Reply to: Switching Business Account from Barclays to ....??

[nick1122]

(my first post in the group, please be kind )

I have been trying to findout the best/cheapest business banking as my lloyds 18 month trial is about to end in a months time.

I found out about State Bank of India Features & Benefits | Business Current Account which offers free business banking (up to 25 transactions per month) and also provide 1% interest on balance over £10,000. Has anyone used this bank? My biggest concern is they dont seem to have pinsentry type of system for online transactions, so bit concerned how safe their websites will be.

Thanks.

<Admin note>Link removed</Admin note>

[fidot]

Another vote for Co-Op

In addition to free banking, Co-Op also pay interest and an annual bonus.

MyCo made approx £125 last year from its Co-Op account.

[JRCT]

I've been with Cater Allen for about a year now (after my 2 years free with RBS finished).

I was surprised that they didn't do same day payments at first, but ultimately it's not an issue when you know.

[Kugel]

Consider HSBC. Unfortunately only 6 month free when you switch. But monthly charge is only £5.5.

[SueEllen]

FP isn't optional.

There is a Payments Services Regulation in the UK, which is an implementation of the European Parliament and European Council directive, the Payments Service Directive.

CA like building societies who use another bank to do their payments processing where given more time than the big players to conform. Now they all have to conform and process payments withing one working (or more formally "one business") day.

[dty]

CA have had to change their faster payments due to the relevant regulation.

I thought FP was entirely optional?

They can now only take one working day to do a faster payment.

So if it is taking 3 days and there isn't a weekend then it's the receiving bank at fault.

Well, this was only just before Christmas that I was told explicitly on the phone that they don't support FP. Things may have changed since then, of course.

Regardless of that, if I know how long a payment is going to take, I can kind of live with it. But each one seemed to take a different amount of time and I just seemed to be spending my whole life checking the CA website and my personal bank website to see if a payment had made it, and when.

Now, in the time it takes me to click the "do it!" button in the Barclays iPhone app, then log in to the First Direct app, the money is already there. Because... you know... we've had distributed transactions, reliable messaging, etc. since the 1960s! :-)

[SueEllen]

CA have had to change their faster payments due to the relevant regulation.

They can now only take one working day to do a faster payment.

So if it is taking 3 days and there isn't a weekend then it's the receiving bank at fault.

[dty]

A bit late to the party here, but... I recently moved from Cater Allen to Barclays, because...

1) CA don't support Faster Payments. In fact, as far as I could make out, they barely support payments at all. I would tell them to pay my divi on, say, the 15th, and it wouldn't leave my account until the 16th. Even then, it only affected the headline balance, and the actually account entry wouldn't appear until the 17th. And then it would take another 2 days after that to arrive at the other end. Most of the time. Sometimes it went well. To be honest, the variability caused me even greater concern than the delay. When I queried this, they admitted to not supporting Faster Payments (although I'm pretty sure their website said they did - could be wrong here), and they were surprised that this caused me any concern at all and considered it "normal". It might have been once upon a time, but isn't now...

2) My 6 year-old could do a better job of building a website. Seriously. Now, I know they're a bank and they should be concentrating on that, and if I felt they were great at being a bank then I'd probably let this slide. But they're not, IMHO. Their online banking website is illogical and hard to navigate (especially on an iPhone, and therefore, I assume, any mobile device).

Reasons for going to Barclays:

1) To be honest, I expect most of the high street names have very similar offerings. Free for the first 1-2 years, and then £6-£8 pcm after that. Barclay's main differentiator for me was their FreeAgent integration, which does not use Yodlee.

2) Barclays have a pretty good iPhone app which means I can check my balances and make payments whilst I'm out and about with only a couple of clicks. Certainly much more straightforward than using a website (even a mobile optimised one). It's very satisfying to pay yourself a dividend whilst using the can at the client site - not that I go to the client site very often...

Regarding savings, why not just get a savings account with a different bank? Aldermore are currently offering 1.10% AER for an easy access account.

[BolshieBastard]

Hi Guys,

Currently ..
- With Barclays for last 2 yesrs
- Paying £8/month fees
- ~0% interest on savings

Looking for ..
- Free Banking for 1 year at least
- Needs some saving option with better rate
- Needs online banking
- 1 or 2 paying in per month
- Up to 5 paying out per month
- Needs direct debit/scheduled salary payment option


Options I could find..
1. Carter Allen
- Q. FSCS protected ..?
- Q. Not sure they started online banking ? or just tele?
- Looks like they offers FREE banking
- Q. Do they offer high interest deposit accounts as well..?

2. Yorkshire Bank
- 18 months free banking
- Q. Looks like they got online business banking as well?
- Q. Do they offer high interest deposit accounts as well..?

Is they any better option that suits me..? Thanks.

** I already searched & read all previous posts on this. I am after latest Information **

If you're in the FSB, you get free banking via the Co Op.

Despite what NLUK says, they're a decent bank and so long as you dont have more than 85k on account with them (or any bank for that matter), you're protected.

Not that there's going to be a run on them like northern crock.

I have my personal banking via Yorkshire Bank but wouldnt consider them for business, dont like mixing business and 'pleasure'!

[LancelotBarre]

I've been with Cater Allen since 2000 (when they were Robert Fleming & Co) and never had any problems with them. Their internet banking interface is a bit clunky but generally does what it is supposed to.

[FarmerPalmer]

Plus I personally know and have heard of other small business people having issues with Santander including not being able to move money from their business account to personal account.

No problems here with Santander, been with them a few years and no issues making payments to our Barclays personal account.

Just moved our personal current account to them too (123), still no issues making payments to personal account from the business.

Overall a good online banking experience with them.

[Sausage Surprise]

Cater Allen for the last 8 years, hassle free & free banking.

[Cloudrider]

I've used Cater Allen for past three years now with absolutely no complaints. In fact I've found them extremely helpful, more so than other banks and the Online banking is perfectly suitable if you're not looking for lots of frills.

[Jack Kada]

Hi Guys,

Currently ..
- With Barclays for last 2 yesrs
- Paying £8/month fees
- ~0% interest on savings

Looking for ..
- Free Banking for 1 year at least
- Needs some saving option with better rate
- Needs online banking
- 1 or 2 paying in per month
- Up to 5 paying out per month
- Needs direct debit/scheduled salary payment option


Options I could find..
1. Carter Allen
- Q. FSCS protected ..?
- Q. Not sure they started online banking ? or just tele?
- Looks like they offers FREE banking
- Q. Do they offer high interest deposit accounts as well..?

2. Yorkshire Bank
- 18 months free banking
- Q. Looks like they got online business banking as well?
- Q. Do they offer high interest deposit accounts as well..?

Is they any better option that suits me..? Thanks.

** I already searched & read all previous posts on this. I am after latest Information **

All the banks seem to have started to charge for business banking - I dont see an easy way to avoid it

[malvolio]

It's easier to open an account with CA than Santander e.g. a week rather than 8.

The free banking is currently for life.

The customer service is top notch.

Plus I personally know and have heard of other small business people having issues with Santander including not being able to move money from their business account to personal account.

Say what...?

Haven't they heard of "Bill Payment" or even BACS...?