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Best bank for a small business


ferguson_tom
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Hi Everyone 

I started a new company in April and went with Santander for my business bank... turns out for me they are flipping useless. BACs transfers seem to take for ever, the mobile phone app is antiquated and there is no business banking phone support at the weekends!

Has anyone got any suggestions, my main bugbear is the banking app as i do pretty much everything mobile and 75% of people deal electronically. However, i also need a bank where i can pay cash in, even if its down the local post office.

Thanks, Tom

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No good to you just yet but Nationwide is planning to launch Nationwide for Business early 2020. Their plan is to replicate the service excellence they deliver to consumers, for small businesses.  I have no doubt it will be better than some of the carp served up by the other banks who have traditionally served the SME sector. And Nationwide still has a large branch network.

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NatWest very good for my personal account but also use nationwide and found them good except foreign transfers where there so slow.

Apart from that They aren’t closing branch’s down like many others.

Metro bank is also good, open 7 days a week. Can only pay cash in at branch’s tho

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Same situation as you with a new business, went with Barclays... shockingly rubbish. Had half a million quid deposited and it took more than three weeks for me to finally receive the telephone and internet banking details to be able to access my own money. On my final phone call of frustrated complaint I was hung up on. If I had any energy left I would have got in the car to the local branch and asked them to close the account and move my money to a different bank.

I have another business with Santander, operated it for 12 years and they are great! Only reason I didn’t go with them for the new venture is I got a £100 sign up bonus for choosing Barclays!

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10 hours ago, ferguson_tom said:

Hi Everyone 

I started a new company in April and went with Santander for my business bank... turns out for me they are flipping useless. BACs transfers seem to take for ever, the mobile phone app is antiquated and there is no business banking phone support at the weekends!

Has anyone got any suggestions, my main bugbear is the banking app as i do pretty much everything mobile and 75% of people deal electronically. However, i also need a bank where i can pay cash in, even if its down the local post office.

Thanks, Tom

I use Santander for several business accounts and cant fault them at all, I get no bank charges at all and the internet banking works fine. I dont use an app to log in mobile I simple use the desktop site and bank transfers are instant. Perhaps you could try to use then as I do.

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I recently moved to the internet bank Starling for my business account.  Zero bank charges, an excellent online banking experience, trouble free to setup and integrates seamlessly with my finance system.

Prior to that i used TSB and they were expensive, slow and unreliable.

Just noticed you needed a presence to pay cash in so it may rule Starling out, all my business is done via invoice and electronic payment.  They may have a partnership with somebody else like the Post Office, I don’t know.

 

Edited by grrclark
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2 hours ago, sportsbob said:

I use Santander for several business accounts and cant fault them at all, I get no bank charges at all and the internet banking works fine. I dont use an app to log in mobile I simple use the desktop site and bank transfers are instant. Perhaps you could try to use then as I do.

Same as me, I have no complaints with Santander. 

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15 hours ago, sportsbob said:

I use Santander for several business accounts and cant fault them at all, I get no bank charges at all and the internet banking works fine. I dont use an app to log in mobile I simple use the desktop site and bank transfers are instant. Perhaps you could try to use then as I do.

I am buying and selling vintage vehicles so a lot of bank transfers are done at the weekends and when i am actually at the sellers house so I need a decent mobile phone app.

My personal halifax accounts bacs transfers are instant, the last couple of with santander have taken a few hours and the last one took almost 24 hours which caused me a massive headache as I couldnt take the vehicle until the funds were cleared and i was 300 miles away from home!

 

Thanks for the advice everyone, i may keep the santander one live and have a second account with one of the online companies for a better phone app and things.

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With NW when I move wages from business to personal its straight away. Also if a customer pays via their online banking its seems to go straight in. 

First time you make a payment via the app to some one there's a process and limit until you pay them through the Web bank, but it's all good as far as I can see atm. 

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5 hours ago, ferguson_tom said:

I am buying and selling vintage vehicles so a lot of bank transfers are done at the weekends and when i am actually at the sellers house so I need a decent mobile phone app.

My personal halifax accounts bacs transfers are instant, the last couple of with santander have taken a few hours and the last one took almost 24 hours which caused me a massive headache as I couldnt take the vehicle until the funds were cleared and i was 300 miles away from home!

 

Thanks for the advice everyone, i may keep the santander one live and have a second account with one of the online companies for a better phone app and things.

You do not need an app, you can use an internet browser of your choice chrome for instance and use the standard desktop site.

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Timely thread, I’ve finally leaped into this contracting malarkey & need a business account.

I’ve had Santander for personal use & found both their website & iOS app to be the flakyest pieces of rubbish going, by some margin. So they’re out.

I’ve no need or desire to subsidise an antiquated branch network, and money not moving at the weekend is simply unacceptable in 2019.

Might have to take a gander at this Starling lot. Let’s hope they’re not a fly-by-night, or indeed any other avian pun 

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2 hours ago, udderlyoffroad said:

Timely thread, I’ve finally leaped into this contracting malarkey & need a business account.

I’ve had Santander for personal use & found both their website & iOS app to be the flakyest pieces of rubbish going, by some margin. So they’re out.

I’ve no need or desire to subsidise an antiquated branch network, and money not moving at the weekend is simply unacceptable in 2019.

Might have to take a gander at this Starling lot. Let’s hope they’re not a fly-by-night, or indeed any other avian pun 

Starling are a fully regulated and proper grown up bank, the individuals behind have a good banking history too.

I think they offer a great service.

Download the app, follow the process to get setup and in 2-3 days you’ll have a business account setup and your bank card in hand.  All done on your mobile.

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my son uses an on line bank where  can pay in cash / cheques at any PO or pay on line no transaction fees for payments  cash withdrawals have a small fee however if you have a private ac with them you can transfer £ to private acc and no charges   incurred  ,       all  bank business acc  inc charges for every type of  transaction    also  inc a monitoring charge   if you are interested I can find out which on line bank he is with  he rates them highly ,            for thirty years I have been with Lloyds business acc     x per cheque written / x per deposit /x per 100 cash / x per deposited cheque  / x per cashpoint  transfer / x per direct debit/ x per management fee per month  / as a sole trader cost a weeks wages a month 

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