Business banking

[chuddy]

Anybody carried out or seen any recent business banking services/prices comparisons?

Looking for the best deal around at the moment

Thanks!

[Sockpuppet]

Natwest - 18 months free
Nationwider are 2 years free I think.

To be honest I looked into it and I dont think there is a great deal of difference.

The one that looks better is Cater Allen which seem to give higer rates of interest.

As I am however paid by BACs Natwests charges (even when they come in) will not apply to me as they only charge for checks etc.

[malvolio]

Depends who you talk to, but everyone has bad opinions of everyone else's favourites! Service costs are much the same at the end of the day, with the big corporates costing a bit more than the specialists; but the specialists don't offer things I need like internet banking, or require minimum balances in the account. Makes like-for-like comparisons quite difficult, actually.

I wimp out. Been with HSBC since Day 1, never had a problem with them, needed the helpdesk once (couldn't get in - turned out a digital certificate on my PC had got corrupted) and I was rescued by a charming young lady in Singapore in around 15 minutes. Others think they're the spawn of the Devil.

[Pondlife]

Abbey: Free banking forever, internet banking and reasonable rates for the reserve account.

Haven't had to use their helpdesk yet and they did take their time (3 weeks) opening the account but no probs since.

HTH

[LordF]

Abbey - free business banking for life

I am very happy with them

[MarillionFan]

Abbey not Cater. Cater insist on £5000 being paid in to open the account, plus you cannot find a branch.

Annoyingly Abbey own Cater.

[malvolio]

See what I mean...

[Darren@UptonAccountants]

Banks

Abbey not Cater. Cater insist on £5000 being paid in to open the account, plus you cannot find a branch.

Annoyingly Abbey own Cater.

Very true, however if you go through an intermediary, CA will waive the £5k initial deposit. They do tend to have good rates of interest, with the online banking working for employee accounts at the moment, open to customers in a couple of months....very handy for deposit accounts at the moment.

Bank of Scotland are pretty decent for the day to day banking, they also give a decent rate of interest on their business accounts. I've a contact at BoS is you want further details.

[DaveB]

Very true, however if you go through an intermediary, CA will waive the £5k initial deposit. They do tend to have good rates of interest, with the online banking working for employee accounts at the moment, open to customers in a couple of months....very handy for deposit accounts at the moment.

CA's online banking has been "open to customers in a couple of months" for the last couple of years as far as I can tell

Having said that all the rest is true and AFAIK they give the best interest on bussiness current accounts currently available. Free banking, payment card and a telephone service that is actually worth using. If they ever get the online banking thing sorted they will corner the market.

[cook]

Hi,

Here is a good comparison of business banking costs:
http://www.moneyfactsonline.co.uk/mfBAF/root.asp

Costs and interest seem to vary widely. Often free banking means 0% interest, so the ideal is free banking with a decent interest rate.