opening a new bank account while in debt with another

calatabiano

Hi there

Long story short i came back from 2 months abroad to find my barclays current account at -700, a lot of that being charges for being overdrawn.

I have employers who want to pay me money owed, but im not happy to use the barclays account, since it will instantly eat 700 to cover the overdraft (which i may yet dispute).

I would prefer to be in control of when and how i pay barclays. So i was thinking of opening a second bank account - no thrills, no overdraft, just to recieve my wages in.

Will a bank accept me? I imagine my credit rating is terrible now... plus perhaps if they know i owe barclays money, they will be scared to take me on.

Thanks for any advice!

PC_Gabriel_Kent

Different banks have different criteria so there is a good chance you will be able to open account somewhere else. Some people get declined at one place but accepted somewhere else so give it a whirl.

calatabiano

I did a bit more looking and in america there seems to be some sort of system where the banks check if you are overdrawn anywhere else. I couldnt find if its the same in the UK or not, anyone know?

Mags_cat

If as you say you're just looking for a no frills, no credit (overdraft) account then any bank must offer you a basic account. They probably won't advertise it, and they may tell you they don't offer those types of accounts - but they do and they should open one for you if you insist. Sometimes they will try to get you to apply for an ordinary account (which may get declined if you have a bad score on their system - e.g. already owe them money, or have a bad credit rating).

Co-op's Cashminder account is one the ones always mentioned to people on here as being very good.

wishface

Mags_cat wrote: »

If as you say you're just looking for a no frills, no credit (overdraft) account then any bank must offer you a basic account. They probably won't advertise it, and they may tell you they don't offer those types of accounts - but they do and they should open one for you if you insist. Sometimes they will try to get you to apply for an ordinary account (which may get declined if you have a bad score on their system - e.g. already owe them money, or have a bad credit rating).

Co-op's Cashminder account is one the ones always mentioned to people on here as being very good.

sorry but i don't know where you got this rubbish from. banks aren't obliged to do business with anyone.

Mark_In_Hampshire

I'm not sure if this is still the case, but...

Normally banks have first charge on your funds e.g. because they can debit their own payments from your account, they're in a unique position.

However, where more charges are pending, it is (used to be) possible to force the bank to give you the first charge over funds credited, and have to wait for their charges. This is done by a letter to the bank. I'm afraid I don't know the technical 'name' for this, so you may have to hunt around for it.

However this won't apply to charges already debited.

At worst, consider something like a prepaid Escape debit card onto which you can have funds paid, there are no transaction charges, and you can spend from there - believe no credit check involved.

noh

Open a basic bank account.
Halifax Easycash does not credit check and can be applied for online.

jonesMUFCforever

A lot will depend on how they have reported your overdraft to the CRA's.
If it is within an o/d facility then no problem if it is unauthorised then it may show as a late marker on your files alerting other institutiions to your debt.
I would certainly come to an agreement with Barclays before applying for anything other than a basic account.