Opening second current account

sortofwinning

Hi, I am hoping to open a second current account that is for a small business I am trying to start up. It's a work from home, alternative therapy business, and I'll be a sole trader.


I am trying to find out if I will have any sort of problem opening just a regular current account to use as a business account? I have been trawling around in here and I've found out that lots of people have more than one current account, but I've seen someone advise lying when the bank asks you "Do you have another current account?" and then another poster completely disagreeing with this because you'll get credit checked anyway. Also, I don't know from trawling in here whether the people with multiple "ordinary" current accounts are using any of them as business accounts.


Basically I don't want to open a business account because I've just looked at an application form and they are asking things that I don't have a clue about, such as how much will you put in each year in notes and coins, what is the origin of these, how much do you expect to withdraw each year, what will these funds be used for (umm.... paying electricity bills and buying food???), what incoming payments will come from foreign countries, what countries are involved, reason for payment....... I mean I only read part way through the form and already lost the will to live.


So I was hoping someone could tell me what sort of questions get asked when you open a second current account i.e. will I get into any difficulties if they say do you have another current account, and I will have to say yes, and then they'll go well why do you want a second one with us? I don't want to have to say it's a business account because then I'll get the Spanish Inquisition as above. Can anyone advise on what I can say if - and I presume they will - the bank asks why I want a second current account?


I'm only trying this to see if this business takes off, so I don't have a business plan or any kind of financial expectations on paper/in Excel, because really I don't have a clue if it will take off at all. All I can say is I'm extremely passionate about it, I've seen this therapy work miracles on myself, I've used it a bit on friends and family and they have been impressed, and I want to give it a shot working with other people. I've been on training courses, got the certificates, insurance is in the offing, advertising has been arranged, I've got myself an accountant, etc, etc. But I have no financial projections at all. I have not needed to borrow any money because my initial investment has been very low and I just used some of my savings, and really I don't want to have to go to all the hassle of getting a business plan drawn up just to open a damn business account. If it doesn't take off, it's not the end of the world for me, I'll just go back to being an employee and continuing to use the therapy on myself.


If anyone can advise on whether it's possible for me just to open an ordinary current account but use it as a business account, I'd be very grateful. Someone on the training course I've just been on told me that she did this. Really, if I have to go through that amount of hassle to open a business account, I think I'd rather just stick with using my own personal current account and marking each transaction each month to tally with my incomings and outgoings.


Thanks in advance.

Zanderman

Nothing wrong with having more than one current account. It's fairly normal - there's no need to lie to the bank about that (why would you?). You won't get the spanish inquisition, especially if you apply online.

Lots of people have many current accounts - mainly to maximise perks and interest rates or simply to have security in case one bank's systems crash you can use another.

But that's got nothing whatsoever to do with business banking.

Using a personal account for business is not generally a good idea. It is, for every bank I think, strictly against the terms and conditions of the account to use a personal account this way.

You might get away with it for a while - but you may well find business use is detected and the account closed.

Edited to add: I have two business accounts - but have never needed a business plan for either. But you DO need to be able to answer the questions on the application form - they're not (quite) as difficult as they seem!

McKneff

You will be doing the bank out of their charges which are always included in business accounts.

Not sure how they would look on it legal wise...

Fraud maybe

sortofwinning

Ok thanks for your advice guys. Looks like I'll have to do it the hard way, but I didn't know they would see it as fraud so I'm glad I found out about that rather than down the line!!


Thanks again for your help.