Rejected change of name on business account?

jimpix12

Hi all

I've had a business bank account with Barclays for about 18 months. The first year was free banking, and then they started charging. Stupidly, I didn't leave enough in the account for the first payment - which left me £11 into unauthorised o/d.

I quickly paid this off and now leave £100 at least in the account.

Anyway, I didn't think this would matter until I tried to change my account type from Limited Company to Sole Trader - Barclays did a credit check and I got a rude phonecall from in-branch saying I'd been rejected They couldn't tell me any more, or the reason(s) why.

So off I went and joined CreditExpert and AnnualCreditReport to see if my credit rating was in dire straits - it wasn't, it's improved since I joined Barclays in fact.

I rung Barlcays Local Business up again this morning and asked for them to clarify why I'd been rejected as there are no black marks on my credit history - my credit rating is about 860 with no CCJs - they said they couldn't elaborate because of the "data protection act" (typical corporate bullsh*t cop-out, what they can't discuss with the account holder whey they've been rejected?! please).

Anyway, I was just wondering if the whole unauthorised overdraft issue is the reason - or do you moneysavers think it could be something else? How should I dig further? Thanks!

LittleVoice

I don't see why it should be anything to do with your credit rating - more to do with the fact that, as you say, you were trying to change the account from being for a limited company to being a sole trader. A limited company has its own identity, it is not you and you can't just decide that you want to be a sole trader but use the assets of the limited company.

jimpix12

Hi,

I struck off the Limited Company from the register and am registered as a Sole Trader with HMRC now. I thought that would be enough.

I wouldn't have thought it was connected to my credit rating either, but that's what the Barclays employee told me. She basically said I failed the credit check, and there are several reasons why that could be (1. identity fraud, 2. CCJ/black mark, or 3. legal issues).

LittleVoice

spunko2010 wrote: »

Hi,

I struck off the Limited Company from the register . . .

So didn't you have to close the bank account?

jonesMUFCforever

Have all of your customers been informed in writing that you are now a sole trader rather than a Limited company?

You also say that your credit rating has ''improved'' since joining Barclays - was it bad before and if so how bad?

jimpix12

I wasn't aware it was a requirement to notify all my customers of a name change. I'm pretty sure that can't be the case.

I struck off the company 2 months ago and notified the bank around the same time.

My credit rating was 840 ish before, now it's 860 ish.

dunstonh

You cannot use the same bank account for limited company as you did sole trader. Barclays would need to open a new account

jonesMUFCforever

It is certainly a legal requirement to let your customers know if you were doing the reverse ie going from sole trader to Ltd company.
I can't find anything about going the way you are going so I might have got it wrong.

jonesMUFCforever

spunko2010 wrote: »

I wasn't aware it was a requirement to notify all my customers of a name change. I'm pretty sure that can't be the case.

I struck off the company 2 months ago and notified the bank around the same time.

My credit rating was 840 ish before, now it's 860 ish.

You said it was bad - the score of 860 means nothing to anyone other than the company making money out of you for providing it.
You didn't really answer the question.

jimpix12

Hmm, I'm not sure how to put my credit rating into words CreditExpert told me it was "fair" but aside from that, I don't know how else to describe it. I thought it was out of 1000 "points", meaning I've "got" 860 "points".

Anyhoo, I don't recall saying it was bad. It's not excellent, if I wanted to get a large loan I'd get rejected, but it's certainly not bad...

Thanks

jimpix12

dunstonh wrote: »

You cannot use the same bank account for limited company as you did sole trader. Barclays would need to open a new account

Sorry, I should have clarified, I meant Barclays were opening a new account for me, but that's when it got rejected.