Very short term bank accounts

[Gordan]

Hi all!

Just a quick one, I have a client who wants to make online payments to a business, except the payments being made need to come from a different bank account, remain open for a short interval, receive a payment and then the account would be useless from that point onwards.

So my questions is, are there any services or solutions that allow my client to create a temporary bank account, capable of making online payments for a short time, and then a way of doing this routinely and without having 100s of unneeded bank accounts open.

Amounts for transactions wont be large, ranging from 1GBP - 15GBP and the accounts would need to remain open for around 48 hours each.

Any and all advice is really appreciated, I'm a bit stumped for this one as it seems making a account that's able to make online payments and is very temporary is a difficult mixture.

Thanks,
Gordan SB

 

[Ozzy]

Hi @Gordan
I would expect this to be difficult for good reason, and if it was easy to do I would be suspicious of any bank that provided such a service. Creating temporary bank accounts for businesses doesn't sound like any normal business operation I'm familiar with.
We work very closely with pretty much every UK banking organisation and I've been close to the banking sector for quite a few years, and in all that time never come across and cannot think of any provider who would be able to help with this requirement.

 

[Newchodge]

I can't think of any legitimate reason for doing this.

 

[fisicx]

I doubt any bank will let you set up a business account only to close it 48 hours later. Especially as the cost of doing so will be greater than the £1 transaction.

Everything about this suggestions seems fraudulent.

 

[DontAsk]

I think you need to explain why you think this is necessary. It just sounds dodgy.

 

[gpietersz]

If it is legitimate there will almost certainly be a better way to do it so explain why.

If it is not legitimate, you probably cannot do it, and no one here is going to want to help you.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

... I have a client who wants to make online payments to a business, except the payments being made need to come from a different bank account, remain open for a short interval, receive a payment and then the account would be useless from that point onwards.

...

That's really unusual.

If you can explain why maybe we can offer an alternative option.

 

[WaveJumper]

Well I think as above we need a (proper) reason as to why this would be necessary.

 

[Gordan]

Hi @Gordan
I would expect this to be difficult for good reason, and if it was easy to do I would be suspicious of any bank that provided such a service. Creating temporary bank accounts for businesses doesn't sound like any normal business operation I'm familiar with.
We work very closely with pretty much every UK banking organisation and I've been close to the banking sector for quite a few years, and in all that time never come across and cannot think of any provider who would be able to help with this requirement.

Hi Ozzy,

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly, many people have asked for clarification on what we need and the reasons behind it.

So our client is working on a project that involves testing online payment systems and requires a method to conduct transactions from an assortment of accounts for a short duration. The amounts involved are relatively small, ranging from 1GBP to 15GBP as that is the estimated transaction amounts that would happen in those 48 hours, The temporary accounts wont be needed after testing, hence the short term need for them.

I'm not very technical myself so I'm sure there are proper ways to test and troubleshoot payments etc, I just thought I'd ping you all a message to see if there was anything you could think of as someone had recommended I do.

Thanks,
Gordan

 

[fisicx]

Most online payment systems have developer accounts you use to test the system. No need to make any actual payments.

 

[Gordan]

I can't think of any legitimate reason for doing this.

Thank you kindly for your input.

 

[Gordan]

I doubt any bank will let you set up a business account only to close it 48 hours later. Especially as the cost of doing so will be greater than the £1 transaction.

Everything about this suggestions seems fraudulent.

Sorry I may have used the wrong vernacular, the accounts don't need to be business accounts, they don't need to be registered or anything like that, the payments would be made to a business account however the temporary accounts don't need anything in particular except they differ from each other.

I also added further clarification above if that helps.

Thanks,
Gordan

 

[Newchodge]

Sorry I may have used the wrong vernacular, the accounts don't need to be business accounts, they don't need to be registered or anything like that, the payments would be made to a business account however the temporary accounts don't need anything in particular except they differ from each other.

I also added further clarification above if that helps.

Thanks,
Gordan

No bank will set up numerous temporary bank accounts for anyone.

 

[Gordan]

No bank will set up numerous temporary bank accounts for anyone.

You know, for a moderator on a forum where people ask for help, your answers are both lacking in information and any real help. But thanks for the input.

 

[Ozzy]

The temporary accounts wont be needed after testing, hence the short term need for them.

In that case this is what your client needs.

Most online payment systems have developer accounts you use to test the system. No need to make any actual payments.

These can be utilised through the Open Banking network, plus many bank payment networks and systems have test platforms. They just need to register as a developer on the Open Banking network (we are) and then they can run hundreds and thousands of test payments from hundreds of different bank accounts.

 

[Ozzy]

You know, for a moderator on a forum where people ask for help, your answers are both lacking in information and any real help. But thanks for the input.

To be fair, your original question lacked context and without that context of needing to test a payments system it oozed fraudulent activity. It’s why my first reply was as it was.

 

[Gordan]

To be fair, your original question lacked context and without that context of needing to test a payments system it oozed fraudulent activity. It’s why my first reply was as it was.

I suppose, I meant the comments by @Newchodge as they really didn't have anything to them, unlike yours, asking for further info.

In that case this is what your client needs.

These can be utilised through the Open Banking network, plus many bank payment networks and systems have test platforms. They just need to register as a developer on the Open Banking network (we are) and then they can run hundreds and thousands of test payments from hundreds of different bank accounts.

Great, I'll pass this along and hopefully its of help, Thanks.

 

[DontAsk]

your answers are both lacking in information

So, like your original question?

 

[Mark T Jones]

To add to the above

It costs banks a lot of money in compliance to open and maintain accounts - which is why they aren't keen to open business accounts on a whim.

No bank would ever knowingly open an account fora single transaction

 

[Gordan]

So, like your original question?

Thanks for that...

 

[AlanJ1]

No bank would ever knowingly open an account fora single transaction

Going to agree with this. But worth phoning some smaller ones who may do it for a fee (expect it would be high).