free banking for ever with abbey business

COOLTRIKERCHICK

abbey have a business bank account with no fees etc for ever not just an introductary period... but there is some restrictions....

at the moment i am with loyds with 18 months free banking which runs out next january ( long time off i know) but what i was going to do once the free banking time was nearly up was going to switch to another bank with free banking..etc.. a bit like 0% on credit cards... just keep on changing so you dont get charged...

anyway i think with the abbey account is ok for small businesses..

has anyone swopped or has one of these accounts? are they good etc...

i think the restriction is you got to pay in less than 3k per month.. which might not be any good for me...

http://www.abbey-products.com/product/business-banking-time-lapse/more/


edit..... would be interesting for martin, or some bank account guru..lol... to see exactly what this account is all about for small businesses, and if there is a loophole or something for people which would deposit more than the 3k per month...or find a way of utilising this account for the free banking etc..... hope i make sense in that...lol...

Craftynclothy

Oooh that might be very useful for me

:beer:

oxenryd

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

, and if there is a loophole or something for people which would deposit more than the 3k per month...
quote]


Couldnt you open a bank account as in normal bank account, then pay in there normally, and then transfer into your business account ?

COOLTRIKERCHICK

cant seem to find the full terms and conditions..but.... it says

ree day-to-day business banking forever
Many other banks offer free day-to-day business banking for just an introductory few months. With us though, it's free forever (subject to transaction limits):

• Direct Debits - free forever
• Standing orders and bill payments - free forever
• Debit card payments - free forever
• BACS credits - free forever
• Transfers between linked Abbey business accounts - free forever
• Cheque deposits (up to 100 cheques each month) - free forever
• Cash and cheque withdrawals (up to 100 transactions each month) - free forever
• Cash deposits (up to £3,000 each month) - free forever
• Monthly administration - free forever

its says cash deposits....no mention of cheque deposits.... where as they have mentioned cash and cheques in the other criteria...

so does this mean you can deposit any amount ( value) in cheques ....i wonder ????


edit......just noticed it says cheque deposits.... 100 cheques per month..doesnt say the value of them.....

so going by what they are saying on their website you could deposit a cheque for 1 million pound ( i wish) and still get free banking..

sorry waffling now as i am tired...lol... will have another look in the morning....

bobsmum

We have had an Abbey Business Account running for almost 5 years now, and have had no problems with it (touch wood!). In fact, shortly after opening it we closed our other business account and just use this one. The interest rates though do vary depending on balance in the account so check this out carefully.

There is a small charge if you pay-in more than £3000 cash per month, although their month is from statement date (ie ours is 16th to 16th) rather than calendar month (ie 1st to 31st). However we mostly bank a small number of generally large value cheques so this is not an issue for us.

You have to pay in (whether cheques or cash) at an Abbey cash machine or post cheques if you feel this is safe to do - we don't! You can pay in over the counter but ONLY if the cash machine is out of order!

I have found their online banking service to be very good, likewise their call centre in Glasgow (0845 number). However in other forums, some folk have had problems with the call centre.

The only hiccup we have had is ordering paying-in envelopes online - they never turn up so we now order by phone! This is the only negative we have found, and is a small price to pay for interest and no bank charges in 5 years.

Of course you may feel it appropriate foe your circumstances to pay charges and attempt to build-up a relationship with the business banking manager at a local bank branch close to you, but my experience of almost 20 years in business is that as soon as you get a manager who knows your business well, they leave!!

Sorry to ramble on - hope this helps.

windswept

We've been with Abbey for 18 months now and have no issues with them at all, it's a vey simple system, online banking with a cash/debit card - mine's tied into my merchant account ( nat west streamline) for the website.
You get branch deposit envelopes that can take cash or cheque and postal envelopes ( postage paid) for cheque only. I've never had a single charge from them and there was far more than £3k going in during the run up to xmas.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

sorry for waffling on last night..lol..

right i just phoned them, and the only limit to the cheques is the amount... so its a 100 cheques max deposited per month..

you get 8% interest in the first year on any money in the business account. then after that you can open an account which is called the reserve account and get 3.25% the interest might be diff at the time you open the account, but at mo its 8%

all bacs.....direct debits....standing orders etc..... are free no charge...

down side.....( if you call it a down side) its a postal account... so in other words... if you have cheques you got to post them off to abbey, and i presume he cash you deposit in a certain bank/post office...

you get a cheque book and a debit card, which you can draw up to £500 per day...

when i phoned i wasnt put into a que, and i spoke to someone in britain, which to be honest is brill ( no offence to overseas call centres)

so if i change to abbey after the intro period with lloyds i would save a few hundred quid a year....

martindow

Another vote for Abbey who I have used for nearly 10 years with no problems or charges since my previous bank's free period came to an end. The only difficulty you could have is that you have to pay in using Abbey branch cash machines or by post. I am never happy sending cheques by post so it is important that you have a branch nearby if you pay in frequently.

The internet and phone services I find are fine for keeping track of the account.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

just been on line and my nraest abbey branch is 6.7 miles away...

i get paid mainly by cheques/paypal... i am in the psot office nearly every day, so no probs in posting cheques in the free paid envelopes, the only thing i can see is i got to make sure i allow a few extra days for the cheques to reach them and clear...

i have a loan with loyds at the mo... which i will either need to clear, or keep open the loyds account, and just put in the money to cover the payments... but if i do this i will not be eligeble for the 8% interest on the business account...

i was going to start over paying the loan....as i wanted to finish it within the year anyway....there are no penalties etc... and the interest is calculated daily ( on a high interest rate :eek: ) .....

with all the good feedback from you peeps.... i am def going to change.... just need to get focused on paying off the business loan,before i switch

MrMoo123

This thread has been of great use to me - thanks! :beer:

Just filling out their application form which you can download and send off - I figure it would be easier then popping in and seeing them as its a few miles away in our local shopping center and can't be bothered with the hassle!

Coulple of questions if someone wouldn't mind helping (I am a complete novice at applying for business bank accounts so please bare with me!;) )

'Source of Payment to account' - what do they want here? I suspect most if not all of the payment I recieve will be by cheque or cash, is that what they are asking? What other methods are there? Do they mean do I want to be able to accept card payments?

'Type of Business Premises' - at the moment i'm just using an office at my home address, pretty straightforward, but there is another option - 'owned with mortgage' - does this apply to me as I have a mortgage on our home or does it mean if I had another business premises with a mortgage? They go on to ask the property value and mortgage outstanding which surely is seperate to my business so would only apply if it was business premises? There is another section for my personal details where it asks about my own mortgage (hope I am making sense here).

lavender_girl

Hi,

Great post! Thank you.

Question:-

Is there a minimum amount you have to pay in monthly?

Thanks