business account with Abbey Business, FREE banking. :j

Hope this helps?

Next time I'm born I'm going to set myself up as a LTD company, so when it all goes wrong, I can just walk away and start again! Its better than getting your life screwed for the next 6 years.

fiveyearplan

stubie wrote: »

Next time I'm born I'm going to set myself up as a LTD company, so when it all goes wrong, I can just walk away and start again! Its better than getting your life screwed for the next 6 years.

You can only walk away like that provided you haven't given any personal guarantees though and most banks won't lend without it.

Stranger_within

Just thought i'd let the forums know that I applied for - and received the go ahead - on the same day - for a business account with lloyds tsb.

i made the appointment online and was invited down to the local branch where the very helpful lady launched into the usuaL spiel. i politely stopped her and explained that i was recently discharged and showed the BRO and discharge notice.

she said that every case is on its merits and that the bank can offer a business account to anyone and bankruptcy is not a bar. she proceeded with the credit check and of course it came back with defaults on it that have yet to be updated - and lloyds tsb is one of them.

after half an hour and some referrals she was sure i'd be offered one and she called later on in the day to confirm it and gave me the account number.

its 18 months free banking, with a chequebook (not sure if a debit card is included just yet), of course no overdraft but a business account all the same.

Just some further details -

my bankruptcy may 2008, discharged 26 october 2008, no fraud involved


I think that the banks are being more sympathetic these days, after all thousands are becoming bankrupt, many previously ran businesses someone may as well have the custom.

DON79

congratulations. glad you got one sorted out.

sotonguy

Hi, I'm brand new to this forum and it's most likely the one and only time i will post.

just really wanted to give people some hope that setting up an account is quite easy after Bankruptcy. I went to quite a few of the large banks and most said no way!

However Barclays were EXCELLENT !! Great customer service, visa card, cheque book, online banking the lot. Two weeks from start to finish. I set up us a sole trader initally and they had no issues.

So if your out there thinking about it, forget lloyds, natwest etc they were useless.

Funny thing i realised though, the goverment want to get the UK back on it's feet and help small business, yet any bank owned by the tax payer has no interest at all.

Good luck......

bionic_woman_69

i am thinki8ng of going bankrupt next yr. im self employed. my wife has the mortage and land deeds in her name to i hope that they cannot touch our home.
i have a dormant LTD company set up . i thought that i couldnt be a director for 6 yrs after bankruptcy is this correct.

webtrader

Once you are discharged there is nothing stopping you becoming a director of a ltd company: but the banks dont want to give you an account because of your credit score They are all Hypocrites as they were all Bankrupt Themselves; and were the probable cause of your Bankruptcy;but its a case of COMPUTER SAYS NOOOOO !!!!!
D Heads !

capeverde

From a personal perspective Lloyds have been absolutely superb. I was discharged almost 3 years ago and they opened me not only business accounts for my Limited company, but also a full current account immediately after discharge. Last week I sought an overdraft and was immediately authorised for 15k without security. Now appreciate we have a good amount of money running through our accounts and you arent going to get this for a start up, but having a record of bankruptcy does not rule out funding before it falls off your credit file. As an aside, he also offered to put through 2 contract hire vehicles as we are looking to upgrade and provisionally agreed to a mortgage, however we do have a large deposit and only require 20% LTV.

I hope this puts to bed some of the myths that your life is put on hold for 5 years following bankruptcy. You arent going to walk straight into a bank and get carte blanche, but if you show over a period of time you operate your accounts in the correct manner, things are possible.