Recommend a Business Bank Account.

[Valiant]

Natwest has just told a lot of their members that they need to move elsewhere due to being too big or something.


Who's good?

[Diver300]

Natwest has just told a lot of their members that they need to move elsewhere due to being too big or something.


Who's good?

We are with HSBC who seem OK, although £5 / month isn't good. All the online stuff works, and we get printed statements as well. We get a bank card which I use a lot for online purchases. However, I would have thought that all banks will do all that.

We were told to bugger off a few months ago. It turned out that we had overlooked a letter asking for loads of extra information, proving who we were, where the money came from, etc, which was a ball ache to comply with, but we managed keep the account going. Also they put a big warning message on the online account, apparently, but only for the primary user, and it so happened that the secondary user was the one actually doing the everyday stuff, and there wasn't even a message saying that there is a message for the primary user.

There was a similar problem when we wanted to take credit cards. The company suggested by HSBC had big monthly fees but low charges, but Square would cost us a lot less as the monthly turnover by card is small. Oddly, what transactions we have are fairly big. I put £10 through from my credit car to check it worked, and then took £2000 from one customer. Then Square demanded proof of everything before giving us the money. Submitting data was a pain, as each request had to have exactly one file upload, so a scan of password+driving licence had to be separated, and bank statements had to be single documents even when scanned from n pages, but we got it done, and Square sent us the money a few days after we submitted the info, and the customer never saw any difference.

It seems that the banks are running very scared of not being able to prove that they are not helping money laundering. They would far rather ditch 1000 accounts that have one that doesn't have the right paperwork. Are NatWest asking you to go unconditionally, or are they asking for a load of extra information? If they are asking for a load of extra info, any new account with another bank will need much the same information.

[Valiant]

Nope thinking to do with my paperwork, they've been saying for a year that they were meant to create a new bank called Miles & Glynn or something, but that fell through, so now they have to shed x number of clients. Been a Customer since I were born and have multiple accounts with them all in good standing.

[Ben T]

I'm reasonably happy with barclays. Their app is pretty good, and they automatically switched me onto a different pricing structure because it's cheaper for my personal usage pattern (it's either per month or per transaction or something).

[barakta]

Avoid HSBC.  I am part of an organisation taking them to the financial ombudsman for failing to set up an account for over 6 months and fucking us about along the way.

[snail]

I'm with co-op and happy enough. I tried to open a business account with my current account provider, Lloyds, but they wouldn't give me the introductory period of free banking as my business had been trading for a few years (through my current account - not illegal but not advised). I thought they'd be happy I was going legit AND be happy that they could see years of increasingly profitable trading. But no. Whereas Co-op were more than happy to give me 18 months free banking and I like their online system.

Also Lloyds telephone support, even when done internally during the session I had with the business adviser, was woeful. The bulk of my income comes from US and they just seemed to implode at that. Co-op didn't bat an eyelid and were super-helpful.

[Valiant]

I already use Co-Op for a business account for a non profit. Hate their system.

[rafletcher]

Santander offer free business banking I believe. Personally I'm with HSBC are reasonably happy.

[Frank9755]

I've been with Metro Bank for the last five years and am very happy.  Branch experience and call centres are both excellent, on the odd occasion I have to use them.

It's free as long as you keep £5,000 minimum in the account.

I switched from HSBC as they kept scrweing up. Last straw was when they lost a US$ cheque for several thousand dollars and I had to plead with client to send another one.

[Quisling]

I already use Co-Op for a business account for a non profit. Hate their system.

I use Triodos for my business - which is energy/environmental and "good" and they're fine for me and support my ethical principles.  Undoubtedly useless for businesses with 100's or 1000's of transactions as their charges will become unpleasant but I've only issued something like 70 invoices in three years so no problem for me.  Good online tools but no app for mobile.  No bank card either which is a bit rubbish.