Reply to: Business bank account

[DaveB]

The MSC changes are hammering everyone in the contracting business. Banks, Agencies, Accountants, HMRC VAT registrations, anyone who provides professional services ( fnar fnar ) to contractors.

When I started up my business account took 5 working days from the initial phone call. They really are very, very, good and it's just the volume of work generated by people bailing out of brollies and MSC's thats causing the problems.

[misterlamott]

Seriously I would really like to know what went wrong there, I can only speak very highly of Cater Allen.

Cater Allen are snowed under with new applications for business accounts. This is a result of the MSC model going down the pan following the recent new legistlation targeted at giving them the boot . Because of Cater Allens comparative size when compared to all of the faceless large corporates they are struggling to deal with the additional workload.

However, once your business has a foot is in the door with Cater Allen, their service genuinely is excellent and from my experience is much better than many of the other big names.

[timh]

6+ weeks for me too, with CA.

It's been over 2 months now, and still no 'welcome pack' - they say they'll send one "sometime".

[cykophysh39]

Seriously I would really like to know what went wrong there, I can only speak very highly of Cater Allen. I have only had nothing but exceptional service from them.

Maybe the stars just didn't align for you. It would be intresting to hear thier response to your case.

[LordF]

Cater Allen. They have internet banking now and the best customer service of any bank I've ever dealt with.

Such good customer service that it took them 6 weeks to open a business account for me. They said they cant cope with the volume of new applications.

[Cooperinliverp00l]

I use Barclays Bank. I have my personal account with them for 10 years so not sure if this was the reason they set up the account within 2 days (meaning i had all account details and stationary). It's free for 12 months and then as long as you don't use the counter it continues to be free for ever.

I also can access the company account via my personal online link making transferring money (salary) a lot easier and very quick

Hope this helps

[cykophysh39]

Cater Allen. You just can't fault thier service.
I have never had a problem with them, and now that they have internet banking it should get even better. Although I still phone, (old habits die hard)

[dejongj]

Nope I am with A&L, no problems whatsoever...Good customer service (I forgot my online details so had to use them ), phone and internet works great...And fantastic interest rates...But most of all, an online CHAPS facility which I quite like...And don't charge as much for CHAPS as some of the others mentioned...

[Clippy]

Thanks (I think) to everyone for their horror stories!

After all that, looks like I'll be going with A&L, unless anyone has any truly negative experiences of them.

http://tinyurl.com/yrko6e

[chicane]

No problems with Abbey Business Banking. I'd recommend it...

It's great when it's up and running. They seem to have an alarming amount of "unscheduled downtime" though. I tend to find that the website won't fire up at least once a week when I need it to.

[weboo]

I use HSBC, up and running with the account on the same day. Got a credit card, savings account too same day. I had cards, internet banking etc up and running within 10 days.

[dd1978]

No problems with Abbey Business Banking. I'd recommend it...

snap!

[ratewhore]

No problems with Abbey Business Banking. I'd recommend it...

[wonderwaif]

I don't know about the internet side of it, but I've always found Cater Allen provide excellent service over the phone/fax.

[misterlamott]

But the internet banking doesn't actually work...

I used Cater Allen Internet banking at the weekend and it all seemed to work OK. Have I missed something?