Mumsnet Talk

I need an account that I can pay the odd cheque into, receive payment in via BACS/faster payments and pay some expenses from. Ideally I'd like a reserve account to put my tax in but that's not essential.

I am a sole trader, very small turnover expected and just need a business account to keep everything separate for accounting purposes. A debit card would be useful too and online banking is important. I'm not bothered about using a branch.

Can you recommend a good account? I would rather pay a small fee and have excellent service and less hassle but I don't need/want small business advice at the moment or any of the fancy pants add-ons because I'm freelancing and not looking to grow a business yet.

I have ethical concerns about Barclays and I have my reasons for preferring not to give any more business to Santander so if I could avoid them that would be good but not a deal breaker.

Where I live there is an RBS (soon to become Santander), Santander, Natwest, Lloyds TSB, Halifax, Barclays, Nationwide, HSBC and a Post Office.

My business account is with RBS. I have to give them their due, they have been excellent, and really took a chance on me when I was younger. Even now I'm happy with my dealings with them. Good phone service to branch, good relationship with my bank manager.

I have to go once a year to be encouraged to grow for a review, but I think that would be standard.

My fees are £350 ish a month - but that also varies on what you need from them. We bank alot of cash, and get alot of change for example.

My personal accounts are with Halifax, and if I were to change they would be my first port of call, I'm happy with their service too.

DH is small sole trader like you.
We just use our joint account and then shove things around a lot with linked savings accounts which also have cash or cheque books attached to them.

All done online with Smile who I think are excellent and very ethical.
We pay £13 a month service and get phone insurance, travel insurance, handbag insurance, car breakdown etc. well worth it in my view.

You just need to be organised........... ?

£350 per month?! That would probably be my turnover! I don't need any change. Or to bank cash thankfully.

Thank you for posting. I might have a look at Halifax. Or would it be Lloyds TSB now?

Tis I btw, just in Dickensian costume.

oh and you pay cheques in at any post office branch..... but they do have brances around too. I think you can use co-op bank branches
we have needed the branch once in 10 years, to draw out cash to buy a car.

I used to have a student account with Smile ten a few years ago. Do they do business accounts or would I have to use Co-op? I'll Google that

Thank you

We use Lloyds for our business account and tbh have no complaints - charges are about £25 a month but that includes the overdraft fee, cheque use fee, and all the charges for dd, so, bacs etc. We also have a direct line number for both our local branch and our specialist bank manager (agriculture) and whats more the manager is there to actually talk to when you ring. hth

I think Halifax and LLoyds are the same bank now but still operating individual branches. Not sure though, but my branch is still just called Halifax.

I think you would be best to shop around, and see which is the best fit for your needs.

Do you actually need a business account? I would be tempted to open just a current account somewhere.

Not sure if you would be better to have a business account for future growth and loans etc but I think it wouldn't matter what account you have now, as you will still have records etc.

i was with barclays and they started charging a lot so moved to alliance and leicester as they didnt want a business plan just to open an account, they were free but now charge £5 a month if i dont have £1000 a month going into it so generally before end of the month i transfer money into it to make it £1000 then transfer it back same day thus saving me a fiver .

I just use my normal bank account. There are no HMRC rules to say you have to have a separate business bank account.

When i looked at opening one, the best one was the Co-op as you get backup services via an excellent business support organisation (the name of which evades me at the mo )

Most sole traders in that situation use a personal account. It may be against the Ts & Cs of the account but the bank isn't going to notice until you start using it like oreocrumbs.

I'm watching this with interest. DS has a very small business, along side a full time job, completely unrelated, and for that purpose opened up a separate current account so that all expenditure, out and in is accounted for. Which is the only requirement as far as we understand for hmrc. He was very nearly bullied persuaded into opening an all singing, all dancing business account, he stuck his ground and so pays nothing for this account, which imho is as it should be.

Drift - hmrc don't require it. Who told him that?

Sorry drift. Misread your post on phone

Ignore me

No harm done, I'm/we're learning too.

HMRC have no requirement even for a separate account - they don't have any powers to tell you how to organise your affairs.

business link told me i had to have one when i first started out.

We have a Co-op postal business account. Their Business Direct account costs £3 per month to cover pretty much everything (limit of 100 cheques paid in per month & 30 chqs written, but these days you can do most of it online anyway).

They've always been fine for us, they answer the phone when you ring without too much of a wait, the internet banking works ok etc. The only thing that is a bit of a pain is that you can't do overseas payments online, you have to send a fax, but that's not the end of the world.

Oh, I forgot, you do have to fill in a long form and convince them that you're not an arms trader or anything like that, but I imagine if you're looking for an ethical account you probably aren't doing anything dreadful

Arf no, not arms trader. I'm an HR consultant.

Thank you everyone for all your help. I think I will open a business account that is free/v low cost (the Coop account Takver linked to looks good) then if I want to take the business further I can or I can close it later. I will definitely need a separate account to keep everything straight. Heck, I have two accounts just for personal use; one for bills one for spending!

I worked in banking for ten years so the idea of saying I will use my business account for personal use makes me sweat a bit. Mainly because I know the fuckers bank can close it at any time causing massive convenience if I don't cooperate with their T&Cs fully. Mind you we used to do free business banking where I was. Money launder's paradise that account was with it's stupid rules and lack of proper monitoring...

Natwest do free business banking for first 2 years (don't know if it's still an official offer, but if you go in and ask I've never yet known a business manager not agree) their online banking is fantastic and business manager will get involved as much or as little as you want.