Business Bank accounts?

IronWolf

Hi

I am about to sell something new on my website, which I currently run as a sole trader. I am setting up the online payments etc and wondering if I should open a business account. But most of them have fees that kick in after a while. I am wondering, can I just use a personal bank account instead as I am a sole trader. Are there any benefits to business accounts?

gb12345

Check the T&Cs of your personal account - they may well prohibit business use and you could end up with your account getting closed for breaking the T&Cs.

Jonboy_1984

Using a personal account for business purposes will be against the T&C's of the account. I have heard of a few people having accounts closed when banks believe they are using it for trade.

You will also not be able to get a merchant account, which would allow you to get a credit card machine or process card payments on your own website (except for PayPal and possibly Google wallet? who charge a higher percentage to process)

You may be able to flip between banks when the free period ends and look at offers for joining FSB etc. which may be cheaper.

I have also heard handelsbank can be attractive to small businesses but not sure about FSA protection.

[Deleted User]

Withstanding all of the above posts, we found that our business account was completely necessary.

The main issue we had was proving we were a business and being asked for business bank accounts as ID for suppliers.

The next issue is receiving cheques from customers that you cannot bank/ cash and even worse is the issue of missing online payment transfers because customers have used the business name in the PAYE name box.