refused a business account - please help!

smurf11_2

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone can give me advice on the following....

I've started my own business but have been refused a business banking account. Due to large debts run up by my previous husband's gambling/alcohol, i have a poor credit rating and a ccj on my file.

I did not find out about the ccj until it was too late (husband had been hiding mail) but paid it off as soon as i discovered it, which was six weeks after it had initially been served.

It was for the grand sum of £40 and has been on my file since May 2003 - so it only has a matter of five months or so to go before it disappears from my file.

however, bank of scotland refused my inital application for business banking and they then refused a second time, even though i provided them with a copy of my current credit rating/report, a full business plan and cash flow forecast.

i also told that that i had a £5k float to put into the business and that I do not require a loan or credit card or even an overdraft.

the business will bring in a minimum of £3000 a month for the first few months and then should rise to around £7000 a month by March.

On top of this i will continue to work full-time, bringing in a salary of £26k per year.

i will have one employee who will take a salary of just £5500 for the first 12 months to ensure that the business gets off on a sound footing.

i've had five-and-a-half years of this credit rating affecting me and thought that an organisation like hbos might give me a chance to make the most of what is a profitable business and a real chance for me to get on in life.

can anyone suggest a bank who would take me on?

thanks

blue_monkey_2

Hi,

If you arrange a meeting with a business banker (I am with Barclays as Abbey - my own bank for 10 years refused me) and once I took in my sales figures and projected where the business was going they were happy to give me a business bank account. As long as you are not borrowing you should be fine as they speak to you and arrange it there and then. It is free business banking for the first year.

I found them most helpful and I know they do not have the best repuation but they have even been to my house and seen my 'one woman' operation. If you are not happy with them, once your business is established you can then think about moving elsewhere. Did you have a face to face meeting with BOS?

Barclays were fab, while I was in the office they gave me the account number and arranged for the cheque book and debit card, I did still not believe I had the account until I had the cards in my hand and 3 years on I am still with them. Ironically, having the business in a trading as name has also increased my own credit rating. I think the thing is, if you are not going in asking for money then you should be fine.

I am not sure who else gives face to face meetings as I only ever tried with them but I would recommend you make an appointment to see them.

Good luck.

moneysavingallday

blue_monkey wrote: »

Hi,

If you arrange a meeting with a business banker (I am with Barclays as Abbey - my own bank for 10 years refused me) and once I took in my sales figures and projected where the business was going they were happy to give me a business bank account. As long as you are not borrowing you should be fine as they speak to you and arrange it there and then. It is free business banking for the first year.

I found them the most helpful and I know they do not have the best repuation, one your business is established you can then think about moving elsewhere. Did you have a face to face meeting with BOS?

Barclays were fab, while I was in the office they gave me the account number and arranged for the cheque book and debit card, I did still not believe I had the account until I had the cards in my hand and 3 years on I am still with them. Ironically, having the business in a trading as name has also increased my own credit rating. I think the thing is, if you are not going in asking for money then you should be fine.

I am not sure who else gives face to face meetings as I only ever tried with them but I would recommend you make an appointment to see them.

Good luck.

why has having the business increasaed your credit rating?
Has Barclays now given you some lending like loan, overdraft, cc ?
Also, why did Abbey turn you down? Did/do you have bad credit?

moneysavingallday

smurf11 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Just wondering if anyone can give me advice on the following....

I've started my own business but have been refused a business banking account. Due to large debts run up by my previous husband's gambling/alcohol, i have a poor credit rating and a ccj on my file.

I did not find out about the ccj until it was too late (husband had been hiding mail) but paid it off as soon as i discovered it, which was six weeks after it had initially been served.

It was for the grand sum of £40 and has been on my file since May 2003 - so it only has a matter of five months or so to go before it disappears from my file.

however, bank of scotland refused my inital application for business banking and they then refused a second time, even though i provided them with a copy of my current credit rating/report, a full business plan and cash flow forecast.

i also told that that i had a £5k float to put into the business and that I do not require a loan or credit card or even an overdraft.

the business will bring in a minimum of £3000 a month for the first few months and then should rise to around £7000 a month by March.

On top of this i will continue to work full-time, bringing in a salary of £26k per year.

i will have one employee who will take a salary of just £5500 for the first 12 months to ensure that the business gets off on a sound footing.

i've had five-and-a-half years of this credit rating affecting me and thought that an organisation like hbos might give me a chance to make the most of what is a profitable business and a real chance for me to get on in life.

can anyone suggest a bank who would take me on?

thanks

a 5-year-old CCJ for £40 is really not that bad. I don't see why it should prevent you opening a business account now. Have you tried HSBC?

smurf11_2

no, i'm worried about applying to somewhere else and being refused again because i think that a certain number of credit searches goes against you?

are hsbc one of the better options?

blue_monkey_2

I am not sure why my credit rating has increased. Maybe because I 'Trade as' so the business account is registered to Mrs x T/A xx. Yes, we do have bad credit and to add onto this we have recently moved to a Housing Association property. However, I got my Next statement and I noticed that I now have a credit limit of a shocking £6k. Bearing in mind I am self employed, in a rented house and have debts. I am also offered a number of credit cards and the like. It must be because the business account is in good standing and is linked to my name.

