Small business Banking Advise please ???

Quint_2

Sorry long delay in thanking you for that info ! (Have now found thread notification ??? COOL !)

I have been looking into the Abbey Situation and find there account good BUT . . . .

They don't allow coins to be banked which is arkward for my type of business + the worst part is that in my area all branches are city/town centres and very hard to get too for quick in and outs !

So I'm saving money which is great but getting very frustrated trying to park and wasting an hour or more fiddling about every monday morning !

Can't have everything I suppose !

I did see that Alliance/Leicester are doing a free business account where you can bank at the post office ??? Anyone know anything GOOD/BAD about it ?????

Cheers all ! :beer:

Quint_2

adycooney1 wrote:

Hi,

I have a similar post to yours, and thought you may want to see the replies I had. Some say Lloyds are good but it depends on the business manager in your branch, others say Abbey are good but if you have a problem your call could be routed via India.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=82332

I would be interested to hear what deal you are offered by Abbey if you chose to switch as I have not committed to anything yet.

Good Luck

Ady

Sorry didn't mention earlier I read your bits with interest and can tell you that Abbey do everything free with clauses to how much comes in and out/month and I'm not keen on the postal thing or ATM machines !!!

The branch can not/will not assist you !!! as they are not allowed THAT's why it's free !

I am looking into Alliance/Leicester at present (However) I will probably keep the business reserve account with abbey as it's interest will cover my TSB charges untill I can settle on a new permenant fixture !!!!

:beer:

Ert

When I was self-employed I opened another current account with First Direct. They do not do business accounts so do not charge. I used to bank all my cheques by post, but if I needed a branch to visit I used HBSC which owns First Direct.

heavensense

I am self-employed and didn't quite know where to go. As far as Alliance and Leicester are concerned I wouldn't touch them with a barge pole: Offers are good, but there customer service is abysmal.

I use SMILE the internet bank, brilliant. I use it as a normal current account they do not do business accounts, however, since I don't earn enough to pay tax!( lucky me!) I haven't found this a problem. You can send cheques by post in prepaid envelopes, you can use your local post office for loose change and cash. There is a cash machine at most co-op stores, and just to make things that much better it is accessible via the internet 24/7 you can send emails and they answer promptly, and if that wasn't enough if you need to ring for whatever reason, you get to talk to HUMAN BEING!! There customer service is second to none and you can order stationery from the website or from the post office. check out https://www.smile.co.uk
If that isn't a recommendation I don't know what is!
Heavensense

heavensense

Forgot to mention, My DH was in business and the Abbey business appears to be the best one around, if you have DD's and standing orders etc. (which I don't) As two or three other people have said it is Free as long as you are in credit and a very good deal.

Phoning the Abbey though can be a bit frustrating, you have to go through the automated system to get to a person....having said that they will usually bend over backwards for you once you get there.

Might be our computer but their website is a little slow and also convoluted to get into, but I feel that that is extra security measures.

Good Luck with it
Heavensense

Quint_2

MMMmmmmm ! A/L are sending me some info so I'll look through it very carefully before opening an account !

My best advise is to open as many as you like rather than swapping around and then when you find your feet with one or other ditch the ones who don't match up to what your after !!!

As I said abbey seem ok but very inconvenient to use "for me" so I may just use the reserve account to keep a float and get interest as a bonus and do my day to day banking through someone else !!!

I will update the post as anything of interest occurs !

Cheers All !

jonesMUFCforever

I'm sure that your accountant will have already advised you of this but your bank charges on a business account are tax deductable and can be offset against your income.
Eric

Quint_2

ejones999 wrote:

I'm sure that your accountant will have already advised you of this but your bank charges on a business account are tax deductable and can be offset against your income.
Eric

Quite correct ! but I'd much rather not pay the theiveing B******* anything at all ! ! !

:rotfl:

DesG

I have a free account from A&L, I have no complaints, but then again I havn't had any problems so far. Others have had a bad experience with them, but I'm happy so far.

They do have limits on the amount of cash you can bank on the free account, so check that out first.

Cheers, Des.

adycooney1

I spoke to Lloyds yesterday, they were the only ones interested in talking to me about the details in any depth. They offer 18 months free business banking.

They also said they would help me find the best way of delaing in international payments.

Abbey were a pile of C**p They said the charges for international payments would be determined by a third party, not them! They also, like you, said I had to pay in by ATM, for me that would be a nightmare.

Still waiting on Nat West to come back to me.

Ady