Business Banking

[DaveB]

Maybe it's just me, but I prefer not to have to talk to people if I can help it. And okay so you can get your balance by phone, but if you want to check all the transactions over the last week, are you going to just wait whilst they read them out to you? You can't beat having all the up to date information on a screen in front of you. I wish I could get my bank to stop sending me printed statements, I never look at them, and they're of date by the time I get them anyway.

Plus, I'm sure like a lot of us, I do all my accounts and invoicing and the like at the weekend, usually Sunday evening.

I'm quite happy with Barclays. I do everything online, my company cheque book is still full and gathering dust somewhere. And as my personal account is also with Barclays when I pay myself it's there in an instant. How do you pay yourself if you're with CA? Write a cheque and walk to the bank during office hours to pay it in, and then wait a week for it to clear? What century is this?

Well I generally know what the transactions on the co. account are. There arnt that many each month to keep track of! I keep the printed statements anyway because it is easier to make copies of them and provide them when needed for the tax man etc.

I do my accounts at the weekend as well, and CA are open 24/7 with real people on the phone. If I want to make transfers at 3am on sunday morning I can. Can't think why I would but I can.

I do pay myself by cheque each month and pay it into the bank. My personal account is with Lloyds so it's actually quicker than a BACS transfer. The money shows on my personal bank balance as soon as it's paid in and they pay interest on it from the minute it hits my account. Not three days later, as it would with BACS.

Using cheques also means I have a verified hard copy of the payment going in since I get bank stamped receipts for them and have the cheque stubs stamped.