SB: Business Bank Accounts

kiltrunner

Sue, and others, thanks as ever for the advice .Will look into the best local options. Cheers -

Kiltrunner

scouselad1974

Hi Everyone

I am a sole trader and currently in the process of setting up a DMP for my personal unsecured debts, One of my debts is an overdraft with A&L which i'm told has be included in the DMP.

My business account is with Abbey, now with what I have read regarding off setting I am having to close the Abbey account and move it elsewhere just in case A&L decide to take funds from my business account with Abbey to pay off my overdraft.

The problem being trying to open another business bank account when you are about to go down the DMP route.

I know that you can open up basic personal accounts but is there such a thing as a basic business account, I am currently awaiting the outcome of my HSBC application and if that fails I do have a Natwest Personal Account that I could use for my business, but obviousley I will no longer be able to accept cheques unless they are made payable to myself. Can a cheque made payable to ****TA/**** be cashed in a personal account or will it be refused.

Thanks in advance

SunnyDisposition_3

Hello
This is my first post so sorry if I'm a little green. I currently have a Barclays bus a/c. It costs me about £20 - £25 a quarter in charges. (I havr a fairly low volume of transactions.) Due to a back problem I have stopped (or suspended until I can get someone to replace myself) my current business.

I have been working on a new project and think I am about to start trading, I do not know wherther to get a new a/c (reading through the posts no one great stands out) or whether to do a Change of name on my Barclays a/c. I know Barclays isn't the cheapest but my personal a/c is with them so I can instantly move money around etc. again I don't expect to have ahigh volume of transactions. Paying in chq, maybe paypal and then xfr money to my personal. I have no staff and I make purchases using c/card.

Any thoughts / opinions / reccommendations please

malc_b

SunnyDisposition wrote: »

This is my first post so sorry if I'm a little green. I currently have a Barclays bus a/c. It costs me about £20 - £25 a quarter in charges. (I have a fairly low volume of transactions.)

Ouch! Interest wise the instant transfer between business and home account is certainly not worth the monthly charges. Do you pay in cash or is it transfers and/or cheques? Paying in cash tends to be more expensive. I'm happy with co-op but this is a postal (for cheques) / online account. They do job and save me £25 off my FSB membership (FSB gives me tax/law advice line, etc.). Co-op do also handle cash but I don't know how that would work out cost wise. All the things I do, transfers, paying in cheques cost me nothing. Overall I'm happy with them and woudl recommend them. Of course I'd like them to give me lots of interest and have faster payments but you can't have everything and I certainly think they are the best of the bunch.

If you really want instant business home transfers then you could look at this another way. What business accounts are there where the bank also has a good current account? Then think about moving both business and home account. Moving home accounts is mostly automated these days. And with faster payments you could expand that to include any business/home account pair that has faster payments. Faster payments is just as quick as internal transfers so you could have instant business home transfers between different banks.

QueensferryRoss

scouselad1974 wrote: »

Hi Everyone

I am a sole trader and currently in the process of setting up a DMP for my personal unsecured debts, One of my debts is an overdraft with A&L which i'm told has be included in the DMP.

My business account is with Abbey, now with what I have read regarding off setting I am having to close the Abbey account and move it elsewhere just in case A&L decide to take funds from my business account with Abbey to pay off my overdraft.

The problem being trying to open another business bank account when you are about to go down the DMP route.

I know that you can open up basic personal accounts but is there such a thing as a basic business account, I am currently awaiting the outcome of my HSBC application and if that fails I do have a Natwest Personal Account that I could use for my business, but obviousley I will no longer be able to accept cheques unless they are made payable to myself. Can a cheque made payable to ****TA/**** be cashed in a personal account or will it be refused.

Thanks in advance

You can only pay cheques into a bank account of the same name. Anything else would be naughty under the Cheques Act '92 :A

techmax76

If you're just starting a small business its better to open an account in a rural bank or invest your income in the credit cooperative bank In Rural banks the maintaining balance is not as high as those of commercial banks. Whatever you prefer be sure to look for the bank that offers higher interest rates.

boristbear

My wife and I have a small business turning over about £2k a month, we are always in credit with the bank, never incurring any fees. We have an Alliance & Leicester free business current account. Last week we received a letter from A&L saying our account will be changed to a Corporate Reward Current Account. This new account will charge us £25 a month as we do not put £50k in and there will also be fees for every transaction and no interest at all paid. It would cost us £40-50 a month in charges. Has anyone else got this? Can they just do this legally? Do you think they have made some error? I have written to them telling them I will close the account if they don't re-consider and if they do do this I will write to the FSA as I think it is outrageous but what else should I do. I wouldn't be surprised if they just ignore my letter so should I just go ahead and open an account somewhere else? If I don't these charge will apply from 1st August. Please let me know your thoughts.

scouselad1974

Hi

Now may be a good time to move accounts especially as Alliance and Leicester are now owned by Santander,I've recently switched to HSBC and so far so good, I got 18 months free banking and then I switch to their Business Direct Account which if used within certian limits will not incur any charges.

Sillybrit

grumpyoldgit wrote: »

We are just about to change from Co-Op Business to Abbey as the charges are quite high if you drop below the minimum balance and DON'T YOU DARE go into overdraft.

Pity their ethics don't run to helping small business in the UK :rolleyes:

GoG

I have never been treated as badly by a bank as I have been by Smile. I went £30 o/d and they went nuts, debt collectors on the phone within a few days, and it was my first mistake! They are very uncooperative and pretty evil, basically. I have reported them to the Info Commissioner as they won't reply to my request for charge list. It's a shame, because I really like their ethical stance, but will now happily gouge them for everything I possibly can.

stphnstevey

Any good business savings accounts?

I'm in my first year and just realised, although I need to pay my Corp Tax I think 9 months after year end, I obviously can hold onto it for 9 months interest. And if I plan ahead, I could maybe lock away some money for a year with next years Corp Tax.

However, pittiful interest rates at the mo.