I have a spent conviction for a financial crime.  The conviction was in March 2015 and became spent in March 2020

My bank of 25 years closed my current account when I was convicted, but I was fortunate enough to get a current account with Barclays - who I have been with for the past 6 years without incident.  I have even been elevated to "Premier Account" since 2017!

In 2018 I set up a small company for my business which has done ok - nothing stellar but enough to make a living,  The new company came with a Business Bank Account with Tide - which operated fine.  But in early 2019 the bank decided to close the account - no reason given.  I moved to Revolut which has been fine - until today - when they said they were closing my account - again, no reason given.

I am now really worried - it is clear that I am blacklisted (CIFAS?) and have no idea where to turn.  I am scared to go to Barclays to ask for a business account as it might trigger them to think again about providing a current account - and without a current account I am truly stuffed

Any advice or thoughts greatly received - really getting quite desperate!

Paul

Hi there,

Martin Lewis - Money Saving Expert - created the Credit Club https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/creditclub/

It’s free to sign up and I don’t think it does a credit check but I’ve found it be quite helpful for my "financial record" let's say. I don’t know if it might be helpful in your case but it’s quite useful in that it gave me access to more info that was held about me than I was expecting and about my credit score etc. It also gives you the chance to update things that may be out of date…? For example, I had no idea my ex’s financial details were still linked to mine, so one form later, we are now financially separated. Might be worth a look.

The only other thing I can think of is Shelter ran a campaign with HSBC to help homeless people get a bank account. Again, I realise that’s not your situation but I’m thinking HSBC might be more open about who they let have an account. 
Hope this helps.

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Fighting or Accepting - its difficult to know which is right and when.

I applied for two bank accounts and was refused. They would not give a reason, saying it was 'commercially confidential'. I checked my credit score but it was fine.
You can get a CIFAS marker removed by writing to them. See link.

https://www.richardsonlissack.co.uk/service/financial-services-regulation/cifas-markers/

My understanding is that banks do not have access to criminal records.
So how can these banks know one has been convicted?

Hi
Not sure if what I am about to say is rubbish but when I was arrested (non financial offence) I signed a doc for the authorities to have access to my bank accounts.
So not sure if this record is kept, recorded in some central banking accessed system?
Didn't cause an issue for me and have had accounts with various banks/savings since. 

Sorry can't help further

Society suggests I must let go of all my expectations but I disagree, as whilst I have a voice, I have hope.

Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope is for tomorrow else what is left if you remove a mans hope.
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This forum supports these words, thank you Unlock and your contributors.

CIFAS records fraud and other financial convictions only, not other types of criminal convictions 

Do they record any fraud, for example parking fraud, or only fraud against financial institutions? 

Unlock has information about this on their website here. Depending on the details of the offence, it might be recorded, in which case they would normally keep it for up to six years. In that case, as your conviction is over six years old, they should have deleted the information by now. You can make a subject access request to them, to see if they still hold any information on you. If they do, then you can ask them to delete it, as it is over six years old. If they don't have any information about you, then you probably need to contact the most recent bank for more information. Make a subject access request to them if you have to.

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If you are to punish a man retributively you must injure him. If you are to reform him you must improve him. And men are not improved by injuries. (George Bernard Shaw)

my fraud conviction became spent in jan 2021 and i was able to get a starling business account

i wrote to cifas and national hunter to see if they have any info on me and it came back clear