What Start-Up Business Banking Account Should I Choose? Abbey or A&L??

TURRELL1

Hi Everyone,
I am in the process of setting up a new business and am currently looking into business accounts for start-ups.

From my own research I have come to the conclusion that Abbey and Alliance & Leicester seem to offer the best deals to new business start up like myself however what are the advantages disadvantages of each account as they are both part of the Santander group can I use either branch to bank?

As far as I can tell with A&L you have the added bonus of being able to do over the counter banking where as with Abbey you cant, but with A&L after 2 years you have to be depositing at least £1000 a month into your account and with the type of business I will be operating (Fashion) payments will not be made to me in this way meaning I may not be able to deposit the £1000 a month every month, where with Abbey there is no minimum.

Is there any other advantages or disadvantages between the two to help me decide or is there another account I have missed that offers a better deal then both of these??


Any help with this would be most appreciated,


Kind Regards



TURRELL1

pitkin2020

you need to look cloesly at the costs and decide which one will be the cheapest or which one will suit your needs better. some will charge you for paying in less than a certain amount each month, charges for paying in over a certain amount of cheques each month.
Do you need to pay in over the counter??
Have you looked at the FSB they offer free business banking to its members, (£70 ish(if i recall)) a year to be a member of the FSB and more benefits than just banking

olly300

How long is a piece of string?

You haven't explained:
1. How you will be operating for example online, retail, wholesale
2. How most of your transactions will take place for example cash based, cheques, online banking, credit/debit cards, paypal, nochex
3. Whether you will be accepting or using foreign currencies regularly as a way of paying suppliers

Therefore until you do this no one can advise you if x bank is better than y.

In my own case I didn't need a counter service as all my clients pay by BACs or rarely cheque but I needed to pay suppliers by BACs, debit/credit card and rarely cheque therefore I found HSBC was the best bank for me.

Also be aware that Abbey and A&L will soon be the same bank - Santander - so at some point will consolidate business banking services they have already started to do this with their mortgage and loan division.

TURRELL1

Hi Olly, thanks for the reply and regards to you questions:

1.Wholesale and online
2.cheques, online banking, credit/debit cards, paypal etc
3.I hope to accept foreign currencies for payment and use when dealing with overseas suppliers when needed.

Savvy_Sue

Duplicate threads merged and tidied ...

Kilty_2

Go with A&L and then move if the costs after 2 years aren't worth it.

I can personally recommend Lloyds TSB Business though - I think they do a decent free period for startups, though there is a monthly charge of ~£5 afterwards.