new business - banking

affies

I am starting a new business, a florists, and was wondering which banks offered the best services and/or interest rates for businesses. I do have some bad credit history which may appear on records.

Regards
affies

BFG_2

Abbey National do free small biz banking.

sneekymum

I think its free for a limited number of transactions a month - I've got a business account with them but only use it about 10-12 times a month. I don't know what they charge if you exceed this - definately try there first though.

vansboy

Alliance & Leicester & Abbey are the only ones to offer FOREVER free banking, the others only do it for 12months or so.

Watch out for hefty charges when paying cash, as opposed to checques into the bank. They don't really want to handle much 'real' money, these days.

If you'll be on overdraft, often, check FirstDirect - they do a similar scheme to personel accounts, that let you go into the red, without big penalties.

& do you REALLY need a 'business' account? Couldn't you just run a seperate privete one - avoid lots fees/charges that way?

VB