This is episode three of my new series of videos in which you can watch one of several different bank bosses squirm and try and talk themselves out of making themselves and their respective banks look bad when being questioned by MP’s about the way they handled Bounce Back Loans.
In the one below the boss of Starling Bank, Anne Boden responds to a question, that question being whether it is true that her bank has a high decline rate as uncovered by Martin Lewis in a poll he ran online.
To understand the context of that question, way back in the early weeks of the Bounce Back Loan Scheme Starling Bank declined around 3000 people late one Friday evening with a mass cull type of email, which did that evening, and for weeks afterwards, cause untold stress and anger from those who received that email telling them they would not be getting a BBL from Starling.
Now, Martin Lewis did run a poll, in fact I sent many people who followed me on Twitter over to that poll and retweeted it to ensure plenty of people saw it and voted.
It would appear that Anne is blaming Martin for going on TV and saying her bank would be a good one for those wanting a Bounce Back Loan to apply with, and she says after he did many people then did just that, she indicates in her reply in the video below many people who watched that TV show applied for an account then a Bounce Back Loan who did not actually have a business, and as such were fraudsters.
Martin has been a great supporter of those excluded from Government help and to this day continues to be such, and what she said does not ring 100% true.
How can I say that, well a great many of the people I have been in contact with (and there are lots) who were declined a Bounce Back Loan by Starling Bank have, in the following months since being declined, gone on to secure a BBL for their business with other banks, and as such they do indeed have a business.
In fact, Starling does have a list of businesses they will not touch with a barge-pole so to speak and will not give an account to never mind a BBL to, based purely on their business marketplace, such as those who sell cars.
As for people “complaining on Social Media” which she says many of those declined by her bank did, well I am glad they did, as it helped them find out they were not alone that dark and cold Friday evening when they were declined a BBL by Starling, and a great number of them managed to also find on Social Media, information as to just which banks at the time they could apply for a BBL from and many did as I say go on to get one.
She does also seem rattled if not annoyed that Sole Traders can use their BBLs to pay themselves a wage if needed. Either way Martin reported Starling Bank to the Regulator.
Anyway, watch the video and make up your own mind: