Cancellation of application for BBL HSBC

khanji17

Hi,
I applied for BBL with HSBC on 30th May, nothing since then which is no surprise. In the meantime, I have managed to open a business account with Cooperative bank and have heard that they are quite quick (3 to 4 days) in paying out the loan once approved. 
I would like to know, is there any point in continuing to wait for HSBC to budge (looking at forums here I can tell it can easily be another 2 to 3 weeks before I hear from them) or just ask them to cancel my application (I don't know how to reach them) or just apply with coop bank while HSBC is still processing the application?
I just want to get over and done with this BBL process and business is in dire need of funds to survive.
Any advise will be appreciated.

[Deleted User]

First, do not "just apply with coop bank while HSBC is still processing the application?", that is in breach of the rules of the scheme and it will make you ineligible and could potentially be regarded as fraud.
HSBC are quite quick once approved, it is the approval that takes the time and it will take longer with Co-op as you do not have a trading history with them. Have you signed the documents with HSBC yet, checked the progress of your application online?
Also one thing to think about is that if you are in such dire and urgent need of funds will the business survive even with the loan or are you just delaying the inevitable? If you are a limited company that is one thing, but if you are a sole trader the debt is yours to repay regardless of what happens.

khanji17

Yes, thats what I was thinking, not a good idea to apply when the application is in process with one bank.
The business is a limited company, affected by pandemic but will be helped by the BBL and will get back on its feet.
I am not sure how can I check the progress of the application online, can you point me in the right direction? I did try and look on the website to see if there is anyway I can do that, but couldn't find relevant information/link.

MadMattUK said:

First, do not "just apply with coop bank while HSBC is still processing the application?", that is in breach of the rules of the scheme and it will make you ineligible and could potentially be regarded as fraud.
HSBC are quite quick once approved, it is the approval that takes the time and it will take longer with Co-op as you do not have a trading history with them. Have you signed the documents with HSBC yet, checked the progress of your application online?
Also one thing to think about is that if you are in such dire and urgent need of funds will the business survive even with the loan or are you just delaying the inevitable? If you are a limited company that is one thing, but if you are a sole trader the debt is yours to repay regardless of what happens.

[Deleted User]

@khanji17
I am not totally sure where the link is, but it should be in one of the emails you have received. Have you received the application received email, echosign emails?

khanji17

Application received email, didn't have any relevant links. No sign of echosign yet.

[Deleted User]

Have you double checked your junk as a lot of people had the echosign emails go into junk? Have you seen any credit checks show against the directors? 

khanji17

I regularly check the junk folder, nothing in there yet. No credit checks done yet. I thought they are not supposed to run CC's?

[Deleted User]

For sole traders they run hard checks, for limited companies they will run soft checks on the directors if they have not run them in the previous two years, it is for fraud prevention rather than to assess credit worthiness (eg they can not refuse the BBL for bad credit, but they can refuse one if that person does not exist when credit checked or is not eligible, eg bankrupt). If someone is a sole trader then the credit check (and the BBL if approved) will show on their credit record. For a limited company the check is only a soft check and so will only be visible to that individual, not anyone else. 

khanji17

That makes sense, no soft checks done yet, I think I will wait maybe another week or so, before somehow asking them to cancel the application.

dunstonh

The business is a limited company, affected by pandemic but will be helped by the BBL and will get back on its feet.

HSBC with existing business account customers are not too slow.  Not as first as Lloyds (within 24 hours) but normally under 2 weeks.   You are probably near the end point for HSBC now.  So, no point cancelling it (which would likely take another week or two before you get confirmation it has been cancelled).

You may not see a soft check on your file as you are an existing customer.

Jeremy535897

khanji17 said:

That makes sense, no soft checks done yet, I think I will wait maybe another week or so, before somehow asking them to cancel the application.

I think the main issue with credit checks is that if you have to open a new bank account to get a BBL, all the usual checks will be done, and you might be turned down for the bank account, so won't get the BBL.

As Matt has said, you cannot apply for another BBL while an application is in progress, and the banks will know.