Bank Account Closure

Shab123

I am self employed and have struggled in the years posy pandemic.  I have a bank account with First Direct and have had a lot of returned items this year.  Credit is naturally not great,  I received a letter from them saying they were going to close my account.  So I thought I would open a new bank account.  I got accepted for a Nationwide Basic Account, and then I received an email saying sorry that upon review it would be immediately closed.  The same thing with Chase and now Starling.  I don't know why and what to do.  Has anyone else experienced this?

eskbanker

Worth checking CIFAS as a matter of urgency, as it sounds like you'll have a marker of some sort there, which will be preventing you from opening accounts anywhere:

https://www.cifas.org.uk/dsar

Check National Hunter too:

https://nhunter.co.uk/subject-access-request/

Edit: were you using a personal account for your business?  This is unlikely to result in any fraud marker, but for future reference, once this is resolved, ensure that you use a business account....

penners324

Cifas marker by the sound of it.

Also, you'll need a business account not a personal account 

Shab123

Thanks, never used for business.  have requested a CIFAS DSAR, my credit file isnt showing anythingh on the CIFAS section.

Ed-1

Shab123 said:

Thanks, never used for business.  have requested a CIFAS DSAR, my credit file isnt showing anythingh on the CIFAS section.

You need to submit a DSAR to CIFAS to reveal any markers. They only show victim markers to you on credit files. Other markers only show to lenders.

SiliconChip

Shab123 said:

Thanks, never used for business. 

So what account are you using for your business transactions? Have you tried that bank for a personal account?

You mention "returned items" in respect of your First Direct account, are those returns for personal items that you've bought or are they things that you have sold in the course of your self employment?If it's the latter then you were using your FD accounts for business.

grumbler

I think 'returned items' mean bounced DDs (and SOs?).

Outeast1000

And on another note on the subject how safe is it to give CIFAS your details if you do check with them is it 100% safe ?

eskbanker

Outeast1000 said:

And on another note on the subject how safe is it to give CIFAS your details if you do check with them is it 100% safe ?

Nothing is ever 100% safe, but like any other organisation processing personal data, they're bound by the Data Protection Act and any breaches would be a matter for the ICO:

https://www.cifas.org.uk/careers/fair-processing-notice-career

Obviously any such breaches would be terminally embarrassing for a company with their business model, so it's reasonable to conclude that they'll take care of your data....