Nationwide shutting me down!

bvc1974

Hey Guys.

I am a self employed window cleaner and I went bankrupt in may 07. Thankfully I was able to open a nationwide flex account so I could bank cheques my customers give me. (only about 150 a month.) I opened it in my name and told them I was a window cleaner and that I would be banking my cheques. I have done so with no problem for the last 11 months, until last week a snotty assistant manager tells
me in front of about 20 people behind me, in a loud enough voice so they can all hear, That this account was opened for basic banking as I was a bankrupt and not for running a business and that she will no longer accept any cheques from me. With immediate effect.
As you can imagine i was fuming. I had my wife and 3 kids with me at the time and demanded to see the manager. They would not let me and said they will contact me by phone to discuss it further. A few days later I got a letter from nationwide saying after discussion with her area manager they were giving me 28 days to stop using the account for business or they will shut down my account!!
Now,I have cleaned windows for 15 years and never used a business account I know at least 25 other window cleaners who also use personal accounts for their customers cheques And so I am pretty annoyed.
So my questions are, is there a bank or building society that can offer me a business account or should I just open another personal account and hope for the best? If so, where? I cant do Nationwide.
I will be discharged next month, (28th of may) but I am begining to think being discharged from bankruptcy is not the huge release I thought it was going to be. I cant get any debit or credit card accounts from what I can see. so how am I any better off? I dont think waiting a month untill I am discharged will make any difference to the banks.
Anyway If anyone has any advice, It would be really appreciated.

BVC

bvc1974

My wife went bankcrupt in jan 07 ( we were both running the same business)
and I asume she was discharged jan 08, although we werent notified by the OR. 4 months out of bankcruptcy could she open a business account for me?

BVC.

PROLIANT

You can legally use a personal current account for business transactions as long as you are a sole trader or partnership and not a limited company.

Kavanne

Try another bank's basic account?

ShelfStacker_3

Kavanne wrote: »

Try another bank's basic account?

Great advice. There are also basic business accounts you could use which could be of help; I can't think of any off the top of my head.

But anyway, try a basic personal account first: HSBC would be my bet because in my experience if you can prove you're handling the account well (or have the potential to handle the account well, in my case) they might upgrade it to a full current account for you after a couple of months.

Some people on here also swear by NatWest's Step account, which offers a Solo card, but some people also swear at them for the lack of upgrade opportunities...

bvc1974

PROLIANT wrote: »

You can legally use a personal current account for business transactions as long as you are a sole trader or partnership and not a limited company.

Fantastic! The fighter in me wants to go down there monday morning and tell them they cant do that. (do you think they would do a u turn though?)

The knackered father and husband want to take the line of least resistance in this case.

What would you do?

Great advice, keep it coming.

BVC

bvc1974

PROLIANT wrote: »

You can legally use a personal current account for business transactions as long as you are a sole trader or partnership and not a limited company.

Sorry meant to quote this reply.

BVC

bvc1974

ShelfStacker wrote: »

Great advice. There are also basic business accounts you could use which could be of help; I can't think of any off the top of my head.

But anyway, try a basic personal account first: HSBC would be my bet because in my experience if you can prove you're handling the account well (or have the potential to handle the account well, in my case) they might upgrade it to a full current account for you after a couple of months.

Some people on here also swear by NatWest's Step account, which offers a Solo card, but some people also swear at them for the lack of upgrade opportunities...

Great stuff. Does is the hsbc basic account guarateed? i.e for bankrupts?
how about the natwest account?

BVC

ShelfStacker_3

bvc1974 wrote: »

Great stuff. Does is the hsbc basic account guarateed? i.e for bankrupts?
how about the natwest account?

BVC

Neither are guaranteed (nothing is, to be fair) but if you want something that is generally accepted for, and you're willing to accept some extremely shoddy customer service (as well as harsh lending decisions), Barclays' Cash Card account will do. Try HSBC first though, as like I say the potential for an upgrade is valuable.