Two UK providers open business accounts with no credit check at all: Zempler Bank, which is free monthly and FSCS-protected, and Card One Money, which charges £55 to apply and at least £12.50 a month. Both decide on identity and residency instead of credit history, so a CCJ, a default or a brand-new company with no record does not stop the application. Zempler is the better product for almost everyone; Card One Money is the fallback. Here is the comparison, and the route back to normal credit afterwards.
At a glance · figures checked 4 July 2026
Account
Monthly fee
Best for
Cash deposits
Where it meters
Zempler Bank
Business Go free
A real bank, no credit check
Post Office, 0.55% (min £4)
3 payments/mo, then 35p
Card One Money
£12.50/month
Fast decisions, thin files
Post Office and bank giro
£12.50/mo minimum
The two genuine options
01
Zempler Bank
Business Go free
The default: no credit check, and still a licensed bank
Limits
3 payments/mo, then 35p
Invoicing
Digital invoice creation included
Cash
Post Office, 0.55% (min £4)
Zempler, formerly Cashplus, has spent two decades serving exactly this situation. No credit check, most accounts open the same day, and because Zempler holds a full banking licence your deposits carry FSCS protection up to £120,000, which nothing else in the no-credit-check niche offers. Business Go is free monthly with 3 free outbound transactions, then 35p each; the £9 Extra plan adds CreditBuilder, covered below.
Licensed UK bank (formerly Cashplus). Eligible deposits protected up to £120,000 by the FSCS. Deposit cash at the Post Office for 0.55% of the amount, minimum £4. ATM withdrawals cost £2.
Card One Money makes the same no-credit-check promise and decides within hours, but the pricing is from a different era: £55 to apply, then a minimum of £12.50 a month. It is e-money, so funds are safeguarded rather than FSCS-protected. Pick it if Zempler cannot take you or you want a second account for redundancy; otherwise the £205 or so in first-year fees buys nothing Zempler does not do free.
E-money account. Funds are safeguarded, not FSCS-protected. Accepts cash over Post Office counters and by bank giro credit.
Starling, Monzo, Tide and ANNA all run identity, fraud and anti-money-laundering checks at signup, and may consult credit data along the way. In practice plenty of people with imperfect files get accepted, but none of those providers promises a no-credit-check application, so this page does not pretend they do. If your file is merely thin rather than damaged, it costs nothing to try a free mainstream account first and keep Zempler as the certain fallback.
The rebuild route: twelve months to a normal file
A no-credit-check account solves today; CreditBuilder solves next year. On Zempler's Business Extra plan at £9 a month, CreditBuilder reports your payments to the credit reference agencies for twelve months at 0% interest, total cost £108, building a positive business file where there was none. On-time history there typically unlocks Zempler's own business credit card by invitation (29.9% representative APR, no annual fee) and improves your standing with every other lender who looks. It is the cheapest structured rehabilitation available to a UK small business.
What no credit check does not mean
It does not mean no checks. Both providers verify who you are, where you live and whether your business is lawful, and both will decline applications that fail those tests. It also does not mean credit: neither account lends you money, which is precisely why they can skip the credit assessment. If what you actually need is borrowing despite bad credit, that is a different and harder problem, and the honest first step is still the rebuild route above.
Questions people actually ask
Which UK business accounts have no credit check?
Zempler Bank and Card One Money both open business accounts with identity and residency checks only, no credit check. Zempler is free monthly and FSCS-protected; Card One Money charges £55 to apply and a minimum £12.50 a month.
Can I get a business account with a CCJ or after bankruptcy?
Yes. Zempler and Card One Money decide without looking at your credit history, so CCJs, defaults or a discharged bankruptcy do not block the application. You still need to pass identity and anti-money-laundering checks.
Do Starling, Monzo or Tide credit check business applications?
They run identity, fraud and anti-money-laundering checks, and may look at credit data as part of that. None of them publishes a no-credit-check promise, which is why they are not on this page's shortlist. Zempler and Card One Money state it outright.
Will opening a business account without a credit check hurt my personal score?
No. No hard search is run at application, so there is nothing to appear on your file. The account itself is not credit, so there is nothing to miss payments on either.
How do I rebuild business credit once the account is open?
Zempler's CreditBuilder, on its £9 Business Extra plan, reports twelve months of on-time payments to the credit reference agencies at 0% interest. After that year, an invitation to its business credit card often follows, which extends the repair.
Figures checked 4 July 2026; confirm details with the provider before applying. We may earn a commission through links on this page.