Cater Allen vs HSBC/Santander Business banking

[mekool]

I have been suggested Cater Allen by an accountant. But, looking at some recent threads here it seems that they are not as good now as they were previously.

The accountant has mentioned that if I go with Cater Allen then they will have view only rights to my account and I will not need to send them my bank statements regularly. Is it advisable to open such an account where they have view only access. It does not seems to be a very good idea to me as it leaves open the door for identity theft and fraud.

I have also looked at HSBC and Santander's business bank account and both offerings seem good to me.

HSBC has an initial 18 month free period and Santander's offering seems to be free for small businesses (unless I have missed something)

[northernladuk]

http://forums.contractoruk.com/accou...nder-hsbc.html

[malvolio]

Been with HSBC for many years now. Have had to call them once. Basically it does what is says on the tin

[TheFaQQer]

HSBC has an initial 18 month free period and Santander's offering seems to be free for small businesses (unless I have missed something)

This doesn't bode well.

Santander offer free banking for 12 months for a business start-up in it's first year of trading and with this being their first bank account. You can extend that to 18 months free if you have a Santander personal account.

After that you are looking at £7.50 a month.

Santander used to do completely free business banking, and if you were with them when they did that, they guaranteed free business banking for life. I moved to Santander once HSBC started charging me, and it's been smooth and free since then.

As ever, do your own research and make sure you read the small print.

[d000hg]

The accountant has mentioned that if I go with Cater Allen then they will have view only rights to my account and I will not need to send them my bank statements regularly. Is it advisable to open such an account where they have view only access. It does not seems to be a very good idea to me as it leaves open the door for identity theft and fraud.

HSBC also allow this and frankly it's a good thing in my view. If you don't trust your accountant to view your bank account, you shouldn't use them!

[TykeMerc]

HSBC also allow this and frankly it's a good thing in my view. If you don't trust your accountant to view your bank account, you shouldn't use them!

Absolutely.

A professional accountancy firm with a reputation to keep and liability insurances having read only access to the business accounts isn't a real risk.
You have to trust your accountants to give well considered advice as skilled professionals (yes in the real sense, not the devalued application of the word) as your tax affairs are important. They have no interest in defrauding you for a few k in your business account.

[Sausage Surprise]

Nowt wrong with Cater Allen. Completely free, online banking and a deferred debit card. That's about all you need as a contractor. Their call centre service is second to none also.

[Support Monkey]

Cater Allen are part of Santander

[d000hg]

Cater Allen are part of Santander

So what? First Direct is part of HSBC but they are quite different.

[malvolio]

Nowt wrong with Cater Allen. Completely free, online banking and a deferred debit card. That's about all you need as a contractor. Their call centre service is second to none also.

People keep banging on about that like it's a good thing. Why do you need to call anyone to do routine banking? I haven't had to call HSBC for anything since 1998, and that was for a corrupted security token.

And what about same day payments...?