Compare bad credit business accounts

July 2025

Need a new business bank account but worried about your bad credit history?

You can easily open a UK business bank account online with no credit check, in as little as 4 minutes. Compare your options below to find a business bank account that suits your needs.

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Don’t despair – it’s still possible to open a new business bank account with bad credit. Many small business owners in the UK are impacted by their bad credit history, but there’s no need to let bad credit prevent you from starting and running a prosperous business.

Negative credit scores can seriously affect your finances; it can make it difficult to apply for financing such as loans, mortgages or even bank accounts. But, even if your credit history includes bankruptcy or a County Court Judgement (CCJ), it is still possible to open a business bank account. Thankfully, there are several banks who don’t require a credit check in order for you to open an account with them.

How to open a business bank account with bad credit

In most cases, opening a business bank account is conditional to a credit check. This is the first hurdle you may fail at when looking to open a business bank account.

The bank will run a search on your credit history and establish your credit worthiness. However, there are a number of business bank accounts that do not run credit checks, therefore giving customers the ability to get up and running with a new account incredibly fast (in as little as 4 minutes, so almost instantly!). Anna, Tide, Cashplus, CardOneMoney, as well as Fair Everywhere all allow customers to set up business bank accounts without running a credit check. If you’re looking for ways to compare them, you can utilise our comparison table to decide which account is the right fit for you.

Business accounts that offer no credit checks often offer very similar services to regular business accounts. Notable differences are usually that they will not offer an overdraft. However, you should expect to still receive the following services:

Pay invoices
Access online and app banking
Online accounting tools
Direct Debits and standing orders
Make and receive payments
ATM withdrawals
Debit card
Bank transfers

Challenger banks are more likely to take on customers with a bad credit score

Challenger banks have begun to revolutionise business banking similar to how we have seen Revolut and Monzo gather millions of personal banking customers. Challenger banks have risen since the financial crisis to offer an alternative, often to SMEs who are looking for more flexible and digital solutions to perform their day to day banking needs.

Challenger banks are more likely to offer innovative solutions and integrations into other services you might use as a business owner such as accounting software.

Another key aspect challenger banks have focused on for customers is speed to open an account. It is a lot quicker to open an account on average with a challenger bank over a traditional bank as the system tends to be streamlined and can be done in most cases without needing to interact with a human. This can be a huge win for business owners who are seriously time stretched and need to get accounts open quickly.

How can I improve my credit score?

If you still want to bank with a traditional bank, then there are a number of ways that you can start to get your credit score moving in the right direction.

To get started, you may want to get a credit report and get to know your score. Read our in-depth business credit scores guide and get your free business credit health check.

Here are a number of ways you can affect it in a positive way:

Check for mistakes on your file. Even having just a slightly wrong address can affect your score. So make sure you check all the details and report any incorrect information straight away.
Pay your bills on time. Paying a phone landline or internet contract on time is a great way to prove to lenders that you can manage your finances.
Keep your credit utilisation low. Your credit utilisation is how much of your available credit limit you use. For example, if you have a credit limit of £2,000 and you’ve used £1,000 of that, your credit utilisation is 50%, so you’re using half of your credit limit. Usually, using less of your available credit will be seen positively by lenders, and will increase your credit score. If possible, try to keep your credit utilisation at 25% or lower.
High levels of existing debt. Ideally, you should pay off any outstanding debt before applying for new credit. This is because banks, building societies and credit card companies might be hesitant about lending you more if you already have a lot of debt.
Register on the electoral roll. If your name’s not on there, you’ll find it much harder to get credit. Go to the GOV.UK website to find out how register to vote online or by post.

How to compare business current accounts for customers with bad credit

At Swoop, we offer an independent business bank comparison table so you can easily compare which bad credit business current account will work for you. You can compare business accounts on Swoop across monthly fees, overdrafts, speed of opening, invoicing, mobile app, free banking, foreign exchange and more.

Best UK business bank for customer service – 2024 survey

In August 2024 the BVA BDRC published the findings from its Business Banking Service Quality survey. Undertaken as part of a regulatory requirement and published at the request of the providers and the Competition and Markets Authority, the study surveyed 18,000 SME bank account customers between July 2023 and June 2024.

