Do I need a business bank account?

J_B

Zanderman said:

As General_Grant suggests, using a personal account for business use is not illegal - the law has nothing to do with it. 
J_B is therefore wrong to suggest it is illegal
It is against the bank account's terms and conditions. 
That's all. 
But that's enough to be a problem.

I will obviously be having a big sulk being proved wrong but, thanks for pointing out my error.

BossHogg

I've a small Personal Services Ltd Company (PSC) and a business bank account is of course needed. I use Barclays at present but like almost every other Bank, they are apparently instituting blanket ban on use of Freelance/Contractors via PSC after April (due to deferred Off-payroll IR35 rules)... I get it, they don't want the corporate risk of getting these new tax decisions wrong or expense of having to make a determination, so are apparently looking to use offshore resources instead.
These rules will hit 5M small Ltd companies hard from March/April across many sectors, and I for one would prefer to take my business account to Bank that continues to support and use the UK Freelance/contractor industry. Problem is that they all seem to use same supplier and thus approach for contingent workers. Not seen any statements issued in public domain on such a subject so I wonder if there is any way for customers (potential or existing) to find out.
A bank willing to show such support would I suspect overnight have 5M Freelancers (or as many of them that are left) willing to open accounts and transfer over. I also suspect such a bank would have fewer banking failures in future than those dependent on offshore skills (no matter where based).

alyrian

I am starting a Consultancy business, most clients are in Europe incl. Switzerland and USA.
What would be the more appropriate Business Account for this scenario: receiving payments in Foreign Currency and spending when travelling to customers? 
Thank you

colsten

You could discuss your requirements with Fineco

bewise10

In reply to the link in your newsletter (to this forum), I would very much welcome a comparison of the business bank accounts on offer. I've just started my own limited company and am deciding who to go with. 
I use (and trust) your site a lot for my personal use, so any business start-up information is very welcome.
Thanks. 

eskbanker

bewise10 said:

In reply to the link in your newsletter (to this forum), I would very much welcome a comparison of the business bank accounts on offer. I've just started my own limited company and am deciding who to go with. 
I use (and trust) your site a lot for my personal use, so any business start-up information is very welcome.
Thanks. 

Have you read the (limited) comparison at https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/business-bank-account/#which, and the more comprehensive ones on other sites linked from there?

DCFC79

bewise10 said:

In reply to the link in your newsletter (to this forum), I would very much welcome a comparison of the business bank accounts on offer. I've just started my own limited company and am deciding who to go with. 
I use (and trust) your site a lot for my personal use, so any business start-up information is very welcome.
Thanks. 

You know this wont go anywhere by posting it on here.
Contacting the MSE Team might be a good option, might be able to find a way to contact them on the weekly email.

2ECFL

I am new to this site.  I am interested in this question of whether I need a business account. Lets say I do (I've read the MSE business account piece on the website and this is a Ltd Co), but having specific regard to the fact that it is not a business for making money but rather a small management company of 4 individually owned flats - the only income being joint contributions towards the sporadic shared central costs such as exterior window cleaning and maintenance.   So cash held for incidentals and only occasional payments made out.   I've tried to speak to two high street banks who both said I can only telephone their business sections - to find there is no number anywhere on either of their websites - just 'contact us' links to online banking chatbots or mobile banking via apps; no contact involved.  Frustrating, to say the least.  One branch also said this sort of account is more akin to a charity account than a business (as if that makes it even more difficult for them to talk to me about).  Any experience you are able to share on this situation/what kind of account needed/recommendations welcome, thank you. 

c-m

@2ECFL
For an Ltd you would want it to have it's own account since it's a separate legal entity to you and your partners. You may not need a full business current account though given the use you mention, but one is still useful. 

The Barclays community account might be more akin to what you are after, but then you've got all the process of arranging an appointment, getting each member to fill out an application and be credit checked etc.. 

A quick and easy approach would be a digital account such as Tide. It has full FSCS protection, no monthly fees, but there is a 20p transaction fee. £1 ATM withdrawal. 

The issue I can think of is that whilst other members can view the accounts I think only one can control it. 

Crater

The "Do I need a business bank account?" page still has a message on it saying "We've linked to others' comparisons for now, but let us know in the forum if it would be useful for us to do a full comparison of high-street business accounts." which is why I came here, to say that couild be useful for the same reason others have said, because MSE is generally trusted. It looks like that is "old news" now though, and the links have proved basically helpful, mainly by getting some basic names and information together on one page.