Discussion
Also had enough of Natwest and we are mid transition to Barclays, what really annoyed me was their ads on telly telling me the polar opposite of what I was experiencing - business managers in every branch, well mine covers 4 branches and I can never bloody get hold of them.
Barclays have what appears to be a good solution for my (smaller - approx 200K turnover) company as they have a "Free Automated Transmissions" tarriff. It means free transactions on web payments in and out which for me is great as most of my clients prefer this and I am working on the last few clients who pay me by cheque. Having said that paying in by cheque is the same cost as their standard business tarriff anyway; the only difference is that the standard business tarriff earns interest at 2.5& below base - doesn't bother me as would just move longer term money into a savings account and pull it back over when required.
Not sure if the same product is available to the 1m-10m turnover bracket which is the next one up.
link here if you are interested.
They have impressed so far but we are new business so I guess they would be trying, I have no doubt that there will be problem at some point but I think that is par for the course with any bank sadly. At the end of the day the main reason I chose them was because they were the only bank with a branch on the outskirts of Maidenhead and that meant that I could park outside rather than having to go into the multistory
Barclays have what appears to be a good solution for my (smaller - approx 200K turnover) company as they have a "Free Automated Transmissions" tarriff. It means free transactions on web payments in and out which for me is great as most of my clients prefer this and I am working on the last few clients who pay me by cheque. Having said that paying in by cheque is the same cost as their standard business tarriff anyway; the only difference is that the standard business tarriff earns interest at 2.5& below base - doesn't bother me as would just move longer term money into a savings account and pull it back over when required.
Not sure if the same product is available to the 1m-10m turnover bracket which is the next one up.
link here if you are interested.
They have impressed so far but we are new business so I guess they would be trying, I have no doubt that there will be problem at some point but I think that is par for the course with any bank sadly. At the end of the day the main reason I chose them was because they were the only bank with a branch on the outskirts of Maidenhead and that meant that I could park outside rather than having to go into the multistory
touchingcloth said:
Also had enough of Natwest and we are mid transition to Barclays, what really annoyed me was their ads on telly telling me the polar opposite of what I was experiencing - business managers in every branch, well mine covers 4 branches and I can never bloody get hold of them.
Absolutely! Irks me every time I see the ad. No idea who my manager was until I sought him out. The latest one owes me a phone call from last week which he's obviously never going to make.
Is there any bank that is head and shoulders above the rest though?
HSBC.....BE careful, they have shut my local branch, call centre in India is rubbish, no branch phone numbers available (although I do have a number to a business banker who rings me a few days later), and they charge £50 per £10K for withdrawing or depositing cash......my business has a seven figure turnover
I have moved my business account from HSBC to Barclays, my personal accounts are with Nat West and my wife banks with Lloyds. They are all as bad as each other, useless the lot of them. At least personal banking is free, Barclays charge me about £200 per month for the dubious privilege of dealing with them. I am toying with the idea of moving to the Alliance and Leicester or one of the other banks offering free business banking, the service probably won't be any better but at least I won't be paying to give them money, Barclays charge 28p to pay a cheque into the account and 59p to pay one out.
I second Barclays, been with them for years and just opened a business account with them.
They seem on the ball, but only niggle is that when you want to get hold of your business manager you have to contact him/her through a regional call centre and ask if they'll pass on a message (they don’t allow customers to email direct)
They seem on the ball, but only niggle is that when you want to get hold of your business manager you have to contact him/her through a regional call centre and ask if they'll pass on a message (they don’t allow customers to email direct)
d1bble said:
I second Barclays, been with them for years and just opened a business account with them.
They seem on the ball, but only niggle is that when you want to get hold of your business manager you have to contact him/her through a regional call centre and ask if they'll pass on a message (they don’t allow customers to email direct)
strange - i have my barclays relationship manager's email address, mobile phone and personal extension number. get through to her or her little side kick anytime i want.
tinman0 said:
I second Barclays, been with them for years and just opened a business account with them.
They seem on the ball, but only niggle is that when you want to get hold of your business manager you have to contact him/her through a regional call centre and ask if they'll pass on a message (they don’t allow customers to email direct)
strange - i have my barclays relationship manager's email address, mobile phone and personal extension number. get through to her or her little side kick anytime i want.
Yeah, me too. My relationship manager said the call centre approach was a PITA and readily offered direct contact numbers
When I first started in Business the first three Banks I used (TSB, NatWest and Yorkshire Bank) fell by the wayside very quickly. I've been with the same branch of Barclays for about fifteen years now
I do think that in a way banks are like garages. It's not that VW are better than Ford, it's more to do with the actual garage you take your car to. Similarly not all branches of say, Barclays, are the same.
tinman0 said:
we are at Barclays and have had a pretty good time with them over the last 8 years. we have a relationship manager who always fights our corner.
Found them to be very good so far although we don't ask a lot of them to be fair.
We also don't pay any charges on our account for transactions and the like at the penalty of no interest. A good trade-off but you'd need to do the sums. Also - their internet banking is excellent and I can manage personal, joint and business a/c from the same place. Saves time.
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