Firearms/Shooting/RFD friendly banking

[Christel]

Who does Mik use?

I know who Mik uses and I have tried with a resounding no, for us it is a matter of finding a bank who will give a new company a business account.

[dromia]

Mebbe its just cos your foreign.

[Christel]

The transfer thing sounds a little unlikely - I make (very) regular payments by electronic transfer to the proof house who bank as "The Company of Gunmakers" and a number of other businesses with names including "Gun" - "******* *** & Gun Ltd" etc and they all still go through with ease.

I bank with Barclays and they know what I do (I am a full time RFD and Gunsmith) even though my own business account has no mention of Guns in the name. Barclays treat me very well, they have no problem providing me with an overdraft and finance as required (and usually try to provide it even when not required) and although I have a healthy turnover for a one-man (& apprentice) band I do not turn over millions each year. The only wobble I had with them was about three years ago when I applied to finance a vehicle (on my accountants advice - always been a "just write the cheque" sort of chap) and initially this was refused due to my "profession" - I pushed this and made a lot of fuss and in the end everything was straightened out and I received an apology. I too went down the "your treating my profession as unsavoury bla bla bla" route however in the end it was explained to me that every profession has a marker code next to it that banks use (and presumably other financial institutions) to gauge the risk of a loss associated with the profession. Quite simply if they feel there is a high risk of problems with a particular profession then they do not require the potential embarrassment and I was told that the banks and card companies had "substantial losses incurred by someone in the gun trade recently" no names were mentioned but I assumed the company name rhymed with "Bitts"....

Good point, so do we, make transfers to gun related names. Maybe it was a one off, one can hope.

I can see from what you are writing, that you have been trading for some time and that your business account name is not gun related.
Two points that instantly means you are ahead of us.

[Christel]

Mebbe its just cos your foreign.

:lol: :lol:

There are more Danes in London than Scots... tongueout

[dromia]

Just shows that the Scots are brighter than the Danes.

[Christel]

Just shows that the Scots are brighter than the Danes.

Touché

Having been there I am not even going to argue, hell hole springs to mind.

[Chapuis]

Just shows that the Scots are brighter than the Danes.

Touché

Having been there I am not even going to argue, hell hole springs to mind.

Have to agree with you there Christel, I am ashamed to admit that it is the capitol of our country.

[tackb]

I'd like to see a list of banks that won't deal with gun related business , and proof to the effect because me and I'm sure many others would consider moving there 'normal' business accounts in the light of this prejudice ?

[Christel]

I would like to add that we have never been rejected by a bank for a business account, the application has never been started because as soon as firearms are mentioned it is a non starter.

[RWSENG]

The transfer thing sounds a little unlikely - I make (very) regular payments by electronic transfer to the proof house who bank as "The Company of Gunmakers" and a number of other businesses with names including "Gun" - "******* *** & Gun Ltd" etc and they all still go through with ease.

I bank with Barclays and they know what I do (I am a full time RFD and Gunsmith) even though my own business account has no mention of Guns in the name. Barclays treat me very well, they have no problem providing me with an overdraft and finance as required (and usually try to provide it even when not required) and although I have a healthy turnover for a one-man (& apprentice) band I do not turn over millions each year. The only wobble I had with them was about three years ago when I applied to finance a vehicle (on my accountants advice - always been a "just write the cheque" sort of chap) and initially this was refused due to my "profession" - I pushed this and made a lot of fuss and in the end everything was straightened out and I received an apology. I too went down the "your treating my profession as unsavoury bla bla bla" route however in the end it was explained to me that every profession has a marker code next to it that banks use (and presumably other financial institutions) to gauge the risk of a loss associated with the profession. Quite simply if they feel there is a high risk of problems with a particular profession then they do not require the potential embarrassment and I was told that the banks and card companies had "substantial losses incurred by someone in the gun trade recently" no names were mentioned but I assumed the company name rhymed with "Bitts"....

Good point, so do we, make transfers to gun related names. Maybe it was a one off, one can hope.

I can see from what you are writing, that you have been trading for some time and that your business account name is not gun related.
Two points that instantly means you are ahead of us.

I am sure it is, otherwise there would bee a lot of screaming from the importers & suppliers who now mostly favour electronic payments and whose account names usually have "Guns" or "Arms" etc. in them.

Yes you are right in that my account name has no mention of guns just Engineering but a pal of mine has recently set up with "Ballistics" in his account name and another colleague set up at the end of last year with "Sporting" in his, both sell guns, nether have huge turnover due to their specialist nature. One banks with Barclays (like myself) and the other with Lloyds. I looked to change account providers after the issue I mentioned a few years ago and was offered accounts by Lloyds and HSBC with no problem, even when I told the managers what I did - Lloyds did mention that they would not be able to offer an overdraft due to the "code" attached to my business type but were more than happy to take my money and charge me for the privilege of having a business account just the same. I know from the two recent set-ups that I have already mentioned that nether could get an overdraft facility of business credit card agreed at this time (I expect it will be no problem with 12 months or so trading history under their belts) but the account itself was no problem.

Re your unfavourable response from your local Barclays - I would suggest writing to the manager to formally request them to service a business account for you and explain that you do not require business lending at this time. If he refuses that will be in writing and you can then take it higher up the chain as Barclays do serve many of my clients having just had a look though my payments list.

It would also be worth giving the GTA a shout - in the last but one magazine there was an article about banking for RFDs and a list of banks with whom the GTA had approached and had said they will offer accounts to RFDs quite happily (again, I remember Barclays being on the list) - after my issue I wrote to the GTA and had a fairly fluffy reply saying they were aware of the issues with banks arising from the insolvency of another high profile RFD and they are representing us all as best they can... B*****S I thought at the time but maybe they did...