business bank account

[sawman]

I am in the process of setting up a private practice partnership with my wife, to augment my NHS practice (she hasnt worked since kids - but same speciality and would like to be actively involved in this) .
I am thinking it might be easier to keep track of financial ins and outs if we set up a specific bank account for this. Do I need a specific business account? if so are there any decent, free or v low cost accounts around? or would a simple joint account work for this?

[V8covin]

There are a number of banks that offer free business banking for an initial period.
Hsbc is one,free for a year then £5 or 6 per month in the 2nd year, I forget the exact amount.
Yorkshire is another who did free banking for 2 years I think it was,might be different now.
Don't under any circumstances go with the CO-OP, they are useless

[So]

V8covin said:

There are a number of banks that offer free business banking for an initial period.
Hsbc is one,free for a year then £5 or 6 per month in the 2nd year, I forget the exact amount.
Yorkshire is another who did free banking for 2 years I think it was,might be different now.
Don't under any circumstances go with the CO-OP, they are useless

I've intimate experience of all of those and they are all useless.

[rustyuk]

Your account should be able to recommend one, I'm with Cater Allen who are free up to so many transactions in a month, something I've never hit so never paid.

They don't pay interest though on the first 150k IIRC

I have also heard good things about Tide

Edited by rustyuk on Wednesday 20th March 15:14

[red_slr]

There was a big survey of business bank accounts recently. Our bank sent us the results to show how well (sh*t) they had done.
Google will probably show the results, I think 100k businesses polled. Pretty sure Santander won.

[SS2.]

rustyuk said:

Your account should be able to recommend one, I'm with Cater Allen who are free up to so many transactions in a month, something I've never hit so never paid.

They don't pay interest though on the first 150k IIRC

We're also with Cater Allen.

They've given us excellent service over the years, no complaints whatsoever.

You need a minimum of £5k in the account and interest is paid at 0.1% (>£100k) and 0.15% (>£500k).

You're allowed up to 30 standard debit transactions per month without cost, with a fee of £0.75 being applied to each additional transaction.

[sawman]

So said:

V8covin said:

There are a number of banks that offer free business banking for an initial period.
Hsbc is one,free for a year then £5 or 6 per month in the 2nd year, I forget the exact amount.
Yorkshire is another who did free banking for 2 years I think it was,might be different now.
Don't under any circumstances go with the CO-OP, they are useless

I've intimate experience of all of those and they are all useless.

Thanks, I'll avoid these then!

so far as it goes, I have no real idea what the uptake for this venture might be, hence why not wanting to get into monthly charges etc' might take a couple of years to get going.

[So]

sawman said:

So said:

V8covin said:

There are a number of banks that offer free business banking for an initial period.
Hsbc is one,free for a year then £5 or 6 per month in the 2nd year, I forget the exact amount.
Yorkshire is another who did free banking for 2 years I think it was,might be different now.
Don't under any circumstances go with the CO-OP, they are useless

I've intimate experience of all of those and they are all useless.

Thanks, I'll avoid these then!

so far as it goes, I have no real idea what the uptake for this venture might be, hence why not wanting to get into monthly charges etc' might take a couple of years to get going.

TBH I don't think any of the big banks are going to be great. Though First Direct seems to be well liked by those who use them. Odd given that they and HSBC are linked.

Handelsbanken gets good reviews, but they are expensive and if they don't like your line of work forget it.

[surveyor]

Santander have actually got their stuff together for business banking. Best mainstream IMO.

[Spidersleg]

Avoid TSb they are terrible after their recent shambles with internet banking "upgrades"

[V8covin]

So said:

I've intimate experience of all of those and they are all useless.

I've had no issues with Yorkshire or HSBC but then my requirements are pretty basic

[servantleader]

I highly recommend Metro Bank, I have both their business and personal accounts and have had no problems, and I'm not paying any fees on the business account either.

[technodup]

I find Starling very good. The only (I could find anyway) app based bank in the FSCS.

[sawman]

technodup said:

I find Starling very good. The only (I could find anyway) app based bank in the FSCS.

Thanks. I found starling with a google search, sound like they might be worth a look, good to know you have found them to be decent.