Personal and business accounts with Bank of Scotland

[GLAbusiness]

Yesterday I was making a large payment from my personal account. It was flagged as potential fraud and my account was suspended. After a phone conversation I proved that it was a valid transaction and the account was re-instated.

Today I found the company's business account was suspended. After about 90 mins on the phone (most of it on hold) it seems that:

• When they suspended the personal account they also suspended the business account (in Ltd company name)..
• When they re-instated the personal account they did not re-instate the business account
• After 90 mins being transferred from one department to another I finally talked to someone who re-instated the business account in 10 seconds

My question - are they allowed to link the 2 accounts in this way?

 

[FreddyG]

If they have allowed themselves this safeguard in their own T&Cs, then the answer is 'Yes!'

 

[DontAsk]

I use Santander, but I can access both personal and business accounts through the business account login.

Debit cards are all in my personal name so there's definitely a link.

I can't see the business account from my personal account login.

 

[Newchodge]

Yesterday I was making a large payment from my personal account. It was flagged as potential fraud and my account was suspended. After a phone conversation I proved that it was a valid transaction and the account was re-instated.

Today I found the company's business account was suspended. After about 90 mins on the phone (most of it on hold) it seems that:

• When they suspended the personal account they also suspended the business account (in Ltd company name)..
• When they re-instated the personal account they did not re-instate the business account
• After 90 mins being transferred from one department to another I finally talked to someone who re-instated the business account in 10 seconds

My question - are they allowed to link the 2 accounts in this way?

Yes. I believe they can also transfer money from one account to the other if one is in default. It is not a good idea to have your main personal account in the same banking group as your main business account!

 

[Newchodge]

I use Santander, but I can access both personal and business accounts through the business account login.

Debit cards are all in my personal name so there's definitely a link.

I can't see the business account from my personal account login.

I'm with Starling and I can do that as well, on my phone. But not on my PC, where I have to log into the right account to access it.

 

[KM-Tiger]

My question - are they allowed to link the 2 accounts in this way?

Most likely yes - it will be in their T&Cs somewhere.

A solicitor once advised me to keep business and personal accounts in separate banks, to avoid this sort of problem. He kept his personal, business, and client accounts at three separate banks.

 

[eteb3]

If they fear fraud, they can do all manner of things without expressly mentioning in their Ts&Cs.

In more general terms, a banker has the common law right of “combination”, which means debiting any of your accounts to make up a shortfall on another. That includes business accounts in your sole name, or (with only trivial accounting magic) company accounts for which you’ve given a PG.