refused a business bank account

[mrpurple]

My OH retired a few months ago and deposited a large sum into her personal bank account (of 20+ yrs) and a few ISAS.

She has now decided to start her own little consultancy business and formed a Ltd company.

Her bank has refused her a business account on the basis that "apparently" she has a "bankruptcy" registered against her - which is entirely incorrect!!!

Having pointed this out as being totally wrong they said they would recheck, they came back and reconfirmed this and further stated she should check on her credit report - so we did!!!!

As we already knew, it showed "No" sort of bad history whatsoever, no judgements, no bankruptcies and everything up to date and in order.....furthermore it showed the bank had "not" done a search at all and the last search was done 6 months ago due to a link remaining on file to her ex from a mortgage paid off many years ago.

Any suggestions of what is going on would be appreciated as we are off in the morning to close / open a few bank accounts?

edited to add... there are no business managers available for this bank at any of the branches in our city for another 3 weeks!!

Edited by mrpurple on Thursday 21st August 17:16

Edited by mrpurple on Thursday 21st August 17:25

[mrpurple]

Jobbo said:

Might be someone with the same name; do a search here: https://www.insolvencydirect.bis.gov.uk/eiir/

done.........many thanks

"Individual Insolvency Register

We do not have any records that match your search criteria at this time."

[mrpurple]

TrickyDicky101 said:

Have you checked all 3 versions of your credit report? Experian, Equifax and Noddle (CallCredit). They can be different and the bank will likely only refer to one of them.

Edited by TrickyDicky101 on Thursday 21st August 18:24

Did Noddle..not sure I can be ar.ed to do all 3. If 20+ yrs of banking and more than a few 000's in their bank is outweighed by some misinformation, from where we know not, then we will probably move "all" our accounts elsewhere.

Something strange going on though.....we went in and were told there would be no business banker in any of the branches for at least 3 weeks - this was 3 weeks ago so had to do everything by post - and again today when demanding a meeting we were told there would be nobody available, on the business side, for another 3 weeks ( 6 weeks in total). So if the personal banker can't resolve it in the morning we shall just have to open several accounts elsewhere and they will lose all our business, Isas, savings the lot.

Stranger still is why no search by them shows up on the report...OH is a bit upset to say the least!

[mrpurple]

Pothole said:

mrpurple said:

TrickyDicky101 said:

Have you checked all 3 versions of your credit report? Experian, Equifax and Noddle (CallCredit). They can be different and the bank will likely only refer to one of them.

Edited by TrickyDicky101 on Thursday 21st August 18:24

Did Noddle..not sure I can be ar.ed to do all 3.

Stranger still is why no search by them shows up on the report...OH is a bit upset to say the least!

You'd rather try and teach the current bank a lesson which will have no impact whatsoever than spend 10 minutes checking the other info sources? THAT's stranger still!

If you say so.

[mrpurple]

Simpo Two said:

Your bank sounds like complete aholes.

Vote with your feet.

We shall...irony is she only wanted a basic account ( no O/d, credit cards etc ) to have occasional payments put in if and when she actually ever comes out of retirement and do some contracting work, rather doing it through an agency

[mrpurple]

Dejay1788 said:

Use a different bank, if their service is this poor whilst trying to pay them substantially for awful service, imagine how terrible they will be if they get her tied in to an account and can't be arsed to deal with you?

They weren't so slow in contacting us and arranging an appointment to top up our Isas a couple of months ago!

[mrpurple]

bigandclever said:

mrpurple said:

formed a Ltd company.

Just an idle thought ... is it a brand new company or an off-the-shelf? What does Companies House / DueDil say about linked directors and the like?

Brand new company...sole director..no links to anybody else, including me.

[mrpurple]

Mr Pointy said:

What happens when the accounts department at he client refuse to to this? They have engaged with mrspurple ltd, not mrspurple the person. They cannot change who gets paid for the work.

This.

[mrpurple]

Simpo Two said:

If she is retired and only taking 'occasional payments' why the need for a limited company? Now she has a business that can't accept money!

