Cheques over £500 cannot be accepted by TIDE Banking

IOWJJBTM2025

Hi all. I have a TIDE Business bank account and was surprised to find out that there is no way of depositing a cheque of £1180 into my current account.

I have been a bit disappointed with TIDE over the last few weeks.

To start off with I have only had the account for ten months and have recently had an email to advise that they are reducing the interest rate by 0.9% and my plan rate is to increase by £2.50 per month starting on 1st July. After messaging them they cannot offer me any better rates because these are reserved for new customers only.

The cherry on the cake for me arrived a week ago when I got a cheque through the post for £1180 from HMRC - A refund on overpayment. I went on the TIDE app and tried to deposit the cheque and found the maximum cheque size was limited to £500. I messaged them via the app and asked how I could deposit the cheque. The first answer from them was that I should contact the supplier of the cheque and ask them to do a bank transfer instead. I have waited for 7 months to get the cheque so would struggle with this. I went back to TIDE to explain the difficulties and their new suggestion was - Open a new account in the name of my company with another bank who accept cheques and then once the cheque has cleared, transfer the money into my TIDE account via bank transfer.

I have just opened a new free banking business account with Virgin Money and also opened a deposit account with them at a better interest rate. I asked if I can deposit cheques into the Virgin Money account and was told no problem. Once I got the account opened I went onto the App and found that they have a limit of £1000 for cheques. However I called them up and spoke to a very helpful person who told me that I can take the cheque to the Post Office with my debit card and deposit the cheque this way. Debit Card arrived today so fingers crossed for tomorrow.

I have to say that I have not written a cheque for a long time but is this the trend moving forwards for banks to phase out the usage of cheques?

jaybeetoo

We had a few problems with Tide. Without warning or explanation they took money out of our business account. When we contacted them they said they had been charging us the wrong amount each month so we’re just correcting that (and backdating it). They couldn’t understand why they shouldn’t have done that without prior warning and explanation. Luckily it didn’t take us overdrawn otherwise we’d then have had an argument about fees. They just seemed unprofessional.

wmb194

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6672176/cheques-over-500-cannot-be-accepted-by-tide-banking

"…but is this the trend moving forwards for banks to phase out the usage of cheques?"

Cheque usage is in decline but not really. By 2018 banks wanted to phase out cheques altogether but the government forced them to keep them going. In response they improved the clearing time to next day and introduced in app cheque scanning. I think you've been unlucky with both banks e.g., Lloyds allows business account holders to deposit cheques in its app up to £20,000 per day plus it still has a good number of branches.

https://www.lloydsbank.com/business/help-and-support/online-banking/deposit-cheques-in-business-mobile-banking-app.html

https://www.redcompasslabs.com/insights/cheque-elimination-in-uk/

happybagger

The trend is certainly to reduce their use.

But to not have any option to deposit one that exceeds such a low value on a business account seems odd, naturally you have chosen a provider that suits your needs better.

As the saying goes, you voted with your feet.

IOWJJBTM2025

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82031976#Comment_82031976

The most worrying experience for me with TIDE was a month after opening the account. I got an unexpected phone call from Tide saying that they could offer me half price Pro Plan membership for 3 months which would give me an increased interest rate. The girl then said that to get the deal she needed to take me though security. What is your name, address, Date of Birth etc. I refused to give her the information and contacted TIDE on the App to say I had received a suspected SCAM phone call from them. They responded quickly and confirmed that the call was indeed from them. I responded that it was not the best way of doing business to cold call people from unknown numbers asking for security information. They thanked me and advised that they would raise my concern with their management team.

dunstonh

It's worth noting that Tide are not a bank. So perhaps you shouldn't expect full banking services from them.

I have to say that I have not written a cheque for a long time but is this the trend moving forwards for banks to phase out the usage of cheques?

There isn't much of an issue with banks phasing out checks at this stage or in the foreseeable future. However, it wouldn't be much of a surprise to see electronic money institutions refuse to do manual payments.

Jemma01

HMRC can send you the money through other means. Their choice of a cheque is as ridiculous as they are. I had the same problem and my accountant dealt with it and HMRC changed the payment method.

lr1277

I don't have a Virgin (business) account but found this on the Post Office site:

Post Office Banking Services for Virgin

This page suggests you need a personalised paying in slip and an envelope from Virgin for depositing cheques to a Virgin business account.

So I don't know whether to believe Virgin or the PO. I guess you will have to try it out or give Virgin a call?

lr1277

Work out what you exactly want from your business current account. Whilst it is convenient to have your business savings at the same place as your current account, it is not necessary.

I note that both Cumberland BS and Saffron BS offer savings accounts for business. Caveats:

I didn't look into the Cumberland offering but I don't know if you have to live in their catchment area to have a business savings account. Nor do I know if you also need to have their business current account. But then you come up against the catchment area problem again.

With Saffron they do seem to offer business savings for businesses all over the country. But according to their website, the checks they do prior to opening an account may take weeks. As a personal saver at Saffron, I find their website clunky but it gets the job done.

A self employed taxi driver I use, opened a business account with Lloyds in anticipation of making tax digital as he already had a personal account with Lloyds. But he closed the Lloyds business account in short order because they did not provide notifications for account transactions unlike for his Lloyds personal account.

So as I said, work out what is important to you and find an account that meets your requirements.

Btw: If you want to find how the Post Office will work with your bank, type into google:

Post Office [bank name]

And one of the top answers should be a Post Office site with the bank name. Here it will list their services for both personal customers and business customers for the said bank.

In my limited experience, Post Office will only post your cheque to said bank if you supply a paying in slip and an envelope from the bank. They never accept the cheque themselves. Cash acceptance is likely but cheque acceptance not so much.

Hope that helps.

IOWJJBTM2025

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82032076#Comment_82032076

Thanks for the info - very much appreciated.

Just called Virgin Money. They confirmed that I do need a personalised paying in slip as well as my debit card. They never said this when I opened the account.

They are sending me a book of paying in slips in the post and it can take up to 10 days to arrive.

As an alternative the girl said I could go into a Virgin Money branch. I live on the Isle of Wight - nearest branch is a 1 hour ferry and 2.5 hour drive away.

They did say that things could be changing and it is possible that in the future I will be able to use any Nationwide branch but have no defined timescale for this.

lr1277

@IOWJJBTM2025 Suggest you ask Virgin for the envelopes as well as the paying in slip (if you have not done so already).

Or maybe they are right and you can get by with the paying in slip and the card. No idea myself, but I would ask for the envelopes (belt and braces type approach).