lloyds wouldn't give me an account due to the "nature" of the business

[mrinternet]

After reading here about the “as many USD cheques cashed as you want for £8” feature of lloyds business accounts, I went to my local branch to open a sole trader account. When they asked about the business I told them how it worked and the guy told me some bollocks about having to phone head office to see if it was okay and that they'd had “new rules come in just this morning”.

Anyway, they phoned me up today and told me that they couldn't open my account “due to the nature” of the business. A bank which made its fortune on the slave trade was taking some sort of moral high ground over titty photos. Am I just suppost to tell them that the business is “e-commerce” and leave it at that? I don't see what the problem is, it's not like I'm doing anything illegal here and I'm pretty pissed off that I wasted an hour of my life talking to them on Thursday.

Are there any other banks which have fair rates on USD cheques? Is cashing USD cheques even much of an issue once I get a ePassport account? If anyone wants to close their lloyds accounts in protest of this anti-adult discrimination, it would probably make me feel better :)

[dvtimes]

just tell them that your work is net based, ie web design.

do not say its adult.

i would go back and try again.

[WordsforHire]

Some sponsors still only pay out in cheques so yeah even if you have Epassporte you're still going to get cheques.

My bank is perfectly ok with what I do - I don't tell them the in's and out's but I have told them that I work in the adult industry providing services to porn websites and I'm about to launch my own.

I bank with Bank of Scotland so if you live in England you won't be able to sign up with them lol. Mind you their cheque fees aren't the nicest...

[Simon]

You told them what you did? So did I; I'm a photographer who mostly shoots people and sells online. Kind of like a photo stock library. If you're an aff go sign up to a few mainstream aff programs as well as the porn, so you have something to show them if needed.

[Elisha Jade]

Natwest are about £10 per bunch of cheques I think, although we get wires now, so it might have changed. When we opened ours we werent in the adult industry so it was a lot easier to open an account offering our IT consultancy services.

[onlytease]

f**king cheek of them!!

[dvtimes]

Best thing is if you pay your money into my account and i will look after it for you.

[spann0]

I just got an account with lloyds I told them about non-adult stuff and there were no problems

[Bradderzzz]

Thats beyond ridiculous. HSBC know EXACTLY what i do and couldn't give a stuff.

[mOBSCENE]

After reading here about the “as many USD cheques cashed as you want for £8” feature of lloyds business accounts, I went to my local branch to open a sole trader account. When they asked about the business I told them how it worked and the guy told me some bollocks about having to phone head office to see if it was okay and that they'd had “new rules come in just this morning”.

Anyway, they phoned me up today and told me that they couldn't open my account “due to the nature” of the business. A bank which made its fortune on the slave trade was taking some sort of moral high ground over titty photos. Am I just suppost to tell them that the business is “e-commerce” and leave it at that? I don't see what the problem is, it's not like I'm doing anything illegal here and I'm pretty pissed off that I wasted an hour of my life talking to them on Thursday.

Are there any other banks which have fair rates on USD cheques? Is cashing USD cheques even much of an issue once I get a ePassport account? If anyone wants to close their lloyds accounts in protest of this anti-adult discrimination, it would probably make me feel better :)

It is pretty stupid - say you're a newsagent - you sell softcore and hardcore porn off the topshelf, The Sun, the Sport, etc - no problem - and great that you sell cigarettes as well, I bet many newsagents have accounts with Lloyds - but the newsagent never has to say "I sell porn in my shop". Even better if you're a corner store that sells all this and booze as well - it's great to sell cigs and booze which kill people and the banks have no issue with it.

I am an IT consultant and web freelancer - leave it at that or something similar. The only person who really might need to know is your accountant, as he might raise an eyebrow if he sees invoices for "sluts-fucked-up-the-arse-and-spunked-on.com" etc

I like the way sex shops register themselves as "selling miscellaneous provisions" :)

[SimonSubAms]

After reading here about the “as many USD cheques cashed as you want for £8” feature of lloyds business accounts, I went to my local branch to open a sole trader account...


I think it's down to individual branch managers...
I was already with Lloyds in '97 when I started out and naively told them what I was doing. I had to make an appointment with the branch manager, he wanted more details so came to my house to see how it worked...so I showed him! He spent the next hour asking questions as he surfed through the links on my sites, loving every minute of it. He went away happy and I got my account upgraded :)

[NumptyNuts]

why did you tell them - simple answer to anything affiliate based at the bank is 'Gaming' - I gamble on line or send other gamblers to poker rooms.

[Therapy]

Thats a great story SimonSubAms :)

I got this bridge to cross soon, I registered with TAX man today (sole trader), so thats the first big step out of the way. Im using personal accounts at the moment.

[SimonSubAms]

Thats a great story SimonSubAms :)

I got this bridge to cross soon, I registered with TAX man today (sole trader), so thats the first big step out of the way. Im using personal accounts at the moment.

I don't know if it would work today lol

[JT]

Thats a great story SimonSubAms :)

I got this bridge to cross soon, I registered with TAX man today (sole trader), so thats the first big step out of the way. Im using personal accounts at the moment.

Dont tell the bank if you want an account these days

[eman]

After reading here about the “as many USD cheques cashed as you want for £8” feature of lloyds business accounts, I went to my local branch to open a sole trader account. When they asked about the business I told them how it worked and the guy told me some bollocks about having to phone head office to see if it was okay and that they'd had “new rules come in just this morning”.

Anyway, they phoned me up today and told me that they couldn't open my account “due to the nature” of the business. A bank which made its fortune on the slave trade was taking some sort of moral high ground over titty photos. Am I just suppost to tell them that the business is “e-commerce” and leave it at that? I don't see what the problem is, it's not like I'm doing anything illegal here and I'm pretty pissed off that I wasted an hour of my life talking to them on Thursday.

Are there any other banks which have fair rates on USD cheques? Is cashing USD cheques even much of an issue once I get a ePassport account? If anyone wants to close their lloyds accounts in protest of this anti-adult discrimination, it would probably make me feel better :)

I've got a personal acct at Lloyds - never told them anything about what I do and they haven't been a problem.

It's probably a case of the less they know the happier they are..

[redwhiteandblue]

Has anyone tried these firms that advertise that they can get you a non-status business bank account guaranteed, for an introduction fee?

[Neo]

as much as I dont want to promote any bank on the planet, you should try Natwest, as mentioned it could be down to individual business managers but they opened mine with out me having to be serving a debt to them already and with comments such as " yeh internet based entertainment agency is a good idea" good luck.

:bandb:

[tas]

We were honest with LLoyds when we opened a business bank account and the business manager who dealt with us was fascinated by it all. I think he actually wanted an invite to a shoot :angel:

[Bernice]

I never had any probs with Lloyds apart from about 2 years ago when I was asking for a loan and they declined on the basis they didn't think my type of business was good enough security. The 'business manager' ( which is what banks call pimply faced kids in call centres with fuck all experience of business ) went on to tell me that I should look for an account elsewhere because Lloyds wouldnt want my business in the future !!!!

I took that up with my own branch who were mortified about what I had bveen told - and apart from that once incidence they have been fine.

[xcite-tv]

NATWEST once told me to my face... they would NEVER open an account for an adult company...




unless its turnover was over £1m....


Fucking hypocrites

[Bluejay]

We set a Business account with Barclays, stating ours was a "photo imaging service"- no issues they except our $ cheques and wire transfers ok.