Reply to: Do you like your business bank

[quackhandle]

I have just asked the kind lady who acts as my RBS Business Manager (0845 number) and I asked for an overdraft of £1000.

"Okay fees for that are £100 'arrangement fee' and £50 'guarantor fee' so a total of £150"

What about £500 OD then?

"Sure no problem, thats just a £50 fee."

Thanks. Click.

Are these fees normal for a business account, or excessive?

qh

[contIT88]

Well I originally signed up with Barclays but after 3 weeks of hearing nothing I decided to look elsewhere. I signed up with HSBC. Free banking for 18 months and all the account was opened at the same time as Barclays started sending me various bits of my new account. I closed the Barclays account down and it was going to cost a lot too!!

HSBC seem excellent so far!

During the free banking period with HSBC, no credit interest is payable!

[too_many_details]

Hi,

I've been with Cater Allen for almost 3 years. The service is excellent and the website functional.

However, I am considering a move to HSBC purely so I do not have to wait 4 days for a transfer to my personal account (I bank with First Direct a HSBC subsidiary).

I've asked numerous times when CA will implement faster payments but they won't say.

The HSBC bank account should be fee-free since I don't deal in cash and can do everything online.

Cheers

[ads1980]

Well I originally signed up with Barclays but after 3 weeks of hearing nothing I decided to look elsewhere. I signed up with HSBC. Free banking for 18 months and all the account was opened at the same time as Barclays started sending me various bits of my new account. I closed the Barclays account down and it was going to cost a lot too!!

HSBC seem excellent so far!

[b0redom]

I concour!

NEVER TWAT WEST!

But why? I've never had a problem with them, and I also use them for business and personal banking. No charges either.

[Mephisto]

Just had an account created with Cater Allen - thanks to Helen at Contractor UK for helping me with this!

HSBC are the biggest numpties ever. Twice they asked for me to sign forms and twice they left it several weeks to inform me my signatures were inconsistent (they weren't or at least CA didn't have an issue like this).

[escapeUK]

What ever you do, do not try Abbey. You will just waste a month of your life hoping they will create you an account. They are seriously bad.

Ignore those people who say, Ive been with them for years and they are fine.

There will always be people who drive a Skoda and think thats fine. Maybe they had their account 5 years ago when they actually had some sensible procedures. My experience is as of Jan 2010.

Abbey are seriously incompetent. When you have had to ring their new accounts "team" and realise they actually have no power to do anything you will mark my words.

They kept asking me for proof of my business trading address. For most of us this is our home address. Nothing will prove this to them, even a letter from my accountant was not good enough, nor a letter from HMRC.

[Olly]

The RBS business account paid NO interest ? then how does their 'Business Account' Mortgage offset account work ?

"You need to be in business as a sole trader or simple partnership.

Sole trader? The mortgage can be in your name or in joint names between yourself and one other person.

Simple Partnership? All the accounts you include must be in the name of the business partners. "

So no good for the vast majority of us with Ltd's then

[watford]

Cater Allen For Me

[eliquant]

I was with RBS but have now switched to Cater Allen. RBS started adding on additional charges and it was becoming expensive. Their credit card was also crap and charged £35/pa and I still had to phone customer service on 0871 numers (cha-ching). I like the CA debit card as I always paid the balance in full on the RBS credit card anyway. And..the RBS account paid no interest either.

The RBS business account paid NO interest ? then how does their 'Business Account' Mortgage offset account work ?

[Tingles]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Don't.

Do. Not. Go. With. NatWest.

I concour!

NEVER TWAT WEST!

[syh]

Cater Allen Reserve account

Hi there,
Can someone clarify for me, what happens with CA transactions in Euro. I spoke to a representative and I was convinced his answers to my questions were correct.
First he told me that I need to go through another application to have Euro business account and that I couldn't attach it to my Uk pound account.
Second, I want to know what the transactions fees are, if any.
Basically, I want to know when I invoice German agency and they pay me in Euros, will there be some crossborder charge for the transaction to reserve the money in Euros in a Euro account
And are there conversion charges if I don't have a Euro account and receive the money in my UK pound account.

Any info is appreciated as well as any other recommendations regarding good business accounts.
Thank you for your help
Syh

[Ravello]

Went with Abbey now Santander and have been happy with their service so far so good. And its all free depending on the use - sensible = free .

Is there some sort of award that can be given for thread maintenance? OP started this thread nearly 2 years ago, pops in this week to give us an update.. Having not posted in any other thread in the intervening 2 years - impressive!

[FiveTimes]

With Alliance and Leicester (soon to be Santander) - no problems with them at all.

[Advocate]

Moved from CA to HSBC, much better online service!