Some organisations want to use her services directly for one off's or short periods and don't want to set up PAYE (tax, NI, holiday pay etc) or use agencies.

She just left for a meeting with the existing bank so we shall see what happens. Bearing in mind they clearly stated twice on the phone it is a bankruptcy, that does not show in public records, if nothing else we hope to find out what info they are using and where it is coming from.

[mrpurple]

Update:

After a bad start, no record of the appointment, she eventually managed to see the branch manager.

Absolutely no reason why she should be refused and he could not find the alleged info used by the business dept when he did his own checks. Going to investigate and knock on doors to see if he can find out what is going on. As personal and business are run as separate depts he will automatically initiate complaint procedure if he is unable to resolve by the end of next week.

Bizarre

[mrpurple]

Countdown said:

Why would she bother to bill them through the company? Just bill them with a personal invoice marked "Please make cheques payable to Mrs Purple" like sole traders and partnerships do. If it's only occasional / ad-hoc work I'm not sure why you've gone to the bother of setting up a Ltd Co. tbh.

A)Because a major international company asked her to as it was their preferred way of dealing with consultancies in her field of operations.

B) Advised by accountant for tax purposes.

[mrpurple]

Countdown said:

2 & 3 are for the benefit of the individual and I can understand that. It's no 1 I can't understand. We make numerous payments to individuals, and small firms which aren't ltd co. I'm not sure what benefit there would be to us in insisting we only deal with Ltd Co. I'd rather sue an individual than a corporate entity.

Pure guesswork so please take it as such.

It is only her own labour she supplies but if the small, non Ltd Co's you use only work for you and nobody else could that not run the risk of you being seen as their employer by default?

Edited to add: also some specialist agencies have offered her far better rates if she works on a Ltd company basis.

Edited by mrpurple on Friday 22 August 18:58

[mrpurple]

Countdown said:

.... One of my clients has a £400m turnover and I'm wondering if we're missing a trick by not insisting our suppliers are ltd companies.

I doubt he is a labour only sole trader but it would be giving him one hell of an hourly rate if he was

[mrpurple]

Simpo Two said:

Mr Pointy said:

1) Because the majority of client companies won't deal with sole traders these days

3) You don't lose your house if you get sued

Therein lies the paradox. The 'big company' is too frightened to work with sole traders so it trades instead only with Limited Companies. Which it cannot then sue if things go pear-shaped...

I've been a sole trader since 1991 and no blue-chip ever asked me to incorporate.

All I can add is the CEO of the international company, was a former senior partner in McKinsey & Co so he must know a thing or two.

[mrpurple]

Jasandjules said:

I'd close all my accounts with that bank and go elsewhere.

Not before you have got the other accounts etc set up though? can be very costly making decisions in a fit of pique as I know only too well

[mrpurple]

Helicopter123 said:

Dejay1788 said:

Use a different bank, if their service is this poor whilst trying to pay them substantially for awful service, imagine how terrible they will be if they get her tied in to an account and can't be arsed to deal with you?

What's this got to do with the Bank? Step 1 of any credit application is a credit search, and this has thrown up a Red Flag. Bank have advised applicant who now has the opportunity to investigate further.

Except that branch manager of said bank can't find the red flag when he did checks. No record of a credit search is even shown when doing our own checks (amazing how much info other does though). Further investigations (link kindly supplied on here)have been made and confirms that the information being used is incorrect and the said department that have apparently found this information will not reveal their source and has nobody available for a meeting for at least 3 weeks. Ergo we have no way of correcting said incorrect information as only this dept in this bank know where it is hidden.

BTW it was not a credit application of any kind just a basic business account to make occasional online transfer in and out of.

[mrpurple]

Little update:

Branch manager rang to say he is still pursuing the matter but the business dept are not getting back to him and he finds the whole thing, given her status as he can see it, rather strange.

[mrpurple]

The irony of all ironies - just opened a basic business account in a matter of minutes online - confirmation came from, yep you guessed it, parent company which just so happens to be the same bank.