Business bank account being closed

spacemates_2

Hi my bank has out of the blue sent me a letter saying they are closing my business account I have until the 31st of this month to move my account, I have tried other banks and because of my credit rating they refuse me, so I am facing the end because I cannot see a light at the end of the tunnel, I have been to the bank to ask them why and the lady had a route through the system and said there was not reason she could see on there?? Yes I have been overdrawn here and there but I have paid the fees and surely that's what makes them the money! But I have not been overdrawn for long at all but often I would agree, but it's a struggle at the moment and I am feeling the pinch ( spell checker wanted to change the word pinch to punch :-) )
I just do not know what to do, I am near on convinced this is the end but I though I would ask for help on here if anyone else has been in this situation.

paddyrg

Business account overdrafts etc need to be pre-arranged and secured against personal assets/accounts (and usually paying a fee to do so).

If you didn't do this, they must be thinking you're not maintaining your account in good order and so are naturally jumpy. They imagine you could just close the door and walk away owing them money.

How did you get overdrawn? Cheques? I guess the alternative would have been the bank not honouring a payment which would have been even worse for business. Could you use like a building society basic account with no cheque book and only online/debit card payments? Might increase the gene pool of places to ask as you're making it clear you don't want any lines of credit (and will pay a monthly fee)

Mistral001

Are you a Ltd Company? If so, perhaps you could change to sole trader and use your personal account?

spacemates_2

Hi thank you to you both for time and advice I am self employed and I run a garage along with a online spares business so I have a lot of Internet money going through the account, I opened a business account thinking a normal personal bank account would not be allowed, but if it is then yippee! That's the light at he end of the tunnel I need! Thank you so much I had no idea I could use a personal account.

paddyrg

Your personal bank might not like it, and require that you make it a business account. Is it the same bank as is kicking out your business account?

imoneyop

spacemates wrote: »

I have a lot of Internet money going through the account,

Were your bank aware that in addition to the garage you were also selling online? If you've got a lot of bank transfers coming in from different places then you may have triggered a money laundering alert and they've not bothered to investigate it and just decided to close the account.

yasmup

spacemates wrote: »

Hi my bank has out of the blue sent me a letter saying they are closing my business account I have until the 31st of this month to move my account, I have tried other banks and because of my credit rating they refuse me, so I am facing the end because I cannot see a light at the end of the tunnel, I have been to the bank to ask them why and the lady had a route through the system and said there was not reason she could see on there?? Yes I have been overdrawn here and there but I have paid the fees and surely that's what makes them the money! But I have not been overdrawn for long at all but often I would agree, but it's a struggle at the moment and I am feeling the pinch ( spell checker wanted to change the word pinch to punch :-) )
I just do not know what to do, I am near on convinced this is the end but I though I would ask for help on here if anyone else has been in this situation.

Which bank is this that is closing your account without any reason??? :huh:

Have you considered filing a formal complaint? I think I would in your circumstance.

Assuming it is not NatWest, have you tried them? I think they are prepared to accept business banking customers even will appalling/no credit history (but you may have restrictions, e.g. no overdraft facility, etc)

yasmup

spacemates wrote: »

Hi thank you to you both for time and advice I am self employed and I run a garage along with a online spares business so I have a lot of Internet money going through the account, I opened a business account thinking a normal personal bank account would not be allowed, but if it is then yippee! That's the light at he end of the tunnel I need! Thank you so much I had no idea I could use a personal account.

Most banks prohibit the use of personal accounts for business purposes in their terms & conditions to which you agree.

If you do use the personal account for business purposes then you will be in breach of your agreement and that could well result in the bank closing your personal account.
Having said that, the usual course of action would be to transfer the personal account to a business one so that you are charged for all transactions, not just business, but personal ones too!
But if it's the same bank that is closing your business account, chances are they will close your personal account too!

imoneyop

yasmup wrote: »

Which bank is this that is closing your account without any reason??? :huh:

Have you considered filing a formal complaint? I think I would in your circumstance.

A complaint to the bank or FOS will get the OP nowhere - the bank are entitled in the T&Cs that the OP agreed to, to close the account if they want to, if they give the required notice.

They don't want him as a customer for some reason, and are perfectly entitled to do so, whether it be for commerical reasons or because they think that the account is being used fraudulently.

yasmup

imoneyop wrote: »

A complaint to the bank ...will get the OP nowhere ...

In your opinion.

What advice do you have to help the OP in this situation??? :huh:

imoneyop wrote: »

They don't want him as a customer for some reason, and are perfectly entitled to do so, whether it be for commerical reasons or because they think that the account is being used fraudulently.

Have you just made those reasons up? Because from what I read the OP was told the bank had no reason for closing the account.

imoneyop

yasmup wrote: »

In your opinion.

Which is an opinion based on experience.

yasmup wrote: »

What advice do you have to help the OP in this situation??? :huh:

Find another bank.

yasmup wrote: »

Have you just made those reasons up? Because from what I read the OP was told the bank had no reason for closing the account.

No, they are valid reasons and from the fact that the bank gave him notice rather than just freezing the account immediately, I would say it is a commercial decision and they have decided that they don't want him as a customer, possibly because the account is regularly overdrawn.