post IVA bank account wanted!!

steptoesgirl

First post so please be gentle if I am in the wrong place!
This is basically a short Question about current account bank with Nationwide/applications but I like to give a bit of history!!

The facts:

March 2003 My husband & I began an IVA.

July 2006 We secured a loan (through an expensive lender - bad move!)to clear the IVA as although we were managing it OK all hubbys overtime & several thousand pounds of rebates I had been sent had all gone into the IVA and we seemed to be making little progress in clearing the debt so asked for a final settlement figure which seemed OK so we took the loan on offer & cleared the IVA

Oct 2006 Finally got our certificate of completion from our IVA supervisor (they had sat on the money for 3 months before sorting it all out!)

July 2007 Decided to get rid of the expensive lender by chatting to our mortgage provider (Abbey who were fully aware of our previous IVA etc) who agreed to lend us the amount needed to clear the expensive lender & have a 2nd mortgage on our house on an interest only loan until Feb 2008 when our mortgage deal ended & then both mortgages would be put together on whichever deal we took up with them next.

July 2007 Applied to our current account bank NATIONWIDE for an upgrade to enable us to have a debit card & cheque book. This was turned down on our credit check. I have to say we had been with Nationwide for 7 years, never been overdrawn, have several savings accounts as do our kids so we are loyal customers in my opinion!
We then applied for a new current account in person at a Nationwide branch as we were told this would be easier for us to have....ho ho ho ....another refusal, followed by an appeal and a further refusal with advice to reapply in Oct 2007!

Feb 2008 We didnt bother rushing in in Oct last year to try again for a chq bk/debit card account but waited a few extra months as now it is all but 5 years since we first took out the IVA & 18 months since it was completed.......AGAIN we have had the refusal both for an upgrade & a new account and this time they didnt even recommend reapplying!

NOW my question is :

Is there anyway we can appeal to Nationwide regarding this situation as the local Nationwide lady basically told us no we couldnt and that she had done all she could , no reason given for refusal but she also said unlikely we will ever get a better current account with Nationwide having told them about the IVA, even when it is no longer on record!!!
Or
Would we be better off changing banks & if so which bank would be likely to take us on & risk giving us a cheque book/debit card when we are obviously such disloyal, untrustworthy & unreliable people !! I am a little bitter with Nationwide at the moment!!

I have just printed off the credit ref agency letters so I can apply for our records as although we did this a year ago there was nothing too bad on there!!! but I thought I had better re check!

Any advice is appreciated , having done the IVA we thought life would eventually get back to a pre debt normality but so far cant say it has!! except we are cash payers now & have no debts! other than the mortgage.

Zebedee69

An IVA is registered on your credit file so you will find alot of doors shut fairly tight in your face.

Im assuming you have a basic bank account, you could do worse than to try Natwest as they often give a full current account with a Cheque book & Electron card once your IVA has finished.

Begining with credit after an IVA is a little like starting all over again. You will have to own a current account say for 6 months, then apply for a Capital One Classic or Vanquis, after 6 months again maybe try for a small overdraft and a card such as Egg Money with a lower APR.

Its hard work though but the great thing is you'll be far more carefull second time around trust me!

Hope this helps!

Zeb,

steptoesgirl

Thanks Zeb

we were with Natwest before our IVA & they were one of our creditors so am not sure they would welcome us if our existing bank wont upgrade us!!

I am a little peeved as we have "done our time" so to speak but as you say doors are still shut very tightly!!
BUT you are also right in that it is unlikely to happen second time around as my hubby calls me almost scrooge like these days & we both um & ah over making any major purchases now!

it is not that we want an overdraft or a credit card for the credit facility just the ability to make online/telephone payments so a credit card with a high interest rate would not be a problem as we would be clearing it monthly.

We have just had trouble booking flights online as we dont have the ability to make payment other than cash so in the end had to pay £50 more to use a travel agent for the same flights we could of had online.

I shall look into Natwest & see what they think about having us back!! At least they seem to have improved since we were with them & the branches are now contactable etc.

DanDan123

I would suggest trying Alliance & Leicester. Up until about two weeks ago, i was only able to get a basic account with natwest. I applied to A&L and they have given me a full account with cheque book etc. No guarentee card though or overdraft - but am hoping in a few months i might be able to apply for an overdraft etc.

Anyway, all in all, i think its worth a go as i really dont have a good rating, CCJ (cleared) and a couple of defaults from about 3 years ago.

steptoesgirl

Many thanks, we have an A & L branch near us so that would be helpful to have one locally.
I shall look into them.
thanks again

GPF

I got my bank charges back from First Direct & within a month they closed my account as I had an IVA previously. The A & L were great, opened an acoount the same day & matched my overdraft limit too & a cheque GTE card.