Barclays Basic Bank Account

GillsMan7

Hi everyone,

I might be going bankrupt soon (have taken advice from Step Change who advised that that's my best course of action). In preparation for this, I tried to open the Barclays Basic Bank Account, as per general advice on this board.

I explained why I needed a basic account to the guy at Barclays (experiencing financial difficulties, want to manage finances, etc), and after credit scoring me, I got a normal current account, but he's not applied any overdraft or credit facilities onto it.

Is this the same thing as a basic account?

System

No it isn't the same but don't worry. Please note that your bank accounts will all be frozen when you are declared bankrupt. The bank can unfreeze them but they need permission from the official receiver to do so and for someone I knew all they had to do was take in their chequebook and they lost the ability to have an overdraft on their Barclays current account but Barclays kept it running (they didn't have any debt with Barclays) and re-enabled access to it when they went into the branch and the manager phoned the OR.

GillsMan7

Thanks Tarambor, that's really helpful. Sounds grand to me, although a bit weird that I couldn't open the account I actually wanted!

luvchocolate

Tarambor wrote: »

No it isn't the same but don't worry. Please note that your bank accounts will all be frozen when you are declared bankrupt. The bank can unfreeze them but they need permission from the official receiver to do so and for someone I knew all they had to do was take in their chequebook and they lost the ability to have an overdraft on their Barclays current account but Barclays kept it running (they didn't have any debt with Barclays) and re-enabled access to it when they went into the branch and the manager phoned the OR.

Not all bank accounts are frozen if its a basic account and the O.R has no interest in it its usually not frozen.
It is up to the bank but usually any thing other than a basic account will be closed or downgraded to basic.

bewildered1

When I opened up my Co-op basic account they asked me why I didn't want a standard account. I told them I was considering bankruptcy and asked them if they would shut the account if/when it happens. They said no, it would stay open as there was no chequebook or overdraft.

luvchocolate

In almost all cases a basic bank account will remain open with no problem

panic_stations

Hello, I had this happen to me in March this year. Like you I told them why I needed a basic account. When the OR informed them of my bankruptcy, they froze the account. I then had to open a new basic bank account which wasn't that straightforward for them to do. It caused a few problems at a time when I really didn't need them with insurance and direct debits etc.
I was so frustrated by how difficult it was for Barclays and I really wasn't sure it was going to happen so I went to Virgin Money and opened an account with them, which was really straightforward. So I'm a bankrupt with two basic bank accounts now as Barclays did come through in the end, but it did take over a month.