New bank account not basic....

george_112

I’ll be submitting my bankruptcy application on 2nd May once my household dd have been paid. I applied online for a Barclays basic account and moved all my income and house direct debits to secure my income as I was with Natwest with a large overdraft and didn’t want to be left without any income for the essentials. I have just realised that Barclays opened a normal bank account with no cheque book or credit facilities but not a basic one. The local branch is closed and I have asked for a call back rather than wait in the queue for telephone banking. Do you think they will be able to downgrade to a basic? I was trying to get organised to avoid more stress after submitting. If needs be I can open a nationwide account once I have my confirmation. But what happens to any income paid in once the account is frozen? I will probably have a housing benefit due before I could change it. Thanks 

mwarby

Barclays tend to be quite reasonable in terms of dealing with insolvent customers (Barclaycard certainly were for me). I’d say there is a good chance they can switch your account over

I believe when frozen payments can go in but not out. The accounts are frozen in case the OR wants to claim the money in them, when the OR gives ok they can be I frozen or closed.

If you have no debts with Barclays (or Barclaycard) your fairly safe. If you do have debts with them until your bankrupt there is a risk that Barclays could apply the right of set off

If Barclays do close your account they would have to give you the money that’s in them, it’s just the hassle of setting up new account and direct debits etc

george_112

Hi, no I have no debt with Barclays, I have moved everything from Natwest to avoid them taking my income to offset against loans and overdraft. 
Hopefully when I speak to someone they will be able to help me. Should I tell them I plan to go bankrupt or should I say I applied for the basic account as I just have financial difficulties and for budgeting etc? 

mwarby

You may as well tell them your going bankrupt imho, they’ll find out soon enough anyway

allthe7s

They wont downgrade it they ha e to open a new account in branch for a basic the identical situation happened to me in Feb 

george_112

Oh thanks for letting me know, did they close the other one before you had a chance to open the basic one? I have a feeling it’s gonna be a nightmare with the Coronavirus issue and what branches will actually do. I will be submitting on 4th then I have tax credits due in on 11th then my wages on 25th I’m thinking I’m gonna have to open a nationwide one online as soon as I have confirmation and then get my payments moved so I can pay all the bills at the end of the month. I did call Barclays and the women laughed and said no when I asked if they could downgrade it as it’s not what I applied for and she then said once they were notified then they would change it to a basic account but I got the impression that was incorrect as she didn’t seem confident in what she was saying. 

allthe7s

Customer service on their online chat told me they could downgrade it in branch bu when I went in branch they have to open a new account. I have both open at the moment but I am not using the normal one. I haven't gone BR yet but I will close the normal one when I do 

george_112

Thanks, looks like I’ll have to go to the branch and see what I can sort. Maybe if I can go on Monday I’ll be able to get my income payments moved in time to avoid this. Were they ok about opening the basic one? Did you explain why you wanted that one? 

allthe7s

Yes I explained I was planning to go bankrupt soon and that I just needed a basic account, the lady was lovely, no judging.