www.iva.co.uk

Hi Everyone ,
Wondered whether anyone could answer me a question please.
My wife and myself are in a joint IVA but have separate bank accounts. The IVA is on hold at the moment as my wife has been unable to work for quite some time due to ill health but the IVA company have been good about it.The problem we have however is we both set up basic accounts with COOP and i pay all the bills apart from a few. My wife cannot get any benefits what so ever ( been refused disability ) as all do nowadays and cannot get JSA dole as they say she has a shortfall in NI. To cut along story short the few direct debits she has , she hasnt been able to budget very well as there hasnt been enough money going in and the direct debits have been failing. I havent been able to help as i have to make sure the main bills ie mortgage utility bills etc are payed and so due to her poor banking she has performed mainly due to illness and lack of funds COOP bank have closed her account. She has tried to get an account with HSBC and Barclays and been turned down by both so does anyone know what she can do to et any type of account. Hopefully she can get back to work in near future as she is getting treatment but this doesnt help her state of mind when things like this happen but they do not wan to hear any sob stories and i guess at the end of the day she should have been more careful although if she had been well she would have noticed the problems. Thanks Mark

Hi! I'm so sorry to hear about your problems. Nat West are known to be iva friendly. HBSC are notorious on this forum for being very anti-iva...please tell you wife this so she doesn't take the refusal personally.

Hi,

How about trying for a basic account with Nationwide or Natwest. Have heard through this forum that HSBC are not IVA friendly, not sure about Barclays though.

Barclays are usually ok as are the Co-op. HSBC and First Direct are a no no.

If she cannot get a normal high street account then she can go for something like Thinkbanking or Secure Trust - both paid for accounts but guaranteed acceptance.

Thanks for that everyone. The coop are IVA friendly yes but bare in mind we opened a basic account each with coop but as my wife didnt keep her direct debits in order COOP have closed her account , so she has already had a basic bank account so what would be her next step as it doesnt look good ?
She did go to open an account with think banking a while ago but stopped it after horrendous reviews about it, but maybe that will be a last resort?
Thanks

If she can't get one anywhere else then she will have to look at something like this.

Her DD's will have to be kept in order as she won't be able to go overdrawn at all so her creditors are the ones that won't be paid and they will chase after her.

Hi,

Dont quite understand kallis3 about keeping her DD in order ? She has no bank account or card as COOP have closed it down because of going overdrawn all the time. I know thats foolish but the thing is if you have more going out thans going in and the direct debits are taken when theres no money in and then the bank are charging you its difficult especially as she has been on her back for weeks ill and so cannot keep on top of it. She needs to get well and find a job but obviously needs some kind of bank account. Barclays sent her a letter stating they couldnt give her the account as they had looked at shes managed her credit commitments ? I think she may have tried to open a current account instead of a basic, but didnt think Barclays were very friendly with IVAs but reading the replys it looks like i may be wrong. Thanks to all for the responses and i will try Barclays again 1st and go from there.

Hi,

I was just answering a comment you had made in a previous post about her not managing them. I apologise if this has upset you.

I hope you can get Barclays sorted out if not then it may gave to be a paid for one.

mac69 - would not have thought transferring her DDs into your own bank account would be a problem or her future wages (saves £15 per month for think banking)then it makes sure the DDs are payed and gives time to look around for a more suitable bank acount in the nearly future

oh just another thought - yorkshire building society do a cash transactor account ATM card with DD/and Sos facilities - apply on line or on the phone

Thanks Guys,

Sorry if i sounded abrupt Kallis3 and you didn``t upset anyone. I appreciate your comments as you know a great deal about debt by the sounds of it. I was just confused about the reply but i think Barclays is the best choice to try again as Yorkshire is 1 of our creditors so its a no go with them. Prepaid would be the last choice as she has not got enough to pay the bills at the moment so having to pay them as well seems like the wrong thing to do unless its a last resort.
Cheers again everyone

No worries, I was just worried that I had upset you!!!

Good luck with the bank.

Hi,

My account is with Santander and I got that no bother, although it was five and a half years ago that my IVA started and things may have changed since then. After a year they allowed me to have a debit card too.

Ok thanks for that