need a bank account for buy to let rental property

want2bmortgage3

i want to keep my buy to let property seperate from personal finances and wondered what bank account would be best.

i'd rather use a different one to my usual bank, natwest.

should i just go for convenience (local branch location) or consider anything else?

payments in will be the rent of around £800 a month
payments out will be mortgage £640, buildings insurance, yearly ground rent, plus any maintenance jobs as and when

also is it ok to register this new bank account at my friends address where i am lodging?

want2bmortgage3

is there a site where i can compare current accounts? as i dont want an account with a fee, and i also wont be putting my salary in or moving over all my direct debits??

want2bmortgage3

the guide suggests the halifax account is best as it gives you £50 for signing up and you dont have to put in your salary, however halifax dont have a branch in my local area and i would have to drive into town if i needed to get to the branch where as i have other banks a lot closer.

other question, should i really get a business account as i want to manage my buy to let a bit like a seperate business to my personal account???

want2bmortgage3

tell you what i'm just going to go with santander and move everything across - reason being natwest have annoyed me lately with their charges. charges that in the past they would happily refund but not anymore.

imback

It appears that maybe RBS Natwest are consistently running a charging system that could be contra to their semi realtime online system.

On a small overdraft which is constantly at the limit (I must admit) and as a monitoring trial/test over the last few months. I have been taking screen pictures of the online statements and demonstrating that when the account hits the overdraft limit I transfer monies across to bounce into credit for the day or a period of days.

The semi real time statement online clearly indicates that the account is in credit but the actual statement (historic) indicates that the account was not.

This could indicate a false sense of security for the consumer and not being transparent with the charges. This could also have a adverse credit history on record for the consumer too.

For an overdraft of £300 and when 3 standing orders are due, plus one cheque and a DD not only would the account have interest (standard) but £75 of charges.