Business bank account recommendations

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I've only got a personal account but the Lloyds iphone app is great. Can log in with fingerprint, setup recipients without a fuss. And the online banking don't need any other shit like pinpads or whatever to use - setting up any recipients you authenticate by text or automated phonecall.

We also have a Smile aka Co-op account, because back in the eraly 2000s they were one of the firs with online banking. However these days the iphone app is poor, almost no functionality, and the web version is to be honest rubbish.
 
Yeah my personal banking is with Smile for the same reason. At some point I will switch to First Direct.

A decent app is essential given Mrs T_B is rarely sat at a desktop.
 
Any recent experiences on this? After a last-straw letter from HSBC saying they were closing our account I was keen to go to Natwest, but it turns out they only do business banking by phone now. I hate phones.
 
We are with Natwest and have been for 15 years. No complaints at all with them and they are happy to come to the office if we need them.Online stuff is easy and rarely have to phone.

I also have a Lloyds business account for a fundraising thing i am involved with that seems easy to operate online, although i had a bit of an arse around getting it all set up.

Only went to lloyds as they had a branch in Alnwick, unlike Natwest, and i need to pay in cash quite often. None of my businesses ever see cash so never have a need to go to the bank, can only see this getting more prevalent.
 
Johnny Brown said:
Any recent experiences on this? After a last-straw letter from HSBC saying they were closing our account I was keen to go to Natwest, but it turns out they only do business banking by phone now. I hate phones.
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Still a big fan of Triodos, they're very good. I've learnt that they're currently looking at the provision of a debit card at last. I'd argue that it's a no brainer to bank with them once this is implemented. I'll try to update this thread once it lands....
 
Johnny Brown said:
I was keen to go to Natwest, but it turns out they only do business banking by phone now. I hate phones.
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Not sure what you mean by this, we are with Natwest and I have rarely had to do any business banking by phone, I take cash to the bank, get change from the bank, do most payments and transfers on line. Occasionally I have to pay cheques in (from schools) or write a cheque (eg for skips).

I think the only time I have had to call them was when we had a couple of dodgy DD's set up and when we needed our credit card limit increased.

It's a pain they shut Millhouses and Woodseats branches but other banks are hard to come by, nearest Lloyds or HSBC is ???, Barclays is at Meadowhead and TSB in Woodseats.
 
Thanks guys, I'll probably go with Natwest as my personal experience has been very good and we cant wait for debit cards.

Did you manage to build a relationship with the new manager Gav?

Graeme, I walked into both the Hunter's bar and city centre branches and asked for an appointment to discuss moving our business account to them. In both got a vacuous stare and 'sorry love we don't do that in this branch any more, have you tried ringing?' Well no, that's why I'm here. Ah well...
 
We just have a new contact as our old one Andy Predergast, who was great, has been moved to another bit of the bank. New guy is Kevin Burrows who seems OK but haven't known him long enough to give full opinion.

I have always been a believer in sticking with suppliers as long as you can and if i am not happy getting them to change rather than jumping ship to another. Been with two banks in 20 years and only left HSBC as they properly let us down with funding the one time we needed it.

I have never looked at anything other than the big boys regards banks as i only look at them on a purely practical basis rather than ethics, politics etc. They dont seem to charge a lot for what they do on a day to day basis so cant see moving about being worth the effort.
 
Johnny Brown said:
Thanks guys, I'll probably go with Natwest as my personal experience has been very good and we cant wait for debit cards.

Did you manage to build a relationship with the new manager Gav?

Graeme, I walked into both the Hunter's bar and city centre branches and asked for an appointment to discuss moving our business account to them. In both got a vacuous stare and 'sorry love we don't do that in this branch any more, have you tried ringing?' Well no, that's why I'm here. Ah well...
Click to expand...

I opened a new account for a new business a few months ago, I think everything was on-line. Our new manager seems fine, maybe drop him a line saying I gave you his details [email protected]
 
Thanks Graeme, I'll drop him a line. Now I've copied his email it might be an idea to delete his email before the poor bugger gets spammed to death.
 
Thread resurrection...

Has anyone used Starling bank for business banking?

I have a UK current and Euro currency account with BOS at present. I haven't used the Euro account for a few years and they have changed their online system so I need to register for the new system (which is aimed at corporations rather than 1 man ltds like me) to access it again. Trying to do this (I need to actually talk to someone) is sapping my will to live and making me seriously look at alternatives.

So, is anyone out there with Starling? A quick search makes it look like they do what I need, there's a lot of positive reviews but some personal experience would be useful. Or anyone else who will do a UK current and a Euro account without driving me round the bend trying to set the thing up.
 
I am Chris. I recently set an account up with them as my secondary business bank account (Triodos is my main). I'll probably come to use it exclusively if Triodos don't soon pull their finger out and create a business debit/credit card.

Without yet conducting any transactions, I think the app seems great, the customer service is exemplary and overall fit for my purposes at present.
 
I use their business account, though only lightly. I was a bit tricky getting setup as we were trying to set it up at the same time as starting the rest of the business so ended up in a bit of a catch 22 with our accountant and the bank. Shouldn't be a problem if you're already established.

The app seems good, nice being able to upload receipts/invoices for stuff directly against transactions as means you don't need to keep track of thousands of bits of paper.
 
I’ve two starling accounts - both personal. One mine one a joint AC that is exclusively for building work we’re having done.

Works great. Set up simple etc... the app interface isn’t as good as some or straightforward to see ins and outs - but works fine. ID validation (done be a person I’d assume) is pretty fast - no complaints so far but we’ve done nothing more complicated than deposit a load of money and gradually spend it.
 
Update to this, the application process was relatively painless, though slower than I'd have hoped (there was an issue with a digitally signed contract I sent them to verify the type of business I do where the signature was lost in the file upload process) but the account is now up and running. Opening a Euro currency account then took seconds, as opposed to the tortorous process I had to go through with BOS. So looking good so far.
 
Another thumbs up for Starling, previously transferring Euros between my BOS accounts, BOS offered such a poor exchange rate I saved hundreds of pounds by using a 3rd party currency exchange service (www.xe.com). Starling offer a good enough exchange rate for transfers it was marginally cheaper to use their exchange rate rather than the 3rd party service.
 
Nice Chris - does that apply to other currencies too? (Soz if that’s a bit random!) MrsTT part time runs a charity and regularly has real grief transferring smallish amounts of money to Russia, US and other non Euro places…
 
They claim so, though I don't see Russia on their list of countries unfortunately.

https://www.starlingbank.com/send-money-abroad/
 

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