Can anyone help, new biz dilema..

tuckermandi

my partner has just become a self employed (VAT reg) driver with a company who withheld pay (approx £4k) as security (?). we had to use our credit card to tide us over and are now paying high interest on this. Also Natwest, whom we have business banking with, aren't very keen to lend to us , give an overdraft or credit card without tons of paperwork/ credit score etc....

we would like to have a loan with lower interest to cover this amount until the company pay up (or we have chipped away at it), balance transfers are too messy (been doing this for ages). we would also like to open a biz account with another bank (have been with HSBC for 18 years), one which gives a good rate of interest on credit balances.....any ideas would be great!:beer: Happy new year to all.

Tallymanjohn

If your partner is just an SE driver, rather than an owner/operator (with his own vehicle) then he will probably have difficulty in getting a business account on reasonable terms, especially if he is part of one of the 'umbrella' companies like NOVA as the government is currently planning to plug the tax loopholes under which these companies operate & the banks know this. If he has only just started out it's also an expensive business (accountants etc.) to register for vat before he needs to (the current turnover threshold is £54k) - he should have been advised of this beforehand. Also note that if he's working solely for the one company who are holding his 'security' then the taxman may soon start asking questions about his actual status as SE - may be worth being aware of this. I've been down this route myself (no pun intended) & so have a rather jaundiced view of the current haulage industry situation, but best of luck anyway.

tuckermandi

Thankyou very much for your reply. My partner is an owner-driver so hopefully this will help. He registered for VAT because of the £'s he spends on fuel per week. Hope we haven't made too many bad decisions. Other drivers also have this security withheld. We have considered agency work or joining one of these websites where delivery drops are advertised and you put in a offer on them, does any one have any experience here or ideas on how to gain rewards from fuel purchases....thanks.

MortgageMamma

Why dont you speak to an advisor at your local business enterprise trust (businesslink) they should be able to help. I've used them for various things over the years and never would have got by without them...

If you google "businesslink (yourarea) you should be able to find the relevant website