Poor Credit History

Posted by admin on November 24th, 2009 at 04:51pm

Question:
Getting a bank account with really poor credit history?
Would anybody have any knowledge on what basic bank accounts or overseas bank accounts can be opened with a really poor credit history or even financial institutions that do not run credit checks? I need a bank account without any overdraft, card, etc.

Answers:
My son opened one with Halifax, he has to go into the branch to get his money out and after about six months, they have issued her a cash point card as well as an overdraft on her wages. It may be worth going into a branch and asking – you will require a lot of ID but you should be able to get a standard account with a bank book.

I do not think you will find one that will not run a credit check, I wouldn’t go into overseas accounts since their regulation might not be the same as ours.
Sadly, with a poor credit history you will struggle. They will run a credit check to satisfy money laundering rules. Ones issuing current accounts etc will attempt to make profit in other ways like offering you overdrafts as well as credit cards loans and perhaps even mortgages. They look at the larger picture. Someone with a poor credit history gives them no future relationship or any profit, and essentially they are just doing you a service for free.
I would suggest the best thing you can do is go and visit them in the branch one day. They may get things overridden if you are able to put yourself across in the proper way.

If you reside in the US, try going to a credit union as they may be more flexible. The caveat is that if your poor credit history includes owing banks due to bad checks or cancelled accounts, you will need to fix those issues first. Credit is not as much of an issue, unless you have to owe a bank for an old account closed by them as a result of negative balances.

Under Loans for Bad Credit