Cash-plus business bank account

ahll

I am in the process of eating up a business and need a Business Bank Account as will have a Limited company.

An agent has advised me to use Cashplus which I had never heard of before. Apparently he told me they are part of RBS. It all seems to run online (no branches) and there is a annual free. You seem to get a MasterCard instead of a cheque book.
"Please note that we do not process cheque payments or make international transfers." Which I believe will be an issue for me.

Has anyone had experience with them for business purposes ?

pmduk

Cashplus is NOT part of RBS. I'd be worried about taking advice from that agent if he gets such basic things wrong. He's probably just hoping to earn affiliate fees.

Zanderman

ahll wrote: »

"Please note that we do not process cheque payments or make international transfers." Which I believe will be an issue for me.

Looked into Cash Plus a while back. But the cheque problem was, for us, a show-stopper as we need to be able to accept cheques.

If they still don't have a cheque pay-in (or cheque payment) facility then I'd avoid them as there are always some clients (particularly individuals) who will pay by cheque.

Cheques, despite what some people would have us believe, are still popular, not least as they give an unambiguous paper trail, unlike bank transfers which can be done without names and without paperwork.

Cash Plus are cheap for a business bank - but if they don't handle cheques and you need that facility you should try a more traditional bank.

Several banks offer cheap start-up periods for business banking. Best current offer is Yorkshire Bank/Clydesdale Bank's 25 months free but bear in mind they are very northern in branch distribution, so if you're south of the midlands and need branch access they may be limiting. There are a few YB branches in the south - London and Gloucester for example.

ahll

It turns out from the T&Cs that this does have something to do with Royal Bank of Scotland. Important sections seem to be 13.9 and 13.10

Can any clarify what these will mean to me ?

13.9 Seems to be saying if AFL goes insolvent then I may loosed all the money in the account !

13.10 then seems to be saying all the money will be held by Royal Bank of Scotland.

So why wouldn't the money be covered by RBS so it would be safe up to £85.000(I think the current limit of coverage is)

I don't know how likely it is the company may go bust but I am trying to work out if any of my businesses money is going to be safe !

https://secure.membersaccounts.com/tc/bus-tc1/terms-and-conditions.pdf

https://secure.membersaccounts.com/tc/bus-tc1/terms-and-conditions.pdf

eskbanker

13.10 is effectively saying that they bank with RBS. It certainly doesn't say they're part of RBS and 13.9 could hardly be clearer regarding the risk from the lack of FSCS coverage!

ahll

Is this standard for Business Account not to be covered by FSCS ? Or is this because it is a new type of business account ?

I am guessing there is no easy way to work out how likely or not it is that they will insolvent !?

jonesMUFCforever

Why pay them an annual fee for not taking cheques, but not open a proper business account with a bank that for a start up will get xx months free banking??

eskbanker

ahll wrote: »

Is this standard for Business Account not to be covered by FSCS ? Or is this because it is a new type of business account ?

It's the latter - if you haven't already, read through the MSE guide to business accounts, which includes information about business account eligibility for FSCS. If you sign up with a company that isn't part of the FSCS scheme then you're on your own, whereas if you bank with one of the main players then you'd benefit from their protection, which is likely to be at least partially related to the costs of these different types of account!

pmduk

These card companies, as with any other company, choose who they wish to bank with. I believe they tell you who they bank with to give a veneer of respectability to their operations. I seem to recall Thinkbanking suddenly re-jigging their website to remove all such suggestions. I've no explanation for their sudden change