SB: Business Bank Accounts

stphnstevey

Abbey Reserve Account is paying the same as their Current Account now (depending on how much you have in it) - about 1.5%!!

yebaws

stphnstevey wrote: »

Abbey Reserve Account is paying the same as their Current Account now (depending on how much you have in it) - about 1.5%!!

lol. my Abbey current account is paying 0.1%interest at the moment on balances up to 10K!

goldfinger1

I saw this question and felt compelled to answer, as I have just recently taken the plunge and started up in business. I looked around the internet for a Business bank, and the bank that seemed to tick all the boxes was Abbey. I had a personal account with them for a number of years (I closed it after the way I was treated) and had no problems. My business partner and I completed the forms and had all our identification assembled. we decided that in order to speed up the process ( ho-ho) we would go into my branch in Aberdeen in person and give them the documentation and they could fax it away. This was in december 2008. We are still waiting for our company cheque book, and it was only by constant harassment of phoning and viisting the branch that we managed to get an account number. We have had numerous phone calls to the Business Banking Centre in Glasgow, numerous calls to somewhere in England ( Liverpool springs to mind) we have had phone calls unreturned, and a general lack iof interest. I have complained on their website and they say it is being looked into. As a result of their delays we have had to turn away business. I personally feel that if George Romero wanted to film a new 'Zombies Dawn of the Dead' movie, he could do no worse than recruit the Abbey staff. In answer to the original question...ummm ...I wouldn't go for Abbey, but hey..others have had better experiences than me, so you pays your money and makes your choice. Don't say I didn't warn you!

stphnstevey

Thought I would take a look at Cater Allen rates of interest as Abbey has gone down to about 0.10%

Have a look yourself if you want a laugh (select Corporate Account from the drop down menu)

http://www.caterallen.co.uk/InterestRates/Default.aspx?pid=10

Corporate Account (£ GBP ) - Interest Rates (% p.a.)
Balance
Gross % p.a.*
AER%**
£ 100000 +
0.000
0.00
£ 25000 +
0.000
0.00
£ 10000 +
0.000
0.00
£ 5000 +
0.000
0.00
Rates as at 09 January 2009
Interest Paid Quarterly No interest paid on balances below £10,000

purplelavender

Goldfinger - we had similar problem with Abbey when we started up 2 years ago so it would seem they have not improved. We waited months for cheque books, kept calling and asking for them and requesting on line. We only got a result when we raised a formal complaint. However they have continued to cause us grief. In October I requested more cheque books on line and again in November and only got sent when I called them another month later. But the latest is the on line account. For almost 3 months now I have not been able to view our latest transactions. So when I call and they ask their security questions inc give details of latest transactions Numerous phone calls and nothing ever gets done. Again I have raised complaint and I am still waiting ...............

Bristol_Dancer

stphnstevey wrote: »

Sorry, Sarah, you can.

There is no legal reason to have a business bank account (even for Ltd's). However, some companies might not deal with you if you don't (ie contractors often have this issue). Also, it's alot eaisier to keep business spending seperate from personal spending.

I'm just setting up my own business. I'm planning on being a Sole Trader (not Ltd) as it's only little old me. I can't see my income being huge (especially to begin with), so I'd want to save as much money as possible, and not have to fork out for banking charges.
I understand I don't legally have to have a business account, but what would be the pros and cons of each?
I'll mostly be dealing in cash & cheques, and I'd like to take (for example) Paypal payments.

Thanks in advance!

malc_b

The problem with not having a business bank account is how do you pay in cheques to Bristol Dancer say rather than Mr Foxtrot. As long as you are trading as a sole trader then you can talk to your bank about accepting cheques for Bristol Dancer, you'll be Mr Foxtrot trading as Bristol Dancer. But the bank is likely then to say, ahh you need our business account. Catch 22. For cash it isn't a problem although even then the bank will ask why you have so much cash to deposit.

I'd suggest looking at the free banking options. You can get free banking for all except cash deposits (direct banking not high street). Try the co-op. Pay-pal is separate. You have a pay-pal account and then when you get a pay-pal payment, or say have 100 in the pay-pal account then you move it to your bank account so you can get at it.

weeclick

goldfinger1 wrote: »

I saw this question and felt compelled to answer, as I have just recently taken the plunge and started up in business. I looked around the internet for a Business bank, and the bank that seemed to tick all the boxes was Abbey. I had a personal account with them for a number of years (I closed it after the way I was treated) and had no problems. My business partner and I completed the forms and had all our identification assembled. we decided that in order to speed up the process ( ho-ho) we would go into my branch in Aberdeen in person and give them the documentation and they could fax it away. This was in december 2008. We are still waiting for our company cheque book, and it was only by constant harassment of phoning and viisting the branch that we managed to get an account number. We have had numerous phone calls to the Business Banking Centre in Glasgow, numerous calls to somewhere in England ( Liverpool springs to mind) we have had phone calls unreturned, and a general lack iof interest. I have complained on their website and they say it is being looked into. As a result of their delays we have had to turn away business. I personally feel that if George Romero wanted to film a new 'Zombies Dawn of the Dead' movie, he could do no worse than recruit the Abbey staff. In answer to the original question...ummm ...I wouldn't go for Abbey, but hey..others have had better experiences than me, so you pays your money and makes your choice. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Felt the need to reply to this - and this is my first post so excuse me if Im a little heated Im not normally!

Im 19 yrs old and just set up a new business in Jan this year, I foolishly went into Abbey National purely because I had a personal account with them with no problems and friendly branch staff.

I had a meeting with the business account branch manager in November and set up the basics for the account and even put £50 there and then to get the ball rolling.

By february (3 months after I had applied for the account) I was getting loads of cheques and cash deposits but nowhere to put them!! Abbey were s**t and didn't sort a thing out! I must have phoned the call centre in Glasgow twice a day for about 2 weeks before finally going into the branch and told them they either put my cheques in my account or I go elsewhere.

Of course I got the usual rubbish "we cant touch business accounts" and this was all because Abbey were not able to even send a simple pin number out. It already took 3 months to receive my cards and paying in book! It took them a further 4 weeks to send this pin number and that was only thanks to the lovely business account manager in my local branch as she harrased the call centre everyday until it was done.

Great I thought as I went to put my first cheque in - typed in the pin number, it was wrong......phoned up Abbey and would ya believe it.....they cancelled my newly received pin number and resent a new one - I ask why - they couldnt answer other than there was a request on the system......because so many requests had come through.

Sorry for being so long - if you cant be bothered reading the above the basic answer is if you actually plan on making money from your business then stay away from Abbey - the only thing they are good for is setting you up for a perfect mugging target with all that cash hanging around!

claudia999

Dont know what use it is to anyone, but I tried Barclays who would not touch new businesses and finally went to Lloyds who were pretty good and offered 18 months free banking. Switched recently to HSBC and they have been great but like most banks not keen to lend any money out!

cue

We're with the RBS - stay clear of them. Been looking into changing and I see the Co-op do free business banking, just not sure how good their online management is...