Small Business Bank Accounts Discussion Area

gmtechnick

mgt wrote: »

Alliance & Leicester Commercial bank (part of Santander group incl Abbey) has a good current account which is free while in credit within certain transaction limits. (We never pay except for bounced cheques). Also, you can pay in at any Post Office which is great if you live away from town, and has longer hours.

One thing to be aware of if you use internet banking though: Santander group has a miserly £250/day faster payment limit against an industry limit of £10K (I keep emailing them but just get standard reply). Anything over this is by BACS (3 working days) and has to be drawn on cleared funds, so effectively it takes about 10 days from paying cheques in to money arriving in suppliers' accounts - always a factor when cashflow is tight.

I agree with the above, but would just like to say I consider the A&L system unworkable if you are trying to manage your balance closely. Cheques CANNOT be paid in over the counter anywhere. The Post Office or branch just put it in the internal snail mail to Bootle where they eventually decide to process it. Minimum 6 days, usually 8+. The online system doesnt update your transaction even if you use that system to do it, so you can never be sure the balance you see online is what you have available. Overall it is archaic and clumsy at best. BEWARE.

cottager

Our main business account is with Natwest, but a number of invoices are paid in cash and to save on cash-banking charges we also have an A&L business account purely to put this into (free within certain monthly limits as mgt says). Then a cheque from the A&L for an equal amount to bank at Natwest as normal. A small ongoing float is kept in the account.

The A&L isn't used for anything else. From what I've heard of others' experiences it wouldn't come close to what we're used to (lacking some basic requirements, much as gmtechnik outlines above) -- we haven't ever bothered even employing the online login details received when it was opened, and haven't needed to phone them either. But for the way we use it, it works very well: cash can be deposited at any PO, and there's a few pence interest for the short time it's there. Whether we're still able to use it unchanged and without problems once A&L integrates with Abbey/Santander systems later in 2010, we wait to see...

mkle

Hi this is good.

Also came across this site called british.co.uk.

There is a directory page on the site which lists all the main banks with links to bank accounts for small businesses

Hope this helps.

Mkle

Savvy_Sue

helloguys wrote: »

Just thinking if I end up with 2 identical debit cards I wont be able tell which is the personal one!

A bit late with this one, but some banks let you choose the design on your debit card (or used to!)

Plus I keep different cards and receipts in different places - my personal spends and cards in one part of my purse, and my business card and spends elsewhere. Works well for me until I can make the claim.

Although I do now have to run a 3rd place for dealing with my Dad's estate: that has a completely separate wallet!

nickj_2

does anyone know if you can deposit cheques for abbey at the post office
my nearest town only has barclays - who i'm with , natwest, llyods ,hsbc and halifax ,
my bank charges are about £25-30 per 1/4 , whilst this isn't a huge amount , i'm on a crusade to shave £1k off my running costs , i've just saved £300 off my public liabilty ins and i 'm in the process of changing accountants which should save me £400 .

if anyone's interested , my public liability insurance was 400 per year - as a limited co i have always been told that i require employers liability which bumps the cost up a considerable amount , however i found a company which told me that as it is only me and my wife i don't need it . i did query this ,as i was told by other co's that it was law and i got them to double check this and they said it was fine . the company i am now with was the only one who said this

hunnie

Hi,
We bank with A&L, which like Abbey, are also part of the Santander group.
We deposite cash and cheques at the post office which is very convenient and is free for us.

[Deleted User]

I am setting up as a sole trader doing online retail. My credit rating is bad (defaults but no CCJ's). I know I can use a basic personal account as I am a sole trader but I need one with a debit card and this is hard to come by. I am already have a basic account with co-operative as my own account. I owe money to HSBC and Natwest so am scared of offsetting if I get an account with them. I read about yorkshire bank that has a basic account with a debit card but they don't have a branch near to me. Can anyone help, by recommending me a suitable account?

Tricia_Mc

We are looking to open a basic business account for a ltd company, turnover <£80k, don't need to bank cash or need an overdraft or have bad credit history, just want to set up the account easily and quickly, make automated payments in and out, a few cheques, online banking, UK call centre for occasional queries...just like a basic well run current account in fact

I looked at reviewcentre http://www.reviewcentre.com/products294.html to compare business accounts, it made depressing reading because all the banks I have ever heard of basically got terrible reviews (1 star or less) for customer service (except Nationwide which doesn't offer basic banking services)

Abbey National is always recommended for its free business banking but my limited experience of it indicates that it offers terrible customer service (and may well be staffed by morons, or maybe that was just my mum's branch). Alliance and Leicester and the Co-op also seem to come in for particular criticism at the moment.

Are all banks really equally bad? Or are any of them OK if you steer clear of credit and overdrafts? I haven't yet found one which I haven't been heartily exhorted to avoid.

JohnBo_2

I opened an Abbey business account a number of years ago. I was a sole trader but my accountant advised me that it would be better to set up a limited company, which meant I would need a business account. I chose Abbey it was the only account I was able to find which was completely free, and it even paid interest. The only real downside was that it was, and still is, slower to clear cheques than most if not all other banks.
However a major downside has recently manifested itself. I paid a cheque (received in payment for work done for a good client) into the account which was due to clear on December 31, 2009, but on this date it showed up on the account as "returned cheque" and the amount was deducted from the account. My client then told me with some embarrassment that due to a careless mistake insufficient funds were left in the current account to pay it, and promised an immediate CHAPS payment.
I was happy with this outcome, but a few days later I received an e-mail from a supplier informing me that a monthly direct debit had been rejected. As there were still sufficient funds in the account, I telephoned Abbey business customer services to ask the reason for this. I was told the cheque and/or the fact that it bounced (which was not made clear) appeared to be an "unusual transaction" and that "for security reasons" a block had been put on the account. This meant that no transactions would be permitted on the account until the block is lifted, either in or out.
While I understand that all banks have to be concerned about security, that bank computers are programmed to flag apparent unusual transactions, and am pleased that they are, I can not understand why, in the circumstances explained above, a decision would be taken to put a complete block on the account. I was also appalled that I was not informed of the block, and only found out about it as a result of telephoning Abbey customer service after having been told that a direct debit had been declined.
I have not been permitted to speak to anyone in the department which took the decision to block the account, only to the call centre.
In spite of having given the bank more than ample information to satisfy them that there was no security risk whatsoever, the account remains blocked after almost two weeks, which is causing me considerable inconvenience.
Does any reader of this blog know:
i) what is the benefit for the bank - why are they doing this?
ii) Is there anything I can do to make them lift the block?
iii) if I invoice them for the time I have spent (several hours) what are my chances of succeeding, and how do I best go about it?
iv) would I be cutting off my nose to spite my face if I were to move to another bank? i.e. would any other bank be likely to behave in the same way in similar circumstances?
v) is there another free business bank account with which I could feel more confident?
Any comments on the above and/or any other potentially helpful comments would be much appreciated.

rashmipatel

Please dont go with rbs!!!!