Best Small Business Account
Discussion
Small start up business, importing and installing a specialist medical product.
Low turnover to begin with but who knows where it could end up.
After a business bank account whilst paying as little fees as possible whilst it's in it's infancy.
Initial research suggests http://www.tsb.co.uk/business/# with 18 months free day to day banking could be a good start?
Low turnover to begin with but who knows where it could end up.
After a business bank account whilst paying as little fees as possible whilst it's in it's infancy.
Initial research suggests http://www.tsb.co.uk/business/# with 18 months free day to day banking could be a good start?
Go for it, Why not? They're all much of a much, offering free banking for x months then a £5 per month account.
Just think about how you will use the account. If manual pay ins are important then obviously one that is close by. If everything will be done online then geography matters not.
We did HSBC for my wife's small company, set up as above. We both bank personally with HSBC. Everything is done online so just the £5 per month fee.
Good luck.
Just think about how you will use the account. If manual pay ins are important then obviously one that is close by. If everything will be done online then geography matters not.
We did HSBC for my wife's small company, set up as above. We both bank personally with HSBC. Everything is done online so just the £5 per month fee.
Good luck.
Metro Bank isn't bad, but I've never yet managed a successful SEK transaction with them. EUR and GBP have both been fine. Business banking is free if you maintain a balance of over £2000 in the account.
Co-operative Bank also does free banking for small businesses if you're a member of the FSB. All pretty painless (including SEK transactions!).
Those are the two I use, and I'm not in any hurry to leave either of them. Which is about as good a recommendation as you're going to get from me.
Co-operative Bank also does free banking for small businesses if you're a member of the FSB. All pretty painless (including SEK transactions!).
Those are the two I use, and I'm not in any hurry to leave either of them. Which is about as good a recommendation as you're going to get from me.
Jockman said:
Go for it, Why not? They're all much of a much, offering free banking for x months then a £5 per month account.
Just think about how you will use the account. If manual pay ins are important then obviously one that is close by. If everything will be done online then geography matters not.
We did HSBC for my wife's small company, set up as above. We both bank personally with HSBC. Everything is done online so just the £5 per month fee.
Good luck.
Just think about how you will use the account. If manual pay ins are important then obviously one that is close by. If everything will be done online then geography matters not.
We did HSBC for my wife's small company, set up as above. We both bank personally with HSBC. Everything is done online so just the £5 per month fee.
Good luck.
AB said:
Thanks very much. To be honest, £5 a month isn't a problem, I've just heard horror stories of fees per transaction and the like.
I bank personally with HSBC too so I'll look into that.
hmmmmm, I have a HSBC business account and I pay £5 fee and transactions fees - every payment received online or cheque gets charged, plus paying in cash. Cost me £10 to pay in ~£1500 cash a couple of months ago! I'd change to someone else but seems more hassle than its worth when all my clients have the current bank account details and would no doubt continue to make payments online to the old account even if I told them a hundred times that the account has changed I bank personally with HSBC too so I'll look into that.
addey said:
hmmmmm, I have a HSBC business account and I pay £5 fee and transactions fees - every payment received online or cheque gets charged, plus paying in cash. Cost me £10 to pay in ~£1500 cash a couple of months ago! I'd change to someone else but seems more hassle than its worth when all my clients have the current bank account details and would no doubt continue to make payments online to the old account even if I told them a hundred times that the account has changed
HSBC would offer OP 18 months free banking then 12 months fixed at £5.50 per month then you would choose either the Electronic Banking Tariff where most things are free or the Small Business Tariff where you pay for transactions. Both cost £5.50 per month.My wife's business is her name so the 2 cheques pa she receives get paid in to her free personal account then transfered free to her business account. Likewise all cash, paid in freely then transferred freely. Her business is small enough to do this.
All payment are done by BACS (Accountant, Insurance etc) or Debit Card - all free.
Jockman said:
HSBC would offer OP 18 months free banking then 12 months fixed at £5.50 per month then you would choose either the Electronic Banking Tariff where most things are free or the Small Business Tariff where you pay for transactions. Both cost £5.50 per month.
My wife's business is her name so the 2 cheques pa she receives get paid in to her free personal account then transfered free to her business account. Likewise all cash, paid in freely then transferred freely. Her business is small enough to do this.
All payment are done by BACS (Accountant, Insurance etc) or Debit Card - all free.
That's interesting, I'm not aware of ever being offered the Electronic Banking Tariff so will have to look into that. Majority of my income is received via online transfers so would certainly save me some money (currently pay between £20 and £50 every month in fees!)My wife's business is her name so the 2 cheques pa she receives get paid in to her free personal account then transfered free to her business account. Likewise all cash, paid in freely then transferred freely. Her business is small enough to do this.
All payment are done by BACS (Accountant, Insurance etc) or Debit Card - all free.
http://www.business.hsbc.uk/en-gb/everyday-banking...
Scroll down this one - I took the liberty of assuming you were a switcher under £500k with no imports / exports.
The only difference I can see is that your free banking period is reduced to 12 months then 12 months at £5.50 (conditions apply).
