Bank account issues - need an account

muddyl

Hi all,

Apologies in advance for the long post. Hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

So basically I need/want a bank account, but simply can't get one.
Some background so this all makes sense.

I've been married for 15 years. Always had joint bank accounts which was fine as we only just earned enough money to coast along so pooling our money was a necessity. However we now earn more and would like to start saving for our respective wants/needs, but I can't get a bank account of my own.

I have two credit cards (one at £400 and one at £2.7k, both are being cleared) and paypal credit at about £1k. Most of this is from before my wife went back into work, now the household income is approx £30k more we're clearing everything off. Home owned with no mortgage. No car finance or loans.

Credit karma gives a score of 609/700, Experian a score of 939/999.

I did have a Monzo account. I gave Matched betting a go and made about £1.5k profit in three months, but then monzo closed the bank account but would not say why, I suspect they didn't like the matched betting. This means I have about £1.8k stuck in bookmakers accounts that I can no longer access too. Just to clarify I only did matched betting, I am not, nor have I ever been, a typical gambler so I have no wish to leave the funds there or gamble with them.
Since then I opened a Santander account which they closed 3 days later before I could even use it.
I tried to open a very basic account with who we already have the joint accounts with (Virgin). We also had two loans with them totaling about £25k which were paid off years ago with no missed or even late payments. I thought this would stand me in good stead but again I was refused even a basic  account. This now means I'm scared to apply for another account as this just looks even worse on my credit report.

I have checked and have no court judgements and nothing is on the CIFAS report.

I can't understand why I can't even get a basic account. Just for perspective my salary is around £33k basic, about £39k this year with overtime, so although not amazing, it's above national average with only (what I would think of as) a fairly small amount of debt.

To make maters worse. My father is very ill. His house in his will is set to be shared between my sibling and myself. My sibling lives abroad and doesn't want the house so my plan was to get a loan/mortgage to buy them out and try to keep the house for my children in the future. My father and sibling are both happy for me to take this approach. But if I can't get a basic account how will I ever get a loan/mortgage? So i'll likely have to let the family home go which I really don't want to do.

I'm not sure what else I can check or do to get a bank account of my own. There must be something I'm missing. 

Can anyone shed any light on this or point me in the direction of someone that may be able to help me get to the bottom of this? I'm finding this increasingly stressful and depressing to be honest.

Any help appreciated. 

eskbanker

muddyl said:

nothing is on the CIFAS report

Just to be clear, are you referring to the CIFAS section on credit reports, or the response to a subject access request to CIFAS?

friolento

I agree, we need to understand whether you got a "clean" response from a CIFAS SAR request. Also, what does CIFAS hold for your wife? Because you have a joint account, you have a financial association and any marker she might have would reflect on you, too.

The reason why you can't get a Basic account might be that you already have a current account. Basic accounts are reserved for people who do not have and cannot get any normal current account.

If there are no CIFAS markers on the CIFAS database, you could try one of the banks who are said not to perform a credit check - Chase is one of them, AFAIK. If all else fails, you can try one of the chargeable/prepaid accounts like Pockit - though this would be the very last resport as they aren't banks, can be expensive, and you don't get FSCS protection.

For your savings, you should be able to open savings accounts, again, if neither of you have a CIFAS markers on the CIFAS database. Savings account do not involve a credit search, and they don't appear on your credit files.

elkiedee

Have you tried applying  for a current account with a debit card but without an overdraft? Or is the issue something other than credit checks?

muddyl

eskbanker said:

muddyl said:

nothing is on the CIFAS report

Just to be clear, are you referring to the CIFAS section on credit reports, or the response to a subject access request to CIFAS?

Both. The credit reports say it is clear and I did the online request for information and received and email back stating there were no records held against my name.


friolento said:

I agree, we need to understand whether you got a "clean" response from a CIFAS SAR request. Also, what does CIFAS hold for your wife? Because you have a joint account, you have a financial association and any marker she might have would reflect on you, too.

The reason why you can't get a Basic account might be that you already have a current account. Basic accounts are reserved for people who do not have and cannot get any normal current account.

If there are no CIFAS markers on the CIFAS database, you could try one of the banks who are said not to perform a credit check - Chase is one of them, AFAIK. If all else fails, you can try one of the chargeable/prepaid accounts like Pockit - though this would be the very last resport as they aren't banks, can be expensive, and you don't get FSCS protection.

For your savings, you should be able to open savings accounts, again, if neither of you have a CIFAS markers on the CIFAS database. Savings account do not involve a credit search, and they don't appear on your credit files.

I've never checked my wifes so that is a good point.
The only current account I currently have is a joint one, I don't have a separate one for myself.
I did try the banks that are supposed to provide basic accounts with no credit facilities but got rejected. No explanation is provided by them. I phoned to ask why and they said they couldn't actually see any reason why it was rejected but it was b the underwriters.

Maybe a savings account could be the way to go. 

elkiedee said:

Have you tried applying  for a current account with a debit card but without an overdraft? Or is the issue something other than credit checks?

 I applied for a basic account, no credit or overdraft. It was in the list of "Anyone can get " accounts list on one of the MSE articles.

Brie

I'm wondering if they can see that you still have the account with the gambling firm.  If you could get rid of that it might help.  Have you tried contacting them and asking them to close your account and send you your money??

steven141

I don’t understand why having an account with a gambling firm would affect you having a bank account, otherwise all gambling firms would go out of business?

I would recommend Chase for now as it is easy to set up without a credit check, although the account will be added to your credit file as a new account although I don’t think on all 3 credit reference agencies. 

GeoffTF

Santander must have had a reason for closing the account. Are you sure that your CIFAS SAR is up to date? Have you checked all three credit reports? If you still cannot find anything amiss, you could try opening a standard bank account with Virgin. You could also try opening an old fashioned Building Society savings account.

muddyl

Brie said:

I'm wondering if they can see that you still have the account with the gambling firm.  If you could get rid of that it might help.  Have you tried contacting them and asking them to close your account and send you your money??

The issue is I'm trying to avoid the money going into the joint account as I cant6affird to end up with that account getting closed too. GeoffTF said:

Santander must have had a reason for closing the account. Are you sure that your CIFAS SAR is up to date? Have you checked all three credit reports? If you still cannot find anything amiss, you could try opening a standard bank account with Virgin. You could also try opening an old fashioned Building Society savings account.

CIFAS checked recently and OK. 
Not tried all three. Hoping MSE swap to the other provider soon to check . 

I did try to open a standard account with Virgin, they declined. May try a savings account, just worried about applying and naking things worse.  

muddyl

Is there any kind of agency or support group that may be able to shed light on this? I just seem to be going around in circles trying to figure thus out. 

xylophone

 If you still cannot find anything amiss, you could try opening a standard bank account with Virgin.

It appears from the above that the OP has tried to open a sole account with Virgin (where he holds a joint account  or possibly joint accounts) with his wife.

I tried to open a very basic account with who we already have the joint accounts with (Virgin). 

Presumably he means this?

https://uk.virginmoney.com/current-accounts/m-account/

The M Account is our basic bank account. If you’re 16 or over and we’re unable to offer you one of our standard current accounts for any reason, this could be a good alternative. It’s our super straightforward current account and free to use

It’s also there for you if you've experienced financial difficulties or have a poor credit record. This might make it harder for you to be accepted for other bank accounts. If you're worried about this and would like some advice, give us a call to chat over your options.

As he doesn't fit into any of the above categories, perhaps he just applied for the wrong account?

I wonder what would happen if his wife applied for a sole  M plus account?

https://uk.virginmoney.com/current-accounts/pca/