Top Small Biz Savings Accounts

stphnstevey wrote: »

I spoke to AIB a month ago over the phone and they said they were still open to new customers - did you try by phone?

I contacted them on Wednesday and they said

"I apologise for the delayed response.

Please note our products are no longer available to new customers.
If you can provide your phone number and contact details I will contact you to discuss any new revised products that may suit your business needs.

If you are an existing customer, I can send you the application pack via email or post.

Thank you



Kind regards
XXX
Business & Broker Support
Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Limited
10 Old Jewry
London EC2R 8DN"

wading_through_treacle wrote: »

Agreed - I'm happy to tie up money for a month or so, but what I really need is a deposit account that links seamlessly with the business's current account so that I can shuffle funds easily back and forth. I'm not after a wonderful interest rate - just better than the 0.4% (seriously) that we get on our current deposit account.

Natwest's Direct Reserve earns 1.10% gross (including a 1% bonus for 12 months) - no great shakes by any means, but better than 0.4%! However, how "seamless" it would be without having a business current a/c with them I don't know, or even if you could open one without having your business a/c there. Didn't arise with us as we bank with Natwest anyway, so we could have one.

http://www.natwest.com/business/products/savings/instant-access-accounts/direct-reserve-savings-account.ashx

We opened our DR last year and were expecting the bonus to drop off in about a month from now; but we 'flew a kite' and asked our manager a few weeks ago if there was any way it could be extended, and after checking with someone he said we should be getting a letter through before it expires offering an extension anyway, giving the impression this happened as a matter of course. Whether that's correct I've no idea... I'll believe it when I see it TBH as the terms when opened were certainly that it was only for 12 months and would then fall to the basic miserable 0.10% gross (up to £25k, and hardly any better above it - worse than your 0.4%!).

If so, we're stuck with it unless we could find a better replacement elsewhere (or unless we moved our business a/c too, which we don't really want to do). But like you, instant TF between accounts is a big attraction in our situation, overriding other considerations to a large degree. A notice account would be out of the question, and anywhere without Faster Payments outwards probably doubtful also (which a savings account held in isolation elsewhere probably wouldn't be able to do anyway).

If you have £30K+ available for deposit and make no withdrawal in the first 12 months, Santander's Business Reward Saver is currently offering 2% Gross/AER, which includes a variable rate bonus for the first 12 months of 1.00% Gross/AER. The rate drops to 1.84% Gross/AER (including bonus) if you make one withdrawal in the first 12 months. See the site for all terms & conditions.

I have just thought, perhaps the reason they don't pay decent interest on business savings accounts is that businesses tend to withdraw their money more quickly than individuals. Although an individual can obviously withdraw from an instant access savings account whenever they like, perhaps they tend to leave their money invested for long periods? In contrast, if businesses have surplus cash they will either use it for business purposes quite quickly (to pay corporation tax, or VAT, or another creditor, or to buy a fixed asset) or, if it is not needed for the business, it will be distributed to the shareholders.