www.iva.co.uk

Hi,

I came out of an IVA about a year ago, was short lived lump sum IVA.

I have recently opened a LTD company for a business venture and would now like to secure a business banking account for it.

I would rather not use one of the specialist accounts for people with poor credit history but so far having spoken to Lloyds and coop, who I have a personal cashminder account with both have said I will not b successful in securing a business account with them.

Has anyone any tips please, I know I could use cashplus or similar but these accounts have a maximum balance of £5000 - £15,000 and all being well I hope to receive more than that in funding.

Thanks

Hi Longslog. I haven't been on for a while but I hope things are good. Not sure if this would work but if you had a director/company secretary who was not ever in an IVA then would the bank open an account then? You could retain the shares but if the director had a clean credit file this may be sufficient. Possibly use a family member who you can trust and you do not even need to pay them!

Just a thought and I hope you get something sorted out.

Hi Michael,

It would work if the banks didn't ask about any controlling share holders aswell as director i.e. they don't just want to know who the directors are buts also significant shareholders.

What I might need to do is open a simple account with the likes of cashplus for the day to day expenses and try and come up with another solution in the event we start getting serious money....

perhaps a #2 Ltd with trusted relative as director and share holder who could open a normal account, but real pain if need to write cheques etc from number 2 account as would be a signatory.

It's all very well still being able to be a ltd director post IVA (cant with BRU) but unfortunately am learning the banks wont treat you as an independent business, its not like I want any credit facilities, just a working account with a normal bank for the ltd company with no financial caps of how much we can put IN THEIR account, lol.....grrrrr

Hi
I finished my IVA early in Sept 2015 (with a F&F offer) specifically because I went self-employed as an IT contractor.
Barclays let me open a normal business bank account before I'd even received my completion certificate but it did take some work from the local business adviser who had to convince the 'head office bods' that I was a good bet.
Service from Barclays has been good - only account restriction is that I'm not allowed any credit facilities until the IVA has dropped off my file and my account usage gets reviewed; apart from that, 12 months free banking and then £6.50 a month.
Hope this gives you some hope just keep looking around and you'll find a bank that will let you convince them to open an account!

Hi lifenitsoeasy, appreciate that, it does have the following criteria though

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Please confirm the following points are correct for you and other parties to the business:

You are resident in the UK (and not the Channel Islands/I.O.M)
You are 18 years of age or over
You or your business/previous business(es) have not had any County Court Judgements in the past 6 years.
Are not currently bankrupt and have not been within the past 5 years

Just wonder if the IVA will fall into the same category as the bankrupt bit.

WalesDave - Many thanks I will try them next week, but Barclays were one of my creditors, were they one of yours and/or were you banking with them personally before asking for a business's basic account ?

I did find the one account http://www.cardonebanking.com/business/ but again it has a maximum balance allowance and if anyone tried to credit that would take your balance above that it will bounce back which would be embarrassing and a problem.

I did some more digging and found a website called extra direct. http://extradirect.co.uk/faqs/

They have said they can get me a bank account with a European provided but will have a uk sort code and account number, and a parallel European one. it is a non uk European bank apparently - checks are ID ones and company details and business, no cap on balance, but it's expensive £245 to setup.

It is only a bank account with online banking, it was suggested to use this in parallel with a cashplus or cardone account, they said if they did the cardone application they would get my first 3 months banking free too, so effectively a normal bank account with europ options too.

I was going to have a smaller parallel account anyway for card transactions for security reasons.

Does anyone know what bank it actually is, in the details they sent me I can't identify the bank thought any clues from the website or this that they sent me

font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica">quote:<hr height="1" noshade>Guaranteed Acceptance, No Visit Required and No Monthly Fees.

It is an online business account which offers a UK sort-code & account number enabling you to make & receive UK payments and a Euro account which will allow you to make and receive Euro SEPA and SWIFT payments plus receive any International payments into your Euro account, so whilst more basic than a mainstream bank account, it will give you Internet banking allowing you to control the funds inside the account and opened in your UK Limited Company’s name.

If you require to send payments abroad we will also be able to open you an International Payments account which will then give you the option of sending payments anywhere else in the world.

Online Business payment account for UK residents.

Opening times options once all necessary documents have been received:
Standard (7-10 days) £245.00
Express (24-48 hours) £295.00

Any additional Director or Shareholder - £50.00 each
Minimum opening balance: £50.00

Account details include:

UK Sort-Code & Account number (Money held at Barclays bank)
UK Faster & BACs Payments
Internet Banking
Unlimited balance on account
No Cash, Cheques or Card available
No Contracts - cancel at anytime
Transaction payments - 0.49p each (credit or debit)
NO MONTHLY FEE

Euro Account also included:
SEPA & SWIFT Payments
IBAN/SWIFT Code included (Money held at BNP Paribas)
Transaction payments - 0.49c each (credit or debit)
NO MONTHLY FEE

Application is based on ID and for UK Limited Companies only
Documentation required includes:
Copy valid Passport/photo ID
Proof of home address with past 90 days (suggest two separate ones where possible)
Proof or evidence of Business activity

Hi Longslog101
Yep - Barclays were one of my creditors; at least Barclaycard was.
I didn't have a personal account with them, I just went in as a new customer and made my case that completing an IVA shows how I'd got myself in order and that as I didn't want any credit (overdraft, loan, business credit card etc.) there was little risk to them opening an account for myself.

Barclaycard were one of my creditors and we had a full bank account with them throughout the IVA with no problems at all.

thanks longslog, I went to visit my Natwest branch today as it says in their site even if you fail a credit check we will offer a foundation account (no credit, no cheque book etc), but no local advisors have to do through national Centr so I have applied online, we shall see. Natwest Credit card was one of my creditors so we shall see.

The form did ask for any information about negative attributes so added truth about previous IVA and completion date.

"the criteria at the start was bla bla bla - not been declared bankrupt" nothing about IVA's..... watch this space !

thanks also for the previous reply re Barclays.

Just as an update, I have just received notification that my Natwest account has been approved for my Limited company of which I am sole director, I presume it will be a foundation account (if you fail credit checks this is what they offer) all they needed was the certificate of discharge on top of normal stuff for opening a business account.

So, if you need a business account post IVA - Natwest is good thanks for the pointers guys.

Filled in forms online and then had a 30 min phone conversation, e-signed a few docs and sorted. This from their website:

"Foundation Account

As part of an application for our Business Current Account or Startup Package, we undertake credit scoring as part of the application.
In some instances where we find we cannot provide you with our Business Current Account and Startup Package, we may talk to you about our Foundation Account. There are no borrowing facilities available with a Foundation Account."

Well that will certainly help other posters, I'm sure. Thank you for sharing.

Great news - glad you could sort it.

Great and the reality is you don't want borrowing facilities.

Nice one Longslog. Wait until the business starts generating big profits and they will be throwing offers of money at you.