Tide for business banking savings account - 4.33% unlimited deposit.

solidpro

Hi Everyone, saw this advertised on the tube and then they sent me a promo letter. We tend to accumulate cash in the business and then it gets used, but Santander offer us no interest at all.

Tide are offering 'painless' linking to our santander where we can move money to the tide account and leave it there getting 4.33% and then 'easily' move it back.

I know Tide have had a few knockers in distant past on here, but is anyone doing this, done this, have a good reason to not do this?

It's FSCS protected to £85k. All seems fairly legit?

solidpro

Oh by the way, it's only unlimited until midnight on the 14th, then it gets cut down to £50k so if this might be good news to you, better get in quick.

adamp87

I’ve read horror stories about Tide and their customer service, not being able to access funds.. etc I’d stay clear personally 

solidpro

Are there any more reputable business bank savings account offering anything like it though?

lon_don

https://www.saffronbs.co.uk/savings/business-savings-accounts/business-e-saver-account-issue-8-co41  seems to offer a Business Online Saver account at 4.35%

Eyeful

1. Is this who you mean?
https://www.tide.co/business-savings-account/
2. If it is, Tide Platform Limited (FRN: is 900843) your money is not protected as it is an e-money institution. 
They place your money with ClearBank Limited (FRN:754568), which is protected up to £85000.
3. This may be of interest to you, it also shows alternatives to Tide.
https://moneytothemasses.com/banking/tide-business-bank-account-review-a-new-wave-of-business-banking.
4. On Trustpilot, Tide does have a sizable number who are unhappy with them but so do many banks.
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/tide.co

solidpro

Ok, so I tried it out knowing the longstanding issues with customer service and some reports of people having friction accessing or managing their money and it did not go well. This is just my experience. 

You have to download the app on your phone and the application process really takes 3 parts:
1) Using open banking to add consent to simplify transfers between Tide and your existing business bank account
2) Provide personal information including photos of yourself
3) Provide government ID such as a driving license.

I did all this and......... nothing. The 'verification' process was supposed to take between 5 minutes and 48 hours. After 48 hours of nothing I used their chatbot to enquire and I couldn't actually get through to a supposed human.

After about 72 hours, I insisted talking to a human via chat and they took so long to respond, I'd gone off to do something else. When I noticed the reply, their chat window is supposed to resume the conversation but it just kicked me back and then actually deleted the chat from my history to be able to access.

I then just notified them I wanted to cancel the application and they needed to confirm they have hard-deleted all my personal information. I also removed consent from our business account.

They did eventually email me saying simply that the application verification can take time. That's it. 

Essentially they have good marketing and still awful customer service, and their application process fails to process applications. 

I did offer them constructive advice, detailing the experience and that many people would be put off by their bad customer service, especially if entrusting them with substancial bank balances in savings accounts.

That was probably a waste of my time.

It's another 'digital' service with nice animations and naff all behind the scenes to back up the service.

Lets say you're prepared to put £100,000 in their banking savings account - you'd make about £4300 a year in interest and pay between 19-25% tax on that (corporation tax on bank interest). So you'd walk away with about £2500-£3000. However you're risking not being able to access £100k (!) because their customer service is so awful. People who can afford to bung £100k in a savings account can afford not to have all that hassle of their business being affected by a sudden cashflow problem for a mere £2500 a year.

Just my experience and opinion. Steer clear.