I do not know why Abbey did not accept me - which was by application form, not on paper. Barclays would not even give me a savings account yet they gave me a Business Account. No, I do not borrow. If I do not have the money I use my own personal money or overdraft (there is a fee for the business overdraft whether you use it or not, the personal one is free).

I might add that when Abbey Turned me down for a BA I was turning over between 6 and 12k per month - and this money was going through my current account so they could see how well my business was doing, but they would not give me an account.

When you have a face to face meeting with a Busisness Banking Advisor there is no credit search, they arrange it there and then deciding on what you have told them and on your business plans. If they can already see what money is omcing in and going out they know they will have this money coming to them. I did have this already. so they will not send you off and then search and come back and say sorry, we have changed our mind it is done on the day.

When I applied for the business account we had 12 creditors - all of which were defaulted on - my husband at that time had no employment as he had lost his job through ill health and we had debts of nearly 40k. We rented our house so no security tied into the house.

However, it is a face to face meeting and if the business manager sees that your business is working they will give you the account on that day. I do not even think I filled in an application form, she filled in a form with my account number on and I gave her my name, address and telephone number.

moneysavingallday

blue_monkey wrote: »

I am not sure why my credit rating has increased. Maybe because I 'Trade as' so the business account is registered to Mrs x T/A xx.

If you have no overdraft or other lending facilities with your business account then I doubt it is reporting to the CRAs or improving your credit rating in any way (apart from possibly within the Barclays group)

blue_monkey wrote: »

When you have a face to face meeting with a Busisness Banking Advisor there is no credit search,

I find that very difficult to believe. You had no prior relationship with Barclays and they were willing to open you a business current account without doing any kind of credit search? Never heard of anything like this.

blue_monkey wrote: »

they arrange it there and then deciding on what you have told them and on your business plans. If they can already see what money is omcing in and going out they know they will have this money coming to them.

How can they see what money is coming in or going out since you didn't already bank with them? Or do you mean you took in your statements from your Abbey personal account and showed it to Barclays?

blue_monkey wrote: »

However, it is a face to face meeting and if the business manager sees that your business is working they will give you the account on that day. I do not even think I filled in an application form, she filled in a form with my account number on and I gave her my name, address and telephone number.

???

blue_monkey_2

Yes, I took statements from my Abbey account along with other personal ID to show the money coming in. I also printed off my sales figures as I was only trading on eBay at that time so they could see what I had sold for that day. I had supplier invoices already as I had been trading for a bit by that time. But that was it. I sat there with her for about an hour, there was no credit check.

I've also now got 2 merchant accounts for internet trading, I've an account with Amex, I've got credit accounts with all my suppliers (up to 20k each).

I cannot see how anything else can affect my credit rating, I've not got more money, I've not got a 'proper' job. Nothing has changed. My credit limit on my credit card is 3 times what my husbands is and he is the one with the job.

I have to say that I do not take out the credit but it is there and being offered.

You know as much as I do. This is how I got the account.

My husband tells me that business and personal accounts are kept seperate - he lives at my address and owes Barclaycard 15k - yet I still got a Business Account with them. If there had been a credit check then it would have flagged this up for a start. There was no credit check, they gave me the account details on the day.

Maybe things have changed but I got my account 3 or 4 years ago. Everything was done on paper, I also signed up to Clearly Business and she gave me the pack on the day.

I've just dug out all of my old paperwork to clarify, I signed up March 2005. The application I made for the debit card was on a form and she tore one page off and sent it off and I received my card, checkbook and the welcome paperwork, on it was the account number she had given me written on it by hand. When I made the appointment to see her I just gave her my name, they did not ask for my address but told me what to bring as ID so it was not like they could have checked me before I arrived.

Maybe my experience was different to everyone elses or maybe their requirements are not the same as everyone elses. But I have not asked to borrow money so maybe this is why I got the account. I told them I had been turned down by Abbey and they said they would be delighted to give me a business account.

blue_monkey_2

Quote:
Originally Posted by blue_monkey
However, it is a face to face meeting and if the business manager sees that your business is working they will give you the account on that day. I do not even think I filled in an application form, she filled in a form with my account number on and I gave her my name, address and telephone number.

???

This was meant to say that she filled out the paperwork for me with the ID I had given her (bills, passport, driving licence) and I signed it. It was on this form she wrote my new account number.