Is this for real? Can you "buy" a bank account?

purplepansy

I am really desperate to open a bank account as have an IVA and currently run from a building society.

My business is starting to do a lot better, but as a result I am doing a lot more transactions. Its OK to send money overseas, but not being able to do basic things like check my account on line, set up SO's and DD's or pay people by BACS is getting more and more hard.

I ma not bothered about having a debit card, and I certainly don't want an overdraft!! But I just need a bank account with a few more facilities than the standard saver account which is the only one I could get!

Every time I go to the bank to get cheques to go pay into clients bank accounts, they always say to me "you should upgrade to a gold account... blah blah blah" and they try to make appointments and stuff for me to come in and do it. It gets kind of embarassing.

I came across this site;

http://www.ukbankaccounts.co.uk

If you scroll down to the third option, it looks really good but you have to pay £40 for the account. Has anyone does this, is it true or a scam?

Cathy x

Quietgirl

Cathy,

If its a personal bank account your after I would definately not go through them and waste your money. Have you tried coop cashminder?

immoral_angeluk

Generally if you have to pay for anything upfront it's either A) a scam or a complete rip off.

doelani

I agree, why pay to get a bank account when you can get one yourself, there are plenty of basic bank accounts that will give you facilities to set up basc payments and standing orders with or without a basic debit card like an electron.

purplepansy

Thanks guys, I have spoken to a few banks and they have been able to offer me nothing but a standard savings account due to the IVA.

I am reluctant to speak to the co op as my main business bank account is with them and would they be able to close that down or take away its features if they knew I had an IVA?

I am a sole trader so I can operate with a personal bank account. I have three distict sections to my business so its very hard to run them all from the same account, my main business account, hence the building society accounts which are just a pain. I did get an appointment to upgrate to the most basic account with the building society but they just said no.

Cathy x

brightonman123

if based in UK, surely ID/credit checks still need to be done?

Kazzajr

Have you tried Abbey? I couldn't get a bank account anywhere but managed to get their basic bank account, I am able to bank online and can make/amend direct debits SOs and transfer money to any account online.

It works fine for me but I have different circumstances so not sure if you would be eligible.