Sole Trader Banking using Trading Name

Archi_Bald

AmberandBlack said:

Archi_Bald said:

There must be a misunderstanding as you can override the warning in Lloyds and pay with whatever name you like. I understand the issue with Starling not using the business name but it‘s not really an excuse for not paying the bill.

They did pay the bill but I had to request that they used my name rather than my business, which as I noted above reduces credibility and defeats the object of having a business account.

They could have paid without a name-match. All banks allow payment to be made even if no match can be found.

I fully appreciate this makes a mockery of the entire COP process, and can lead to embarrassment and extra workload for business owners. All this because a few dozen people were gullible enough to send money to fraudsters. 

AmberandBlack

Archi_Bald said:

AmberandBlack said:

Archi_Bald said:

There must be a misunderstanding as you can override the warning in Lloyds and pay with whatever name you like. I understand the issue with Starling not using the business name but it‘s not really an excuse for not paying the bill.

They did pay the bill but I had to request that they used my name rather than my business, which as I noted above reduces credibility and defeats the object of having a business account.

They could have paid without a name-match. All banks allow payment to be made even if no match can be found.

I fully appreciate this makes a mockery of the entire COP process, and can lead to embarrassment and extra workload for business owners. All this because a few dozen people were gullible enough to send money to fraudsters. 

That might be the case but from their perspective I guess it raised a red flag when Lloyds told them that the account they were paying into is not matching my trading name.  And conversely it makes me look unprofessional too.

jonesMUFCforever

AmberandBlack said:

Archi_Bald said:

AmberandBlack said:

Archi_Bald said:

There must be a misunderstanding as you can override the warning in Lloyds and pay with whatever name you like. I understand the issue with Starling not using the business name but it‘s not really an excuse for not paying the bill.

They did pay the bill but I had to request that they used my name rather than my business, which as I noted above reduces credibility and defeats the object of having a business account.

They could have paid without a name-match. All banks allow payment to be made even if no match can be found.

I fully appreciate this makes a mockery of the entire COP process, and can lead to embarrassment and extra workload for business owners. All this because a few dozen people were gullible enough to send money to fraudsters. 

That might be the case but from their perspective I guess it raised a red flag when Lloyds told them that the account they were paying into is not matching my trading name.  And conversely it makes me look unprofessional too.

Why not amend your invoices to show the name as Starling expect it to be?
Personally if it was me I could not give a monkeys what name you are trading as or not trading as - just that you do a good job in whatever profession you are in. That, and word of mouth, is much more advantageous than a 'mythical' I must have a professional trading name to beat my competitors - codswallop.

Zanderman

jonesMUFCforever said:

AmberandBlack said:

Archi_Bald said:

AmberandBlack said:

Archi_Bald said:

There must be a misunderstanding as you can override the warning in Lloyds and pay with whatever name you like. I understand the issue with Starling not using the business name but it‘s not really an excuse for not paying the bill.

They did pay the bill but I had to request that they used my name rather than my business, which as I noted above reduces credibility and defeats the object of having a business account.

They could have paid without a name-match. All banks allow payment to be made even if no match can be found.

I fully appreciate this makes a mockery of the entire COP process, and can lead to embarrassment and extra workload for business owners. All this because a few dozen people were gullible enough to send money to fraudsters. 

That might be the case but from their perspective I guess it raised a red flag when Lloyds told them that the account they were paying into is not matching my trading name.  And conversely it makes me look unprofessional too.

Why not amend your invoices to show the name as Starling expect it to be?
Personally if it was me I could not give a monkeys what name you are trading as or not trading as - just that you do a good job in whatever profession you are in. That, and word of mouth, is much more advantageous than a 'mythical' I must have a professional trading name to beat my competitors - codswallop.

Not sure how you get this to be codswallop. The OP has a business - which has a name.  He set the business up with that name.  And asks for payment in that name - a name which he set up a bank account for.

The CoP system at Starling is matching his personal name, not his business name - which is understandably annoying.

It does look unprofessional - at least it will to many - though perhaps not to you!   But I think you'd be surprised, at the very least, if, when paying Amazon, your bank asked you whether the payee is really called Jeff Bezos.

Suggesting he switches invoices to be his name is missing the point - Starling should have set his account up so that CoP brings up his business name not his own. 

I'd be taking this up with Starling - and if nothing improved consider switching away (see my post earlier about how, after a switch, my business account lost the personal name prefix) or, and this is a personal preference, spend about £25 on a card reader linking to a smart phone and take payments on the spot, no need to involve bank account details at all.

sheramber

I have recently paid two businesses by bank transfer  , each to the business name.

One to RBS and one to Santander.
RBS  ask if you want to proceed if the name  is not exact

pramsay13

As a sole trader your legal trading name is John Smith.

The fact you are trading as Acme Motor is not relevant. 

If it is such a big deal you could form a ltd company and open a business bank account.

Personally I think it's fine, people pay to my Starling business account and it has my name and my business name. 

As a consumer it wouldn't bother me if someone was a sole trader, in fact I generally prefer sole traders or small businesses to larger companies as I get a better service in my experience.

AmberandBlack

pramsay13 said:

As a sole trader your legal trading name is John Smith.

The fact you are trading as Acme Motor is not relevant. 

If it is such a big deal you could form a ltd company and open a business bank account.

Personally I think it's fine, people pay to my Starling business account and it has my name and my business name. 

As a consumer it wouldn't bother me if someone was a sole trader, in fact I generally prefer sole traders or small businesses to larger companies as I get a better service in my experience.

OK .... the fact that I am trading as 'Acme Motor' is indeed very relevant.  I have other people who perform some work for me and paying via my trading name is the right thing to do, especially as customers might not even know who I am personally.

Creating a Limited Company at the moment is cost prohibitive as generally accountancy fees will be in the region of £1,000 for a year and during my start-up phase this is a huge percentage to bear.

In your personal circumstances paying to you as an individual might be fine, but that is definitely not the case in my line of business where I am competing with established companies.   And as a consumer of what is it fine for you?  My transactions are small business > small business.    Actually it doesn't really matter as this thread was about the issues it is causing my business, not yours which I guess is in a whole different world.

So, anyone have a sole-trader set-up and is able to use their trading name with a bank rather than their personal name to take Faster Payments?   Starling are obviously out for this.