📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Please help me to choose a new business/personal account

Options
travelodger
travelodger Posts: 216 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
edited 11 August at 10:12AM in Budgeting & bank accounts
Like many I have just been told that Santander will be charging me £10 a month for my business account so I need to close it.

I run a hobby business with a small income of about £1500 a year and outgoings of about £500 a year. Money comes in from sales and I just leave it in there, then when it's reached about £3000 I transfer it into an ISA. No way I am going to lose £120 a year paying fees to Santander!

I'm not very knowledgeable in financial matters, nor up to date with banking: I've had the same personal current account with Nationwide since 1983! and this Santander (prev Abbey) Business Account since 2005.

I could easily open a 2nd personal current account with Nationwide, but would that be my best option?

I have read on here masses of info about personal and business accounts and all it's done is made my head spin. 

I'm hoping that someone clever will help me decide what to replace my Santander account with.

Some points that may be helpful to know:

I will not ever need an overdraft facility.

I don't use a debit card or cheques or take money out in cash.

I only have one direct debit going out, for £6 a month.

All my incoming and outgoing payments are by direct bank transfer. A small handful per month.

There is no reason why the new account cannot be in my personal name rather than the trading name I have used for the past 20 years.

I currently have £2,500 in the account at 0% interest. I would love to make interest on my balance as I always have at least £500 and sometimes as much as £3,000 in the account.

I would love to get paid a sum for transferring my Santander account to the new account.


Because I'm disabled I do not have a current passport or a driving licence, but I can prove my ID with my old passport, house deeds, Council Tax, etc.

I'm a sole trader, aged 67.

I cannot get on with apps on my smartphone - I use a PC for everything. 

Many thanks in advance for any suggestions.






«1

Comments

  • MyRealNameToo
    MyRealNameToo Posts: 523 Forumite
    500 Posts Name Dropper
    Personal accounts cannot be used for businesses according to the T&Cs and in theory the bank can close your account if they discover thats what you are doing but in practice thousands get away with it for years. 

    Why would you want to open a second account though? in principle putting it into your current account rather than a dedicated one is going to make it much less likely to be spotted as a business account. Having a seperate account would increase the risks and the bank may well close all accounts you have with them not just the one you are breaching the terms on. 

    Personally would look at a fee free business account, most obvious choices normally would be the new challenger banks but they predominately won't be an option for you given your aversion to smart phones. However in response to challengers HSBC and Natwest Group now offer business banking without a standing fee. They do still charge for cash handling or large volumes of transactions but as long as money is moving in/out electronically you can generally avoid all fees. 
  • tacpot12
    tacpot12 Posts: 9,273 Forumite
    Ninth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    When did you open your Business Bank Account with Santander? Was is while they were called Abbey? 

    If so, you can complain to them about the charges. the Abbey account was advertised as being "Free forever". I've complained and have had a decision from Santander that allows me to take my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. The more people that do this, the more this petty decision will cost Santander. 

    Most of the free acounts have very small transaction volumes going through them, no overdrafts, and no customer service requirements - the only time I have ever contacted Santander after opening my account with Abbey was to complain! Santander UK made nearly £1billion profit last year, so there is not even a commercial imperative to make this change.  
    The comments I post are my personal opinion. While I try to check everything is correct before posting, I can and do make mistakes, so always try to check official information sources before relying on my posts.
  • GeoffTF
    GeoffTF Posts: 2,059 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Third Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    tacpot12 said:
    Santander UK made nearly £1billion profit last year, so there is not even a commercial imperative to make this change.  
    Yes, there is. Santander's UK operation is less profitable than elsewhere. They are trying hard to fix that.
  • travelodger
    travelodger Posts: 216 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    Personal accounts cannot be used for businesses

    Why would you want to open a second account though? in principle putting it into your current account rather than a dedicated one is going to make it much less likely to be spotted as a business account.

    Personally would look at a fee free business account.. HSBC and Natwest Group
    See? This is why I am so glad I asked on here. I had no idea that personal accounts cannot be used for businesses. Thank you for that info!

    I want to keep my business accounts separate from my personal as it's easier for tax purposes.

    I will look at those two banks, thanks!
  • travelodger
    travelodger Posts: 216 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    tacpot12 said:
    When did you open your Business Bank Account with Santander? Was is while they were called Abbey? 

    If so, you can complain to them about the charges. the Abbey account was advertised as being "Free forever". I've complained and have had a decision from Santander that allows me to take my complaint to the Financial Ombudsman. .  
    As I said in my OP, I've had this Santander (prev Abbey) Business Account since 2005.

    I phoned today to complain and the clerk said they were receiving hundreds of calls and complaints about this and that many people are already complaining to the Ombudsman.
  • travelodger
    travelodger Posts: 216 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I just phoned HSBC and they said that their business account has no fees at all and also that they do not require me to use a smartphone/app but I can operate it via the PC.
  • gt94sss2
    gt94sss2 Posts: 6,119 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    I just phoned HSBC and they said that their business account has no fees at all and also that they do not require me to use a smartphone/app but I can operate it via the PC.
    Information on the HSBC small business account is available at https://www.business.hsbc.uk/en-gb/products/small-business-bank-account

    If you plan to switch from Santander, I assume you can use the Current Account Switch Service to make the move easier - thought you may want to wait until you see if Santander change their minds about their planned changes.

    HSBC also offer a business savings account which I guess you can open afterwards. 
  • travelodger
    travelodger Posts: 216 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    I've also read online that it's ok to use a personal current account for business if you are, like me, a sole trader with a small turnover!
  • HillStreetBlues
    HillStreetBlues Posts: 6,140 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Third Anniversary Homepage Hero Photogenic
    I've also read online that it's ok to use a personal current account for business if you are, like me, a sole trader with a small turnover!
    The legal side is that you don't need a business account, but banks T&Cs are allowed to be different.
    Let's Be Careful Out There
  • Futuristic
    Futuristic Posts: 1,172 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 11 August at 9:33PM
    I've also read online that it's ok to use a personal current account for business if you are, like me, a sole trader with a small turnover!
    I highly doubt most or if any banks will allow business activity on personal. Whilst I'm sure many do you risk getting the account suspended or closed for breaking the terms. Where have you found this?

    Even if you have found a suitable option like HSBC, they may need a valid (non expired?) form of ID, as will any other bank. 
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 351.2K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.2K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.7K Spending & Discounts
  • 244.2K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 599.3K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177K Life & Family
  • 257.6K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.