Business Banking

[dmini]

Right
I am completely cheesed off with my bank - Bank of Scotland. The account had issues being set up - forms lost internally, security is a mare, I couldn't transfer money to my personal account (not that functionality) helpdesk couldn't help, & I have now managed to disable both internet and phone banking ( they are linked) , I now have to fill in a form which came through snail post & send it back through the post to start getting the accounts re-enabled. Added to which they "forgot" to set up an ability for me to pay in the branch - rarely needed, but was this week
Although they have a business manager he will never ring me back I've only been with them 6 weeks
I want a simple, easy to manage account. I want to be able to check my account on-line, pay myself & hector online, be able to pay in the odd bit of money locally, and not have to remember 10 different passwords! And if some password gets messed up, I don't want to have to wait weeks while we pllay pass the parcel with bits of paper. I want to reset it on the phone - don't mind them sending the new password through the post though.
Any suggestions. I have spoken to Alliance & leicester - they seem reasonable,are they any good? Who else have people got experience of? Banking blurb on websites can look good, but what actually WORKS? Bearing in mind that I count as a startup at present

[tacpot]

Alliance & Leicester & NatWest

I had similar problems with A & L Commercial Bank as you are having with BOS in the early days but once the Internet banking system was setup I can do eveything I need to easily - but their Internet banking system requires two user ids and two passwords to be entered to log on.

In a previous contracting episode, I used NatWest and had no problems whatso ever, but they charge more than A & L - a case of getting what you pay for, perhaps?

tp

[Cowboy Bob]

I'm very happy with Abbey. Easy and painless to set up, and Internet banking works sensibly. And virtually no charges if you opt for the "No Branch" route.

[xoggoth]

Agree with CB. Only downside of Abbey is they seem to be slow at sending new cheque/paying in books or doing anything that requires paperwork.

[Cowboy Bob]

Agree with CB. Only downside of Abbey is they seem to be slow at sending new cheque/paying in books or doing anything that requires paperwork.

Yeah, I just went through the new cheque book saga. Got it eventually though.

[DaveB]

I'm still perfectly happy with Cater Allen. Yes, I know they dont have an internet service but quite honestly I wouldnt really use it that much anyway.

If I want to check the balance, order a check book or make a payment other than the normal monthly transactions I just phone them ( freephone number ) and it's done. Always answered quickly, always by someone with a clue about what they are doing.

When they provide service as good as that who needs internet banking.

[Diestl]

No Internet banking puts me off and also they want 5k as a min starting balance. I don't want to talk to a droid everytime i want to check my balance.

[malvolio]

Go to HSBC. They work, they're invisible, they have all the toys. They charge small amounts, especially if you don't use cheques but use CHAPS or BACS, and those are more than offset by the interest. They may use overseaas call centes (shcok, horror - but then they are an international company, the clue is in the name) but the one time I needed them (in ten years) to fix a corrupted digital certificate, I was patched through to a young lady in Hong Kong who sorted me out in five minutes flat.

[VectraMan]

When they provide service as good as that who needs internet banking.

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?

[DaveB]

No Internet banking puts me off and also they want 5k as a min starting balance. I don't want to talk to a droid everytime i want to check my balance.

Join the PCG and you get a preferential account. No opening balance required, no charges if you have fewer than 20 transacations per month on the account and the interest isnt bad for a business account either.

The people they have on the phones arent just droids reading a script either. They can actually help you without the usual call center crap.