Do I need a business bank account?

nutmeg66

Hi, I'm really pleased you are finally doing some articles on self employment.  I'm hoping you can help with home insurance for us self employed people who work from home and who dare let the public in. I'm a (it seems) high risk, due to teaching music, and the mere mention I do this at home sends insurance companies into melt down.  At present I'm with the Co Op as they have a sensible approach to this dangerous home working. I'm paying £675 a year and feel trapped. Fingers crossed you can help.
On the bank account side of things I'm with Barclays and they seem to ignore my account that I use for my business,  for now,  although have used it for at least 20 years.

Youens

Hi, Thanks for venturing into the business banking arena.
Just to let people know, most of the banks you mention will not provide a bank account for a partnership. 
I am currently trying to find a bank to move to when our 'fee free' period comes to an end and I am struggling to find one that will accept a partnership of 2 individuals.
Any help appreciated.

Zanderman

Youens said:

Hi, Thanks for venturing into the business banking arena.
Just to let people know, most of the banks you mention will not provide a bank account for a partnership. 
I am currently trying to find a bank to move to when our 'fee free' period comes to an end and I am struggling to find one that will accept a partnership of 2 individuals.
Any help appreciated.

Not sure I understand your post - if you are a partnership that already has a bank account then you already have a bank that accepts a partnership. In my experience (partnership accounts with 4 different bank in recent years) all traditional banks accept partnership as business, the only exceptions being some of the newer app-based banks who have some difficulty with the concept.  How many individuals there are in a partnership is irrelevant - if it's a partnership registered with HMRC as a business partnership then it's a partnership.

On a wider note btw I'm intrigued by the number of new, one-post, posters in this thread, two of whom refer to this thread as 'articles' and one, this last one, thanking (who?) for 'venturing into the business banking arena'.  Very odd terminology and odd 'welcoming' of something (business banking issues) that's always been present on the main MSE site and also in this forum. 

An odd pattern of posting too....

clayts

For my sins, my personal account is with TSB. I have just opened their business account which is fee-free for 25 months so that'll do me for now. Hassle free to open, no visiting the branch necessary with bundles of personal docs to prove who you are.
Comes with a free card reader from Square Up (although having issues signing up to that at present) and no fees on that for the first grand's worth of purchases made that way (unlikely to exceed this, as I'm in the courier game and it's an invoice-based industry when dealing with businesses).
Only caveat is having two separate apps and internet banking log ins, but I'd much rather keep the business costs (sole trader) separate from my personal stuff. Looks more professional too having an account with a business name.
Took about a week all in - did have to ring them for 5 mins (UK call centre) and discuss how my business could operate without cash (so 20th century), I presume this is to rule out money laundering.

Guitarchimp

nutmeg66 said:

Hi, I'm really pleased you are finally doing some articles on self employment.  I'm hoping you can help with home insurance for us self employed people who work from home and who dare let the public in. I'm a (it seems) high risk, due to teaching music, and the mere mention I do this at home sends insurance companies into melt down.  At present I'm with the Co Op as they have a sensible approach to this dangerous home working. I'm paying £675 a year and feel trapped. Fingers crossed you can help.
On the bank account side of things I'm with Barclays and they seem to ignore my account that I use for my business,  for now,  although have used it for at least 20 years.

I'm in the same boat as a music teacher. I use a separate second personal bank account for my sole trader self employment income, and it works well though I am considering opening a business account or at least enquiring with my bank.   I am also homing for help and ideas regarding home insurance as just like nutmeg 66 I am viewed as a higher risk with members of the public coming to my home. My insurance company put a limit on the numbers allowed and I expect to exceed that in the foreseeable future. 
Great to see the artlcle on this subject and the forum discussion, I support it and hope lots of debate and ideas will be generated.

davethorp

I'm a blogger and make my self employed income from adverts on a popular website I run

I probably could use a personal account as my turnover isn't large and most of my income is received as BACS/FP deposits. However I do have a business account under my trading name with Starling who offer free business banking and find it easier as it keeps my business transactions separate from my personal ones which makes it slightly easier when it comes to doing my self assessment

NewBusinessNetwork

Here's hoping  'Do I need a Business Bank Account' will be the first in a series of many helpful self-employment guides. It's a question that often gets asked by newbies at our business networking events so we'll be bookmarking the article to share. 

eskbanker

NewBusinessNetwork said:

Here's hoping  'Do I need a Business Bank Account' will be the first in a series of many helpful self-employment guides. It's a question that often gets asked by newbies at our business networking events so we'll be bookmarking the article to share. 

Although MSE are saying this is new territory for them, they used to publish a small business guide - at the time of posting it's still visible at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/small-business/ but was last updated in 2016, and subsequently archived, so specific product info, etc, is naturally out of date, even though most of the principles remain....

Zanderman

eskbanker said:

NewBusinessNetwork said:

Here's hoping  'Do I need a Business Bank Account' will be the first in a series of many helpful self-employment guides. It's a question that often gets asked by newbies at our business networking events so we'll be bookmarking the article to share. 

Although MSE are saying this is new territory for them, they used to publish a small business guide - at the time of posting it's still visible at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/small-business/ but was last updated in 2016, and subsequently archived, so specific product info, etc, is naturally out of date, even though most of the principles remain....

Indeed - apart from the product update info there's nothing new in the 'new' guidance - it's always been there on MSE - and there have been many many discussions about it on the forum before.  I'm still somewhat puzzled as to why it's seen as 'new' and why so many first time posters are welcoming it.  Where were they all before?!

Zanderman

KiwiCoop said:

Just had a thought, relevant to this thread. 
I operate as a limited company and have a Capital on Tap credit card which I use (to limit debit card transaction fees) and pay off monthly.  It is free or you can get 1% cashback for £99 p.a. if it's worth it to you.  This is not a plug for them - I only mention it because I got an email this week offering a promo code (£75 free credit for both the referrer and the referred) so it's very money saving if you just happen to be needing a business credit card!  Promo code is DELETED

'Not a plug' but actively seeking a £75 referral?  How is that not a plug? 
Referrals should be on the referrals Board only.