I've been freelancing through an agency for years and getting paid varying amounts monthly. Now I've gone off on my own and started a self-proprietorship so I can have all my income coming in to one account with the plan that I'll then set up a standing order to pay myself a set monthly wage into another account which I've opened at Standard Chartered. In the past I've had trouble getting credit card, mortgage etc because my income fluctuates a lot and is coming from many sources so I'm hoping this will streamline my tax return and straighten out the view of my income from the banks point of view. I'm confused though if I should really go to the effort and expense of opening an SME account under the business name or if I should continue to use my personal HSBC account in my own name where all my clients currently deposit their payments and use that as my defacto business account-as I read the the self-proprietorship business the business name and personal name are considered the same entity? If I forgo the SME account and just pay myself from one personal account to another is that going to cause me problems down the line with applications for credit cards/mortgages/loans etc?

Thanks for any advice or it experience.