Looking for best small business bank account

majormax

Would be grateful to receive any personal experiences/recommendations as to what is out there please for a small start up home based business. Thank you.

thebritishbloke

Natwest offer the longest free banking period at 24 months. The opening process is an absolute pain though, took nearly a month for mine to be finalised.

Other banks have shorter opening times but also have less benefits.

henm2

HSBC offer 18 months initial free banking for small business accounts (less than £500K turnover)
Seems to take ages to get an appointment in a branch but you can alternatively apply online
http://www.business.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/business-banking/turnover-500k-start-ups

thebritishbloke

henm2 wrote: »

HSBC offer 18 months initial free banking for small business accounts (less than £500K turnover)
Seems to take ages to get an appointment in a branch but you can alternatively apply online
http://www.business.hsbc.co.uk/1/2/business-banking/turnover-500k-start-ups

my local branch had some appointments available within the next couple of days when I enquired, and they said it can be setup on the same day.

jonesMUFCforever

You have to define best!
Is it the cheapest? Will you require face to face manager? .. or Telephone based manager? etc

BakerBoy

A free banking period can really help, but it depends what you will be using it for. From memory banks charge 0.5% of all cash you pay in and about 60p per transaction for electronic credits & debits, more for cheques. If you can get this free for 18 or 24 months then I would take it. 'Small start up home based business' doesn't tell us a great deal either. If you are selling through Ebay, or invoicing clients who pay you by BACS then do you need access to a branch? Probably not. But if you are making cupcakes to sell on the market you might need to deposit cash and get change.

There is the option of paying cash into your current account and transferring electronically to avoid the 0.5% charge. You would need to check with your accountant if that is acceptable.

jonesMUFCforever

BakerBoy wrote: »

A free banking period can really help, but it depends what you will be using it for. From memory banks charge 0.5% of all cash you pay in and about 60p per transaction for electronic credits & debits, more for cheques. If you can get this free for 18 or 24 months then I would take it. 'Small start up home based business' doesn't tell us a great deal either. If you are selling through Ebay, or invoicing clients who pay you by BACS then do you need access to a branch? Probably not. But if you are making cupcakes to sell on the market you might need to deposit cash and get change.

There is the option of paying cash into your current account and transferring electronically to avoid the 0.5% charge. You would need to check with your accountant if that is acceptable.

I think you would also need to check with Santander whether it is acceptable.

Westin

I would echo completely thebritishblokes comment regarding NatWest.

I'm a new small business owner and having looked around found NatWest's offering the best deal with 24 months free banking - but - what a long drawn out process. Truly painful given that I had hundreds of things to do and set up and chasing my bank for basis set up information was not what I considered good use of my time. I found I was always chasing them for things that they promised.

block10

Metro Bank doesnt look too bad, not completely free, but charges look reasonable. https://www.metrobankonline.co.uk/Global/Metro%20Bank%20Online%20-%20January%202013/Business/Business%20Bank%20Account/1/Business%20Bank%20Account%20Important%20Information%20Summary.pdf