GaryK

Just started a new business and not sure who to open an account with. Used Barclays (ok but not great) and Natwest (appalling) in the past so just after those who run their own businesses who they bank with and what their experiences are.

cheers

Gary

MikeCardiff

iTrader: (2)

I use Lloyds and have never had a problem with them, but saying that the account is always in credit, and I dont use any of their things like overdrafts, loans, credit cards etc.. plus when I opened it I stuck a decent sized lump sum in.

I get free use of their business centre as well which has conference rooms, fax machines, photocopiers, internet access etc... which can be useful if you need to use them while out.

Most will offer free banking for a set time, so find one that is offering a good deal - if you are going to need a loan or overdraft for cashflow then your bargaining powers will be a bit less. Handy to have one that will give a company debit card as well as it saves writing cheques all the time.

Remember as well that you can haggle with most of them, dont just take what they tell you as being set as your manager will have some leeway in what he can do on charges and rates, although they won't openly advertise this.

David Lock

Federation of Small Businesses (I am a member) keep sending me stuff about a free banking service. Possibly worth looking into?

ben44

I use RBS for the company accounts. (I recently switched my personal account to them aswell) I can't fault them. They understood when I was starting up, that things were going to be difficult at first. Some banks could have pretty much charged me out of business, but they didn't.

Their internet banking and telephone banking is also very good.

The only slight down side, is the lack of branchs in the south of England and London. Its not a problem for me, but if you are seting up a business that requires you to pay in cash frequently, then it could a problem.

I agree about Barclays and Natwest!

Kev_turbo

Use HSBC only because their is a local one in the village. They gave me 12 months free banking and a free chargre card. Overdraft facility if required can be had for less than £80 IIRC. Not had any issues but not used 90% of the facilities, I only wanted somewhere to deposit cheques made out to the company name.

StickyMicky

barclays for me, purley down to convieniance

they let you run for about a year i think? without charges
not sure if they are the cheapest or whatever, but the online banking with my other 2 acounts makes it to easy to use, so i cant say no

Trout

iTrader: (1)

HSBC for me - particularly good as the only branch in the village is an HSBC. It is also a small branch with a great manager so you get excellent service.

Online service is pretty good too. Like above - only use limited facilities - current, high interest and charge card accounts.

Rannoch

RichB

Abbey.
Costs nothing.
Has debit card.
Online everything, free to deposit cheques using prepaid envelopes (there is a max)
Can't fault it but then I'm just a self employed web nerd.

DocJock

Another vote for RBS.

Ray_li

HSBC won't give us a business bank account

MAC76

Another vote for the abbey here, I have a fairly large turnover and still the charges are minimal... the one thing that does annoy me is making deposits into the cash mahcine tho!

mark1234

Abbey here also - no complaints. Even gave me 50 quid when someone fcuked up and put the sort-code of a payee in as the amount (as well as sorting it out )

Merv

iTrader: (12)

Another vote for Abbey,they even pay interest on your chq account.

GaryK

Yes heard good things about RBS, I did look into switching to Abbey in my last business but having spent 10 minutes waiting on the phone to even speak to someone about opening an account I thought hmmm not a good start!

Thanks for the opinions guys anyway.

Nick

I've been with Natwest for 15 years with few problems. The important thing is what happens when there is a problem. I've found that banks like Barclays & HSBC have terrible customer services, with HSBC seemingly located in Africa with no English speakers. Natwest are convenient & it's easy to ring them.

If you think you will need a big overdraft, then choose one of the high street banks, if not, look at a building society or online bank. Consider also how many cheques you will be depositing & the ease in doing this.

richardg

take a look at alliance and leicester. before they took over girobank, i had a girobank account for paying in receipts from a cash business. saved about £400 odd quid in year one on deposit fees compared to natwest. not sure what the others charge, but paying in £400-600 a day in coins and a few notes could have proved very expensive!! having said that, the larger banks do now waive paying in fees for a short time when you open a new account i think. that;s what worked for me at the time, depends on what you're looking for. In contrast to your post, i've had good service from natwest over the last 10 yrs or so and the opposite from barclays over the last 20 yrs or so. there doesn't seem to be any pattern to the level of service from the banks!

TopBanana

I used to use Flemings, before they were bought out.

I guess it depends on the type of business. If you need an overdraft, you need to search for a bank manager who believes in your business and who you get on with, rather than choose a bank by its standard rates etc. Remember, everything is negotiable.

RichWalk

My/Our biz uses Barclays,it does help that an ex Regional Barclays Business manager sits on our board, and trained the guy who is now our manager, so as with much of business its who you know. just got our o/d on the Euro a/c upped by 50K sterling and our interest rate on borrowing down from 3.5% to 2% over base.