Small orange giraffe started this topic @ 11:57 on 15/12/2004
Hi all - I'm a newbie here! Cool forum!
Just wondering if anyone has any recs on business bank accounts - I'm just looking into it at the mo, they all seem much of a muchness to me. Just wondered if anyone had any personal experience?
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RE: RE: Best business bank account
Small orange giraffe | 15/12/2004 04:20 PM
Hi Graeme, (I like giraffes btw!)
Thanks for your reply. Jus wondering if its best to get a high street account or if any other company offers anything better?
Am liking the Abbey one best so far - but as mentioned before I've not really looked into it too much yet!
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http://www.whiteflower.co.uk Contemporary and modern wedding stationery!
RE: RE: Best business bank account
Babylon | 15/12/2004 07:35 PM
Hi,
The choice of bank depends a lot on how you conduct your business and the finance facilities you expect from the chosen bank. For example, if you receive (or expect to) lots of cheques or cash then you will need to bank with a high street operation for ease of depositing them. A telebanking or web based account would mean that you will have to post the cheques/cash etc with allowances for postal delays. With a telebanking operation, it would also be difficult to develop a personal relationship with the bank staff.
According to a recent survey of small business owners by the Forum of Private Businesses the first few banks in rank order were as follows:
1. AIB
2. Yorkshire Bank
3. Clydesdale
4. HSBC
5. Royal Bank of Scotland
6. Bank of Scotland
7. NatWest
8. Lloyds
9. Barclays
Hope it helps.
Regards,
Joel
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RE: RE: Best business bank account
igmaynard | 16/12/2004 09:47 AM
I bank with Abbey, and opened up an account with them because of their "free banking for life" promise. So there are no bank charges at all for the small biz, which is excellent. However, they do charge if you exceed 100 cheque deposits a month, but it's not much. Also, their online service is not very good (frequently unavailable), and their telephone support is very poor (can take 10 mins to get through). But I have found it ideal for my purposes, but there again I am relatively near an ATM for my transactions.
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RE: Best business bank account
dnwilliams | 15/12/2004 07:27 PM
As a rule the online banks offer the best business rates. For example Alliance & Leicester, The Cooperative Bank, Smile etc. However, the high street banks are more convenient. They will usually offer you free banking for the first year.
RE: Best business bank account
Gardener | 15/12/2004 07:32 PM
Hi sog,
Difficult to tell which is best but here is some info you can chew over...
Natwest has about 25% market share of SME current accounts followed by Barclays, Lloyds and HSBC all at around 20%.
Barclays and LTSB have a wide product range for SMEs (see Clearlybusiness.com for example). I know Lloyds also offer different types of relationship managers should you need them - relationship is v. important.
Abbey has recently launched its SME banking and has a limited range of products. Also other bad thing is that you cannot use their branches currently althought that may change in the future. Anyway, who knows what the takeover will do to the bank.
Hope this helps!
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Gardener
