Business Bank Account- Unfair treatment

csrivats999

All,
I applied for a barclays business account online last week and was given an appointment after 7 days to go and meet the branch manager.
So I went to the local barclays branch yesterday to open a new business bank account for the new contract work i am due to start in June.
I took all the required identify and paper work and spent over 2 hours with the business branch manager there answering all the questions they had.
As i was a victim of impersonation in the past, i have a marker from CIFAS on my credit report and so any credit application I make gets referred (which is what one would expect).
My credit report otherwise looks clean.
However i received a call today from the barclays manager stating that my application has been declined due to the CIFAS entry.
The sad part was the manager did not even understand how CIFAS is supposed to work and kept saying there is a fraud entry on my credit file.
I feel stressed and irritated at this coz this has not only created a bad entry on my credit report (due to this application being declined) but the branch manager seemed soo unaware of CIFAS and that barclays was a member of CIFAS and had a duty of care to comply with CIFAS checks and understand how it works.
I feel i have been treated unfairly and have also wasted time over this.
I have now applied for a business account with santander which has also been referred - so fingers crossed on that one.

Can anyone advice what can be done now and how do i appeal against barclays decision and if i can seek any compensation from barclays for the inconvienance caused?

Many thanks

DevCoder

You cant seek compensation because the banks/lenders can dictate who they lend to and why.

You have a CIFAS marker, I assume you added this and not the bank/FI that was at the end of this "impersonation".

If so then you should highlight in future applications that you have a self imposed CIFAS marker and you will provide the password/ relevant information if they decide to extend credit to you.

Note the "if", some lenders view any CIFAS as a red flag whether self imposed or not, you are not assumed entitlement to credit with any lender (CIFAS marker or not).

dunstonh

The sad part was the manager did not even understand how CIFAS is supposed to work and kept saying there is a fraud entry on my credit file.

Banks dont train their staff like they used to but then many banks have removed a lot of the discretion managers used to have which means they don't need to know the detail. The decision is being made for them.

Can anyone advice what can be done now and how do i appeal against barclays decision and if i can seek any compensation from barclays for the inconvienance caused?

Nothing can be done. It is a commercial decision by Barclays to not offer you banking facilities. Any business can refuse to offer services as long as the reason is not down to discrimination. You have no rights to be offered services by them. As such you have no reason to claim compensation.

You are now going into business. If someone came to you and wanted you to do something you didnt want to do, would you expect to pay compensation for refusing?

Wywth

csrivats999 wrote: »

All,
I applied for a barclays business account online last week and was given an appointment after 7 days to go and meet the branch manager.
So I went to the local barclays branch yesterday to open a new business bank account for the new contract work i am due to start in June.
I took all the required identify and paper work and spent over 2 hours with the business branch manager there answering all the questions they had.
As i was a victim of impersonation in the past, i have a marker from CIFAS on my credit report and so any credit application I make gets referred (which is what one would expect).
My credit report otherwise looks clean.
However i received a call today from the barclays manager stating that my application has been declined due to the CIFAS entry.
The sad part was the manager did not even understand how CIFAS is supposed to work and kept saying there is a fraud entry on my credit file.
I feel stressed and irritated at this coz this has not only created a bad entry on my credit report (due to this application being declined) but the branch manager seemed soo unaware of CIFAS and that barclays was a member of CIFAS and had a duty of care to comply with CIFAS checks and understand how it works.
I feel i have been treated unfairly and have also wasted time over this.
I have now applied for a business account with santander which has also been referred - so fingers crossed on that one.

Can anyone advice what can be done now and how do i appeal against barclays decision and if i can seek any compensation from barclays for the inconvienance caused?

Many thanks

When you approach a potential supplier with an invitation to supply you and they decline that invitation, that is not unfair and certainly no reason to expect any form of compensation.
If this refusal to supply has left you "stressed and irritated", then I suggest you think carefully again whether going into business on your own is the right thing to do, if for no other reason than your own sanity.

You could ask Barclays to review the decision they have arrived at (or probably their computer decided for them) but I don't know how successful such appeal would be.
You will find details of Barclays complaint procedure on their website.

As you have now decided to ask another provider to supply you, are you really interested in causing yourself and Barclays yet more inconvenience chasing a potential supplier that has already expressed they have no desire to supply you at this time?

csrivats999

The point I am trying to make here is questioning the reason stated by barclays that i was declined because I had a CIFAS entry - not because my credit history is imperfect or there was a CCJ or late payments.
Barclays being a CIFAS membership must do the required additional checks rather than simply rejecting applicants that have a CIFAS marker.
If all banks do this then one wonders why CIFAS even exist.

dunstonh

The point I am trying to make here is questioning the reason stated by barclays that i was declined because I had a CIFAS entry - not because my credit history is imperfect or there was a CCJ or late payments.

You were declined by the bank for reasons they would not tell you. It is very much a computer says yes/no. it does not give the reasons. Largely it is left to the staff member to guess. However, it is a commercial decision they are entitled to make.

You need to move on.