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The other comments on here about having multiple accounts for businesses can be a little tricky as some banks will not open a second business account if you alr

The other comments on here about having multiple accounts for businesses can be a little tricky as some banks will not open a second business account if you already have done opened with someone else. e.g I had Lloyds business bank, tried Metro bank but they refused to open until I could prove Lloyds was closed. I wonder what the reasoning behind that is. Surely if I wanted to move my company's banking facilities from one bank to another, I'd need to make sure the new facilities were open and working, run both in parallel for a few weeks while clients paid outstanding invoices and the like, and then close down the old ones once everything was using the updated details? If Metro won't open a new account until you can prove that you've already closed down the old one, how many businesses ever transfer to Metro?!

jacquesm 9y ago
It's to make structuring harder. Of course it is perfectly well possible to have multiple business accounts, no need for you to inform them of your other accounts with other banks (and privacy laws may forbid banks from sharing this information). I have accounts with both Rabo and ABN/AMRO at the moment and nothing would stop me from adding a third or even a fourth bank if I wanted to.
- manarth 9y ago
  no need for you to inform them of your other accounts with other banks (and privacy laws may forbid banks from sharing this information). The UK have a small number of credit reference agencies, and UK banks universally (as far as I can tell - there may be extremely niche private banks which don't) share customer data with one or more credit reference agencies (and there is provision in law for this). Every bank I know will carry out a credit-check on a customer opening a new account (even an existing customer), so your other accounts will be immediately visible to the bank you're applying to - and the fact of your application will also be recorded. I have no idea how much that information would affect your application, but I'd be extremely surprised if questions weren't asked.

jacquesm 9y ago

It's to make structuring harder. Of course it is perfectly well possible to have multiple business accounts, no need for you to inform them of your other accounts with other banks (and privacy laws may forbid banks from sharing this information). I have accounts with both Rabo and ABN/AMRO at the moment and nothing would stop me from adding a third or even a fourth bank if I wanted to.

manarth 9y ago
no need for you to inform them of your other accounts with other banks (and privacy laws may forbid banks from sharing this information). The UK have a small number of credit reference agencies, and UK banks universally (as far as I can tell - there may be extremely niche private banks which don't) share customer data with one or more credit reference agencies (and there is provision in law for this). Every bank I know will carry out a credit-check on a customer opening a new account (even an existing customer), so your other accounts will be immediately visible to the bank you're applying to - and the fact of your application will also be recorded. I have no idea how much that information would affect your application, but I'd be extremely surprised if questions weren't asked.