HSBC Business banking

[Shnozz]

I have an account with HSBC that costs about £5.50 PCM. Hardly a large expense but I wondered what advantages there were to an HSBC account over, say, the free on from Santander? Am I missing a trick with some benefit that I am not making use of?

[Jockman]

Depends on your profile. Is HSBC near you and is it required for pay-ins etc?

[Shnozz]

There is one a stone's throw away but my transactions are all online - payments made by BACS from clients and transactions out via the web portal.

[Jockman]

So you just pay the £66 pa I assume. This is exactly the same set up as my wife's small Beauty Business.

The Santander site says free for 18 months so long as you are in your first year of trading - does this apply to you otherwise its £90 pa with a small interest rate?

We decided to stay put as it was a lot of messing around to move.

[Shnozz]

You're quite right - just had a look over on their site. I am certain others have said previously that it was free full stop rather than 18 month period.

I seem to recall I got 18 months free when I started the HSBC account too, so it looks like much a muchness.

I am not that bothered by the charge to be honest, its buttons as you say. Guess I was more just making sure I wasn't overlooking some service that was brought courtesy of the charge. I call upon my personal banking far more in terms of what they do and yet have never paid for the privilege of an account. Not so much a whine as more just wondering if I should be taking advantage of something that might be on offer.

[Jockman]

Lloyds have a slightly better offering but, again, is it worth your while?...

https://www.lloydsbank.com/business/retail-busines...

[Shnozz]

Thanks chap but think we are possibly at cross purposes. The cost isn't really the primary concern or a driver for change - more so that I am just seeing whether the cost buys me anything I am not using..

[Jockman]

Gotcha. They all seem much of a much to me.

[SGirl]

I used to be with HSBC Business, I switched to Co-operative Bank because they were offering free business banking to members of the FSB.

But unless you have strong feelings about not staying with HSBC, you may as well stay. Getting my HSBC account closed was a right royal pain in the backside. Lots of to-ing and fro-ing, paperwork and general hassle.

[Shnozz]

Thanks SGirl - nice to see you posting luv, been a while x

[SGirl]

Hiya Shnozz, yep! It's been ages. Hope you're keeping well.

I forgot to say yesterday, I have free business banking with Metro Bank as well. They seem okay, but only if you only do business with companies using major currencies. So far they've failed on both receipts and payments in SEK, but GBP and EUR are okay.

Co-op's free business banking, on the other hand, is pretty good in all the currencies I've tried them with. But it's only free if you're a member of the FSB - and since I joined the FSB my spam levels have shot up. I'm sure the two aren't related though. Nope.

[Shnozz]

Useful info. Thank you my dear and great to see you on here.