Opening a business bank account - painful

[dfen5]

Applied on line, got a message to call. Over an hour later still on the phone.
Customers, payments, expenses, business plan, customer's business, top 5 customers, projected income from top 5 and so it went on.. Email, website blah blah, premises, industry experience, PAYE, how often, dividend use..

As the clock ticked past the hour I was ready to give but then it all just came together. After another 1/2 hour..

I realise they have to watch for money laundering but I was amazed at just how deep they want to go.

Just me or others had the same treatment? I've now got 6 multi page forms to complete. Crikey, if I'd been applying for finance I dread to think.

[Snowdrop_]

We have had the same process when setting up a LTD company bank account.

Normal practice it seems

[russ_a]

Think mine was setup via my accountant in 5 minutes.

[Simpo Two]

How times change. The only time I opened a business account was in 1991. Just starting up, sole trader, no trading history, no customers, nothing. Went into NatWest, spotty kid asked me if I wanted an overdraft ('no'), and virtually gave me a chequebook on the spot.

[daemon]

Set up my limited company account last november.

No issues at all. Quick meeting with the business account manager, overview of the business.

No overdraft requirement so no credit checks done on either director.

[LDN]

Barclays; I had a 15 minute chat and I was good to go. Nice and simple.

[dfen5]

LDN said:

Barclays; I had a 15 minute chat and I was good to go. Nice and simple.

Ltd Co.? Mine was NatWest but it was the start up dep't, maybe that's why I got the Spanish. With hindsight I reckon the local branch would have been a better option.

[brman]

I opened an account about 3 years ago with HSBC (for a ltd co). Online application plus about 20 minutes on the phone I think. Was all pretty simple iirc.......

edit:
Customers : none of their business
payments: set them up on line as I want
expenses: what bank costs? Pretty clearly laid out by hsbc
business plan: just asked what sort of business it was
customer's business: ? see above
top 5 customers: none of their business
projected income from top 5: finger in the air estimate of annual turnover to make sure I had the right account
etc

Who was the account with because I had none of that lot. Or has something changed in 3 years?
EDIT: ignore that, just seen it was natwest

Edited by brman on Saturday 22 August 10:03

Edited by brman on Saturday 22 August 10:04

[NorthDave]

I last went through it a year or two ago with Santander and it was easy - I think they just checked we were actually a business and then gave us the right account based on turnover.

Cater Allen refused us though as we had a 'non standard setup'. Not sure what their problem was but might try again at some point. I'm not a huge fan of Santander and their monthly charges.

[jammy_basturd]

NorthDave said:

Cater Allen refused us though as we had a 'non standard setup'. Not sure what their problem was but might try again at some point. I'm not a huge fan of Santander and their monthly charges.

Opening a second account with Cater Allen was quite painful, not least because I had to start the process again, twice, due to house moves and once because they insisted I go through my referral organisation.

[sleepezy]

It's just taken me 6 weeks with RBS!

I setup several accounts a year for comapnies I help and that was just ridiculous. I know the ownership structure was a bit off the wall but even so if they could make a mistake and or make a mountain out of a mole hill they insisted on doing so.

Insane and never again. No wonder they're doing so badly.. Left us with no bank account for the first 2 weeks of trading and we still don't have any online access.

Back to Barclays in future.

[PurpleMoonlight]

The trouble is if you refuse to answer their questions, no matter how ridiculous you think they are, they will simply refuse to open an account for you.

They know we need them more than they need us.

[village idiot]

i opened up some accounts with natwest for my new business... no problems at all.

i opened an operating account and three client accounts (sterling, euros and dollars).

[z06tim]

Santander was easy for me about 5 years ago. I got a free current account, plus free savings, which is still the case now ( for me, although not sure about new accounts)

No problems at all over the 5 years.

Edited by z06tim on Thursday 27th August 18:03