A & L Commercial account refusal

superscaper

My mum tried applying for the A & L Business account after being with RBoS for over 30 years. It was refused and it referred her to Experian. The only thing it could have been was the electoral roll. None of us in the family realised it was such an important factor in decision making. The problem is my mum is an American citizen (although lived in this country for over 40 years since she was a child) and so is not allowed on the electoral roll.

She appealed the decision and sent photocopies of passport with visa, copies of pretty much anything she could think of and gave them permission to contact her current bank where she also has a business account as well as personal and joint account (as I said before has been with that bank for over 30 years). Her finances are fine, there's no debt, mortgage paid off etc. Today she got a reply back from the appeal with another refusal and "our interpretation of the information provided to us by Experian ltd has concluded that it falls outside the limits deemed acceptable by the Alliance & Leicester Group".

She has already contacted Experian to have a note attached to electoral roll information. The only contact no. A & L give is the general 0800 which leads you nowhere as the highest manager there still couldn't help and could only suggest applying again with the same info but I don't see how it would make a difference. They've made no suggestion what she can do and the letter doesn't really specify anything.

Is there anything she can do? Having these refusals in itself will damage her credit rating and it seems unfair that as financially sound as my mum is and how long she has lived and banked here it all comes down to her being an American citizen.

Dagobert

superscaper wrote:

my mum is an American citizen ... and so is not allowed on the electoral roll.

She should be able to take part in local elections. Or does this only apply to EU citizens?

superscaper

Dagobert wrote:

She should be able to take part in local elections. Or does this only apply to EU citizens?

Been told specifically not allowed on electoral roll. Electoral roll only applies to British citizens, then possibly EU citizens and commonwealth citizens. Trying to get on electoral roll is absolutely not an option.

superscaper

Anybody got any ideas what to do if you're not on electoral roll?

regularsaver1

Try another bank?

Also as she has no debt and mortgage paid off - it may be catch 22 - no credit to assess

superscaper

regularsaver1 wrote:

Try another bank?

Also as she has no debt and mortgage paid off - it may be catch 22 - no credit to assess

Already got a business account with RBoS but the whole point was that A&L business account is better. If we found another bank would it be likely we'd run into the exact same problem, especially if they check experian and see A&L refused account. As for credit, there are a few accounts and several credit cards etc. It's not like there's no info on her at all.

gt94sss2

superscaper wrote:

Already got a business account with RBoS but the whole point was that A&L business account is better.

Hmm.. my father changed his business account to A&L and had nothing but problems for the year or so he was with them. I don't know what their online system is like for personal customers but for business ones it is a real pain to use and after promising 'free banking' when he opened the account, they started introducing charges.

Now, my dad has moved to the HSBC Business Direct account which suits him, as he doesn't really deal in cash but cheque and electronic debits/credits, though he did also consider their other business account as well.

Any bank should be willing to open an account for your mother, especially as your mother can prove you had had an existing account with RBoS for over 30 years - consider it a lucky escape from A&L Commercial Bank (I would!)

Regards
Sunil

regularsaver1

Ask them for a further reason as to why decline - they have a criteria that has not been met in their eyes - so ask them why

don't put it off going elsewhere though

superscaper

regularsaver1 wrote:

Ask them for a further reason as to why decline - they have a criteria that has not been met in their eyes - so ask them why

don't put it off going elsewhere though

It's impossible to contact anyone directly involved except by letter. It's what we've done so far, but it would seem to be simply because of not being on the electoral roll as that's what the manager at the call centre said as well. For some reason this seems to be an essential criteria with no exceptions.

gt94sss2

superscaper wrote:

It's impossible to contact anyone directly involved except by letter. It's what we've done so far, but it would seem to be simply because of not being on the electoral roll as that's what the manager at the call centre said as well. For some reason this seems to be an essential criteria with no exceptions.

Is their any reason why you want to open an account at A&L in particular?

Apart from HSBC which I mentioned earlier, Abbey National (for instance) seems to have a decent business account as well.

Regards
Sunil

superscaper

gt94sss2 wrote:

Is their any reason why you want to open an account at A&L in particular?

Apart from HSBC which I mentioned earlier, Abbey National (for instance) seems to have a decent business account as well.

Regards
Sunil

Doesn't really solve the problem if they refuse as well, in fact it would make the credit rating even worse. For her particular business she decided that A & L was best, but it still applies to any bank, what can she do if she's not on the electoral roll?