Each customer was asked how likely they would be to recommend to other SMEs –

Their provider?
Their provider’s online and mobile bank services?
Services in-branch and in business centres?
Their provider’s SME overdraft and loan services?
Their provider’s relationship/account management services?

The results show the proportion of customers of each provider, among those who took part in the survey, who said they were ‘extremely likely’ or ‘very likely’ to recommend each service. A detailed breakdown for each category can be seen in the table below.

Source: BVA BDRC

Ranking	Provider	Score
1	Monzo	85%
2	Starling Bank	83%
3	Tide	75%
3	Handelsbanken	75%
5	Zempler Bank	69%
6	Metro Bank	65%
7	Lloyds Bank	61%
7	Santander	61%
9	NatWest	57%
10	Money	56%
11	Bank of Scotland	55%
11	TSB	55%
13	Royal Bank of Scotland	53%
14	Barclays	50%
14	The Co-operative Bank	50%
16	HSBC UK	48%

Ranking	Provider	Score
1	Monzo	88%
2	Starling Bank	87%
3	Tide	78%
4	Zempler Bank	76%
5	Lloyds Bank	70%
6	NatWest	68%
6	Metro Bank	68%
8	Royal Bank of Scotland of Scotland	67%
8	Bank of Scotland	67%
10	Santander	64%
11	Barclays	63%
12	TSB	61%
12	Money	61%
14	HSBC UK	59%
15	Handelsbanken	56%
16	The Co-operative Bank	39%

Ranking	Provider	Score
1	Handelsbanken	68%
2	Zempler Bank	64%
3	Lloyds Bank	58%
4	HSBC UK	56%
5	NatWest	55%
5	Metro Bank	55%
7	Money	54%
7	Santander	54%
9	Royal Bank of Scotland	52%
10	Bank of Scotland	48%
11	Barclays	46%
12	TSB	45%
	*The ranking does not include any brands where the eligible sample size is less than 100 (Starling Bank, tide and TSB are excluded from this table)

Ranking	Provider	Score
1	Handelsbanken	84%
2	Monzo	81%
3	Starling Bank	75%
4	Tide	67%
5	Metro Bank	65%
5	Zempler Bank	65%
7	Lloyds Bank	60%
8	NetWest	56%
9	Bank of Scotland	55%
10	Money	54%
11	Royal Bank of Scotland	52%
11	Santander	52%
13	TSB	51%
14	The Co-operative bank	49%
14	HSBC UK	49%
16	Barclays	47%

Ranking	Provider	Score
1	Metro Bank	72%
2	Handelsbanken	70%
3	Lloyds Bank	59%
4	Bank of Scotland	54%
5	Santander	51%
6	The Co-operative Bank	50%
7	Money	49%
7	TSB	49%
7	Royal Bank of Scotland	49%
10	NatWest	48%
11	Barclays	41%
12	HSBC UK	38%
	*Monzo, Starling Bank and tide are excluded from this measure as do not operate a branch network

Written by

Rachel Wait

Rachel has been writing about finance and consumer affairs for over a decade, helping people to get to grips with their finances and cut through the jargon. She's written for a range of websites and national newspapers including MoneySuperMarket, Money to the Masses, Forbes UK, and Mail on Sunday. Rachel has covered almost every financial topic, from car insurance and credit cards, to business bank accounts and mortgages.

Swoop promise

At Swoop we want to make it easy for SMEs to understand the sometimes overwhelming world of business finance and insurance. Our goal is simple – to distill complex topics, unravel jargon, offer transparent and impartial information, and empower businesses to make smart financial decisions with confidence.

Find out more about Swoop’s editorial principles by reading our editorial policy.

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Compare bad credit business accounts

Business Banking Service Quality Great Britain

60%

Business Banking Service Quality Great Britain

60%

How to open a business bank account with bad credit

Challenger banks are more likely to take on customers with a bad credit score

How can I improve my credit score?

How to compare business current accounts for customers with bad credit

Best UK business bank for customer service – 2024 survey

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Business Banking Service  Quality Great Britain

Business Banking Service  Quality Great Britain