Setting up my own business and cant get a bank account!!! Help!

shell7t8

Hi all, Im hoping someone may be able to offer me some guidance... I recently took a career break from my long term job in order to care for my partner who is undergoing cancer treatment. Having always worked and not living the thought of depending on benefits, i have been using the time to work in a business idea ive had for a long time but never had time to fulfill. I have completed my legwork and have all but secured the contract with my customer which, if my projections are correct should bring me in a minimum of £2000-£3000 per month to start with. I will be invoicing one client and receiving their payment. There will at the moment only be the one client. My problem s that i am unable to get a business bank account. I had some credit issues approx 4 years ago which i think is the cause. i completely accept this and despit my regrets of it, had little choice at the time and have learnt to live with it. I have spoken with my banks business manager who has confirmed this and told me "off the record" that i could use my personal account - i have two seperate accounts as upgraded some time back but left the original open, for a period of time until the bank can see that i am using it as a business account and have regular income at which point they may then be able to open a normal business account. I dont have a problem doing this but have a couple of questions... - is it legal to use a personal account as a trading account? - should i use it purely as the business transaction account (i still have a few direct debits which go from it) - i think i will look rather unprofessional to ask my new client to make their cheque payable to me personally. Is there any way of avoiding this? Hoping someone can advise.. Shell

iamBoris

You can use a personal account as long as you are registered as self employed and do all your taxes properly.

The benefit of having a separate business account is that all the transactions are in one place, much easier to make sense of it all and to do your returns.

I recently opened a business bank account with Santander. I don't have bad credit as far as i am aware. Did it online and it was effortless. No fees for life either.

My gf is in the process of opening one with Barclays.

We both have Limited Companies though which may have helped it along. This is only £35 to set up.

whitelabel

Perfectly legal, just keep strict records of what is personal. I'm presuming your just self employed sole trader not Ltd? May be more complicated if going Ltd but unless client insists I wouldn't yet unless there are business risks.

fluffpot

I use my personal account for my business - as I don't want to pay any business fees. As said above, jut make sure you have clear record of your business income and expenditure so that you can use these for your tax return

flexrider

use a personal account its more better but just down the long term route hire someoen to manage your books accountant ect but for now keep on eye on your business forcasts what comes in what goes out ect.

whitelabel

flexrider wrote: »

use a personal account its more better but just down the long term route hire someoen to manage your books accountant ect but for now keep on eye on your business forcasts what comes in what goes out ect.

I'm not the grammar police but that's not a great post by anyone's standards least of all someone giving business advice.
this may help you in future http://www.spellchecker.net/spellcheck/, cant help with the grammar though...

PlutoinCapricorn

I am a sole trader and use my personal account for my 'business'. I can get away with this as I only get one or two consultancy payments per month, much the same as if I had two part-time jobs.

I use my own name not a "trading as" name, otherwise I would need a separate account. Many consultants use their own name - this is not necessarily unprofessional.

In theory the banks do not like personal accounts to be used for business purposes, but you can keep under the radar if you do not pay in a lot of cash and do not have a lot of transactions.

MuffinTops

As far as I'm aware Natwest offer a business account for people with previous debt issues. I believe it's the Foundation Business Account (not largely advertised within their business section). No loans, just a debit card but may be what you're looking for. Do a search on the natwest site for Foundation Account or pop into a local branch and ask. I have the specific phone number written down at home so pm me if you want that. Good luck.