Small Business Bank Accounts Discussion Area

Savvy_Sue

I think Coop do still offer free biz banking for FSB members, however whether they are the best right now may be a moot point.

You might get away with using a personal account, however as has been stated before you'll almost certainly find it is against the terms and conditions to do so. Some people will say so what, what's the worst thing that could happen if they notice, well, they could close and freeze your account, although perhaps more likely they will change it to a biz a/c and retrospectively charge you for it being a biz a/c.

Personally, I'd find a convenient bank for paying in cash and cheques and find out what their t&c for a biz account would be: will it work for you?

Note that if it's mostly cheques, you could probably get by with an a/c offering online only, and not pay the cash in. However you MUST keep complete and accurate records of the cash: write it down, every time, give receipts etc.

CaptBigglesworth

Have you tried RBS? They have a free online account which I find very useful for my small Ltd Co. There's an app for the iPhone (and presumably Android etc) which has limited functionality - you can see balances, statements, transfer between your own business accounts, or make payments to existing payees. If you want to make a payment to a new person, you have to do it via your computer on-line.
It might suit you to give your secondary user the "app" access, but not the computer/on-line access - that way you can control the people the secondary user can pay to. Obviously, the app's password is different to the on-line password so the secondary use doesn't have access to that.

scotbird

HI
I have had my first business account with HSBC for 18 months. Now the charges have kicked in and I am looking to change to get no charges again. I have been an RBS customer for 20 years, good credit etc. However when I applied for their digital business account yesterday I was turned down with no explanation. I was told that the decision was based on "the information they hold on me" and as I have 3 current accounts, all with healthy balances and have not dipped into an over draught for years I cannot imagine why I so categorically "failed to meet criteria". I am so offended and angry... and baffled. There seems to be no comeback either, no way of finding out what on earth made me such a bad idea to them. My business account for what its worth (not that they know as they didn't ask about it) is always in credit also.
Has anyone else had this issue or know what it might be? I am so annoyed I reckon I will have to close down all my accounts with them, small protest I know but I might feel better

Savvy_Sue

scotbird wrote: »

HI
I have had my first business account with HSBC for 18 months. Now the charges have kicked in and I am looking to change to get no charges again. I have been an RBS customer for 20 years, good credit etc. However when I applied for their digital business account yesterday I was turned down with no explanation. I was told that the decision was based on "the information they hold on me" and as I have 3 current accounts, all with healthy balances and have not dipped into an over draught for years I cannot imagine why I so categorically "failed to meet criteria". I am so offended and angry... and baffled. There seems to be no comeback either, no way of finding out what on earth made me such a bad idea to them. My business account for what its worth (not that they know as they didn't ask about it) is always in credit also.
Has anyone else had this issue or know what it might be? I am so annoyed I reckon I will have to close down all my accounts with them, small protest I know but I might feel better

No idea, but can you go into a branch and speak to someone, maybe apply in person rather than online?

Of course their criteria may include a track record of paying off debt, eg overdraft, credit card etc.

rpip

The Coop Bank is still offering free business banking for 18mths if your balance is £1000+ and they pay interest. If you go below the charges are still less than the other banks.
So why no mention on the main web page?

rpip

Forgot to say: No need for any membership

Aquamania

rpip wrote: »

The Coop Bank is still offering free business banking for 18mths if your balance is £1000+ and they pay interest. If you go below the charges are still less than the other banks.
So why no mention on the main web page?

Probably because many banks offer free introductory banking for 12-24 months.

As you say, the co-op (DirectPlus) only does if you maintain at least £1000 in the account, otherwise it costs £3 per month

The interest is nice, but not a deal maker paying just 0.12% gross over £1k rising in increments to 0.28% for over £0.25million

Santander appears to offer 18 months free banking and 0.25% on all in credit balances. The other one, Natwest, is probably mentioned because, whilst there is no interest paid on credit balances, it does offer free banking for 24 months.

CaptBigglesworth

RBS Business Banking Direct is free indefinitely, and pays interest (very little though!) - well worth a look. The indefinite free banking was the reason I changed from HSBC.

ForumMember007

I've just called RBS to set up a Business Banking Direct account, to be told (I paraphrase from memory):

"Your account will be moved in 2016 to a new challenger bank using the Williams and Glyn name. This account cannot be managed via existing RBS or Nationwide branches."

Well, I've had enough trouble with institutions merging and de-merging, with all the chaos and incompetence this almost inevitably entails, to decide to give this a miss. (I did try to set up an RBS business account a few years ago and gave up after 50 phone calls over six months).

HTH
Walter

PS a quick web search will tell you more about RBS / challenger / W&G etc.

PPS I suspect this new bank will be England and Wales only, as "not Scotland" was somewhere in the droid's spiel, and W&G have/had no Scottish presence.

Cazzer33

Hi all
Sorry if this isn't quite the right place for my post - I'm just trying to get to grips with the site!

I'm in the process of setting up my own online company and need to open a business bank account. I was just reading on here (not in the forums) that there's no reason why I couldn't start with a personal account and move to a business one if I expand.

Also - what's the craic with credit cards. Do I need to open a business credit card or can I just get a personal one where I can get cashback and 0% on purchases etc? Whether I get a personal or business one, it would only be used for business purposes and I would keep my existing credit card for personal purchases.

Hope you can help!