This is specifically about business banking I have had a personal current account for decades that is fine. Applying for a business account made sense as all the family have presonal accounts with HSBC. The application process is so glitchy it beggars belief- I had to keep chat on and use it constantly for the process which took days and days because of the problems. Then they wouldn't accept their own bank statements as address proof so it was turned down- after telling me they would. A business advisor was not available in my central London location so I attempted to get an appointment elsewhere and the wait was two months. These applications time out after one. A regular advisor couldn't help though she did explain that the application was rejected due to using an HSBC statement. We tried using a tax notification as instructed next. It did not say anywhere that this could not be self assessment. So it was rejected again. Since the person n question is self employed and applying for a bank account as a sole trader it would appear a bit illogical to expect another ind of tax notification. Instead of applying for tax credits as advised, or a drivers license or putting said persons name on the council tax bill we are simply applying to another bank. I actually spent all of one day once trying to get through on the phone without luck. This is days and weeks of my life I can never get back, and the advisors while pleasant repeatedly gave me wrong advice. I am planning to also move all of our personal accounts now, this was such a bad experience, and it makes me think having the account could never work either.
Reviewed on: 21st August 2018
