Bank threatening to close our account..

[Dubya]

I am a company director of a Limited Company. We only exist as a company to own the freehold of our block of flats and to collect maintenance money. We do not trade or make profit.

I have been contacted by our bank asking me to update Companies House records to show who is the ‘Guarantor’ for the limited company. They are going to close our account if I don’t do this. I have looked at our records and cannot see how to include this information. I asked CH for advice and they said 'all directors are guarantors' but there is nowhere to note this on the CH records.

I asked our bank why they needed this and they said it’s because we are a company ‘limited by guarantee’ rather than by shares. It’s part of their Know Your Customer diligence apparently. It looks like they will close out account if I can't update CH with the info they require. Bit of a catch 22. Does anyone have any experience in this matter? Closing bank accounts eems to be very popular right now!

 

[Lisa Thomas]

I feel we are missing some information here, as this sounds unusual.

Are you able to type exactly the wording that the bank have used in their correspondence?

 

[Dubya]

I feel we are missing some information here, as this sounds unusual.

Are you able to type exactly the wording that the bank have used in their correspondence?

Thanks very much for answering Lisa. I was told over the telephone so don't have it in writing I'm afraid. I emailed CH today and had the following repsonse this afternoon
'You are only required to notify Companies House about your Guarantors at incorporation. Any changes which take place after incorporation, should be detailed in the company registers. The information is not required to be filed with Companies House'
It looks like I'm snookered.
We are a very basic company. No cash. Just monthly inward payments from each flat and then payments out for things like electricity bills, cleaning, insurance etc.

 

[fisicx]

Just name yourself guarantor. An easy thing to do. You can sort out the details later.

 

[Newchodge]

'You are only required to notify Companies House about your Guarantors at incorporation.

And did you?

 

[Dubya]

And did you?

I don't know. It was 2008 and we used a company formation solution to set it up. My problem is I can't see how to amend our records at CH and that is where Barclays staff are looking.

 

[UK Contractor Accountant]

The Guarantors are PSC's - check companies house records to see if the PSC's details are up to date.

The Bank should be told all the Guarantors are shown as PSC's and there have been no changes since incorporation.

There is also a facility to download a snapshot of all the company's officers, PSC's which you can send to Bank.

 

[UK Contractor Accountant]

all directors are guarantors

Rubbish!

 

[Dubya]

The Guarantors are PSC's - check companies house records to see if the PSC's details are up to date.

The Bank should be told all the Guarantors are shown as PSC's and there have been no changes since incorporation.

There is also a facility to download a snapshot of all the company's officers, PSC's which you can send to Bank.

Thank you for taking time to read my case and respond. That makes sense, I'll log in to CH again and see what I can do. I assume PSC is Persons of Significant Control

 

[Mark T Jones]

Reading swiftly through this, I wonder if you are actually a Company Limited by Guarantee, which would make more sense?

 

[Dubya]

Reading swiftly through this, I wonder if you are actually a Company Limited by Guarantee, which would make more sense?

that's exactly what it is. As we are Limited by Guarantee we need to state who the guarantors are.

 

[UK Contractor Accountant]

. I assume PSC is Persons of Significant Control

Correct.

 

[Whitegates Bri]

Good afternoon, I have just joined the forum and posted an item entitled “Companies House filing”. However looking through other posts our problem is identical to this one.
Barclays have placed restrictions on our account and mention closure if the problem is not resolved.
We have taken over our limited by guarantee company without share capital from the developer and we look after the private road and communal areas on behalf of the residents.
The original directors, who now have resigned, issued a statement of guarantee at incorporation which, as Barclays point out, are invalided.
We have attempted to upload a statement for the new directors in the same form as the originals through the filing process but this has been rejected by Barclays.
I’m assuming we have to select a form once we are in the filing area, but which one?
any help would be appreciated
thanks
Brian

 

[eteb3]

@Dubya did you get this resolved and how?

@Whitegates Bri started another thread which I’ve replied on but the OP here makes the situation clearer.

This will be about beneficial interest in the company, needed for anti money laundering regs

Barclays asking for the guarantors is odd: really they seem to want to know the members (same thing but weird use of terminology). It sounds like their processes don’t fit CLGs.

If they insist on documents, I would send them a copy of the members’ register, along with the page of the articles where the guarantee is defined.

Or maybe they really want the PSC info updated at CH - but @UK Contractor Accountant , as you presumably know, a member is only a PSC if they hold more than 25% of the voting power (ie, in the normal case, if there are fewer than four members)

One option, at the expense of privacy, would be to opt not to keep a company register at all but instead file members’ details (not just PSC details) at CH.

[Withdrawn] Company registers

www.gov.uk

@Whitegates Bri , let us know how you get on?

 

[Whitegates Bri]

Good morning and happy new year.
our company has exactly the same problem. I reviewed similar companies on CH which showed the guarantors in their incorporation document. Subsequent changes to their officers did not result in a revised guarantors list being listed on CH.
I spoke to Barclays last week and offered them our Members Register which they declined. They asked me to get an accountant to provide a listing of our guarantors on their headed paper. I’ve requested this but have not as yet had a reply.
over the weekend I emailed Barclays KYC team sending them our Members Register and asking them to reconsider.
I’ll put their comments on here when I get a reply.
Brian

 

[Whitegates Bri]

I happy to advise that Barclays have lifted the restrictions on our account and accepted our Members Register as proof of the current guarantors of our company.
a very frustrating experience.