just started in business, need an account

crisp

I have just become self employed. Can I run my business from my personal account?

Can anyone suggest a free banking account?

fengirl_2

You can, but you are better to separate out personal and busines transactions. First, is easier for you to produce your accounts from this, second, HMRC cannot ask to see private bank accounts if not used for business.

92HG

No yo cant run business through personal accounts. For the best deals in business banking Alliance and Lesciter. We are have an appointment to switch to them as currently with Hsbc who rip you off!

Horace

Lloyds TSB seem to be a good account - I use them for my small business (anyway its easier for me to use them because they have a branch just across the road)

gibbyni

Yes you can run it through a personal account aslong as you keep records of everything, but its best not to. We have used Abbeys free business banking account now for the last 5 years. You get a limit on chq deposits and chq withdrawls and imits on some other stuff but we have never passed the limits and never paid any monthly charges

fiorano

Ive recently set up an Abbey account. Much easier to keep my company money seperate from my personal money. Abbey accounts are free too.

Good luck

JonathanA

Many banks offer free business banking for the first year or eighteen months. You can run a business through your personal account but as others have said, it is best not to. You really need to shop around for business bank accounts, they all have different benefits and all charge slightly differently. We use HSBC and their tariff works for us (though we did nearly switch to Alliance and Leicester as their business banking offer is very good). But for us, we have a local branch that can make decisions and have a named contact who is very good. That counts for a lot!

See which bank you feel most comfortable with and try to work out which of the services they offer that you will need.

DazzaMc

I got a leaflet through the post from Alliance and Leicester the other day, and their offer looks excellent. You pay no charges for anything (bear in mind some charge 60-80p per cheque cashed etc..) and get 3.65% interest - provided you pay in £1000 per month. Which is not gonna happen for me in my 1st few months (I set my business up in january) but even if you don't earn that much in a month, you only pay £5 for the month - a lot of banks charge that and more as well as charging for cheques, direct debits, etc.. So it's a really good deal

DazzaMc

I've just looked at Abbey's - look even better

You don't have to pay in a certain amount a month, no charges whatsoever, and you get 6% interest. Only limit is 100 cheques but that is plenty for me

http://www.abbey-products.com/product/business-banking-time-lapse/

a11waysindebt

DazzaMc wrote: »

I've just looked at Abbey's - look even better

You don't have to pay in a certain amount a month, no charges whatsoever, and you get 6% interest. Only limit is 100 cheques but that is plenty for me

http://www.abbey-products.com/product/business-banking-time-lapse/[/quote]

I've been waiting for my paperwork to come back since August :mad: I've been told it should be open and ready by the middle of January.

DazzaMc

I got paperwork back in 2 days to sign and send back, sent it yesterday.