Safe business bank account pre IVA

carosel

We need to open a 'safe' business bank account. We are £8K in overdraft arrears with NatWest and have just successfully opened a new basic current bank account with Yorkshire. I have been told to apply to the Coop for the business account but am a bit afraid. I downloaded their application form and it asks if you have already got an account and for 2 statements. Obviously our statements will show this £8K deficit so will they automatically turn us down? I asked Payplan advisors and they said that it should be ok - how???
Really need advice if there are any business heads out there - plus I need advice very quickly please

ivainprogress

I had to open a new business account once our IVA had started. Is the business a limited company? Mine was Ltd and although it wasnt easy we did find success with Barclays and managed to open a business account with them. We have cheque books and debit cards although no overdraft. We were honest with them about the IVA and I cant fault them. Hope that helps and good luck. I also remember Lloyds TSB finally accepted us too but with a lot more hard work than Barclays, they were a lot easier to deal with.

carosel

No, ours is a partnership and very new just formed last September, the overdraft happened because of production costs and the manager was very helpful, however roof over our head etc is more important than our relationship with him - there are not many options open to us as some of our debts are linked to Santandar or Barclays and Lloyds TSB!! I thought that the best approach would be honesty really - if I get an appointment to discuss it I was going to mention the IVA process. It's so nerve wracking!

FoggyBrain_2

It does limit your choices, but it IS best to be upfront about the IVA. You might get turned down in some places, but at least where you do get accepted you won't be constantly worried about them finding out and maybe closing the account on you !!

ivainprogress

Yes it is nerve wracking! But you will get there. Have you considered changing the company to a Ltd company? It can be done quite cheap online and they are seen as a 'seperate entity' where as partnership are treated the same as sole traders, i.e. they base their decisions on you as an individual. I used my IVA to get rid of my debts as a sole trader, you could put your partnership bank account debt into the IVA and start again as a LTD company. We had personal debts with Barclaycard but again, managed to open a business account for a LTD company with barclays. A LTD company may be safer for the future as you are limited on your liability in the future if it fails, however with a partnership you are liable for everything if the business fails. Hope you understood all that! Good luck once again

Carosel_2

Thanks - never thought of becoming Ltd - I think i will do that before I attempt Co-op! The support on these boards is amazing - it is so difficult because we are dealing with this as a couple and our families have no idea, so we are limited to who we can talk to. I tend to deal with all the financial stuff myself.