Cant get bank account

jgoodfellow

wonder if anyone else has similar experience.  I was discharged from bankruptcy November 2022.  Not much else on my credit file since then.  Want to apply for new bank account with more features and looked online for 'bad credit digital banks'   Applied for Starling got turned down.  Then tried Monzo who state clearly for bad credit and got turned down.  Then finally as a last resort tried Revolut which suggest no credit checks done - again turned down but only after the app indicated the account was open.  My ID all current with driving licence showing correct address.  Credit file all shows correct address, no fraud markers and bankruptcy shown as dischaged.  CCJ on credit file shows but dated pre-bankruptcy.

So can I get a bank account?  Really wanted one with 'pots' to help me become more money savvy after bankruptcy.  Am I missing something that I should be looking for on my credit file. 

ManyWays

Have all the debts in your bankruptcy except the CCJ been marked as satisfied?

Hyperjar is a prepaid card which has a savings pots facility. 

MalMonroe

Hi, is the info in the following link of any help?

https://debtcamel.co.uk/bank-accounts-after-bankruptcy/

And if you google something like 'basic bank accounts for discharged bankrupts uk', all kinds of options pop up.

I've had a DRO and when that was discharged I found it wasn't easy to get accepted by some banks. I did manage to get a basic Co-op account as soon as the DRO started and I stuck with that for a while afterwards. I have worked my way up to a 'normal' Nationwide current account now and am debt-free and determined to stay that way. It's been a long haul though.

Slow and steady does the job, really. You have to start proving yourself to be financially responsible before banks, or any other financial institutions, will take you seriously. But some of them should allow you to open a basic account, with no overdraft.

What I found to be of great help at the start of the DRO was keeping a monthly record of all my incomings and outgoings, budgeting in the way I should have been doing before I ended up in a terrible financial mess.

Because I didn't have any overdraft facility at all I had to ensure that I kept to my budget. That way you don't need a fancy bank account, basic will do. I'm really proud to say that I haven't ever been overdrawn since the start of my DRO ten years ago and now there's always a healthy balance (to me, that is!) at the end of the month in my account. I have learned from having a DRO and I never want to be in that position again. Do use budgets, is my advice. It seems so simple and yet it's so effective. 

Hope you manage to find a bank and that some of this has been helpful. All my own opinions, thoughts and experiences, of course. 

flipflopflo

Have you cleaned up your credit files yet?

Starling, Monzo, Barclays, Co-operative all offer good basic accounts which while you are still in the shadow of your bankruptcy is all you will probably get. 

sourcrates

Are you asking for borrowing facilities when you apply ?

As that will result in an instant decline, as those above have said, you want a basic bank account with no borrowing facility.

Most banks will offer you one if you don`t meet the criteria for a standard current account.

If that is not happening, then there is something on your credit files that needs attention, accounts being declined can be for all kinds of reasons, but usually its to do with fraud or possibly identity theft.

You should be able to get a basic Monzo account as a discharged bankrupt.

ahm1991

Nationwide were the only ones that would offer me an account during bankruptcy, but it was a FlexBasic account with no borrowing facilities as sourcrates says.

I managed to get a Monzo account a year or so post bankruptcy, but again basic account. I was initially declined, but after speaking to their customer services team they reviewed it and I got offered an account around a week later

So don't give up, sometimes you may need to speak to an actual human to explain the situation and they will intervene.

Monzo is brilliant for pots, I don't think there's a limit on them either. I tend to use it as a Savings account.

datamat8794

Monzo is really good. I already had Monzo a couple of months before bankruptcy started for me last year and they kept my account open despite this. Up until bankruptcy my primary account that I was using was BARCLAYS but they did close down my account despite it being a basic account and with no historical record of any issues with them. 

With Monzo I use a 'rainy day' pot a lot now and try to keep all my money in that which stops any payments leaving my account unless I want them to leave etc. Its very good to stop subscriptions auto renewing and charging for example, as I do tend to make use of free trials and not always remember to cancel it etc. 

I also had Virgin Media who cancelled my broadband account when finding I'd been made bankrupt. I managed after a fair bit of back and forth, to secure and even cheaper deal, significantly cheaper, and with only a slight downgrade of my bandwidth, for 18 months. I think it helped that I had a new clean record with Virgin Media and have been with them now since 2010, so 12 years consecutively  up to that point. I think sometimes you need to keep at them at explain situation and how you believe you are acceptable to them to keep you/take you on.

alliboy03

ManyWays said:

Have all the debts in your bankruptcy except the CCJ been marked as satisfied?

Hyperjar is a prepaid card which has a savings pots facility. 

This is ideal for my son, thank you!