Edit - I appreciate your bank is HSBC but still worth looking at the bottom table to compare the 2 tariffs.
Scroll down this one - I took the liberty of assuming you were a switcher under £500k with no imports / exports.
The only difference I can see is that your free banking period is reduced to 12 months then 12 months at £5.50 (conditions apply).
Edit - I appreciate your bank is HSBC but still worth looking at the bottom table to compare the 2 tariffs.
Edited by Jockman on Tuesday 31st May 21:08
Jockman said:
http://www.business.hsbc.uk/en-gb/everyday-banking...
Scroll down this one - I took the liberty of assuming you were a switcher under £500k with no imports / exports.
The only difference I can see is that your free banking period is reduced to 12 months then 12 months at £5.50 (conditions apply).
Edit - I appreciate your bank is HSBC but still worth looking at the bottom table to compare the 2 tariffs.
Yes just been having a bit of a look on the website and plan to call them. I've had my business account with them for 5 years or so, had 12 or 18 months free at the beginning then moved onto fee based tariff. Obviously I need to look at the charges in detail to see which I'd be better off with, but I'm mostly annoyed that I've never been notified that there is even a choice! And the fact that they haven't contacted me about changing tariff on the basis that the majority of my transactions are done online now (whereas in the first year or two if was probably mostly cheques). Scroll down this one - I took the liberty of assuming you were a switcher under £500k with no imports / exports.
The only difference I can see is that your free banking period is reduced to 12 months then 12 months at £5.50 (conditions apply).
Edit - I appreciate your bank is HSBC but still worth looking at the bottom table to compare the 2 tariffs.
Edited by Jockman on Tuesday 31st May 21:08
Sorry to the OP for hijacking your thread! Although may give you an insight into HSBC's workings which may influence you..... I've never had any problems with HSBC, although at the same time they've never really done anything for me....
I bailed from HSBC ten years ago.
My advice would be not to be too concerned about a few quid of tariffs at the start - look at the overall experience.
The final straw with HSBC was my overdraft application being met with the request to provide a full 'business plan' which would be looked over in an interview with the branch 'business advisor'.
Fair enough? Except when it came to it, she simply flicked through it to get the 'key figures' for her computer spreadsheet. This got more complicated as she did not know the difference between 'turnover' and 'profit'. I kid you not...
For the last ten years we've been with Natwest.
There you have the option of either choosing branch management if you prefer face to face, or the national business centre. The latter means you call one of the team who is available during office hours. That team member is then assigned to you to complete that request until it's finished.
I do the latter, and our overdraft for a decent 5 figure sum was progressed with a ten minute initial call from me, filling out a couple of forms and emailing them, and 72 hours later it was approved and activated.
That, IMHO is where the differences between the banks are important, not per se the exact tariff.
My advice would be not to be too concerned about a few quid of tariffs at the start - look at the overall experience.
The final straw with HSBC was my overdraft application being met with the request to provide a full 'business plan' which would be looked over in an interview with the branch 'business advisor'.
Fair enough? Except when it came to it, she simply flicked through it to get the 'key figures' for her computer spreadsheet. This got more complicated as she did not know the difference between 'turnover' and 'profit'. I kid you not...
For the last ten years we've been with Natwest.
There you have the option of either choosing branch management if you prefer face to face, or the national business centre. The latter means you call one of the team who is available during office hours. That team member is then assigned to you to complete that request until it's finished.
I do the latter, and our overdraft for a decent 5 figure sum was progressed with a ten minute initial call from me, filling out a couple of forms and emailing them, and 72 hours later it was approved and activated.
That, IMHO is where the differences between the banks are important, not per se the exact tariff.
I have also had an account with Natwest for a fair few years. I use it mainly for purchases online when I don't want to put my details in or for nights out when a) i don't want to get too drunk and carried away and b) it wouldn't cause me problems if I lost it.
Have less than £1k going in and out each month, most months far less. So I've never had a reason to find out how good they were but it looks like they also do 18 months free.
Have less than £1k going in and out each month, most months far less. So I've never had a reason to find out how good they were but it looks like they also do 18 months free.
It's difficult to quantify customer service. You will find good and bad reviews of every bank. It should be easy to find experiences from last week never mind 10 years ago.
If you don't need customer service don't pay for it. We have not contacted HSBC in 6 years. The account just runs itself as I'm sure it would if it were with natwest.
If you don't need customer service don't pay for it. We have not contacted HSBC in 6 years. The account just runs itself as I'm sure it would if it were with natwest.
I use Lloyds. I used the originally as my personal account is with them, they gave us a year fee free and then gave us the option to choose a plan to suit us. As we're an online business we're on a tariff that gives us fee free online transactions and cash withdrawals which is perfect. They had a number of options and no doubt other banks probably offer the same sort of options.
For start up's they're all much the same, you won't be hit with big fee's if you make sure your on the right tariff for your needs.
For start up's they're all much the same, you won't be hit with big fee's if you make sure your on the right tariff for your needs.
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