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...that doesn't take six weeks to open, will not take the blood of your firstborn, and will actually answer the phone outside of "normal" business hours...
Because my bank are absolutely bloody useless.
After years of awful service from Barclays Business Banking, our business (small business with 20 people) moved last year to Handelsbanken who have been a breath of fresh air and very satisfactory for our needs.
I'm a software developer (contractor) and just switching to limited company from umbrella company "employee".
I thought opening a business account with the bank where i do my personal banking would be relatively easy. Oh no, that would be far too sensible
Now I've got it up and running, Santander is ok. Was a bit of a pain to open re paperwork though.
This may be from Know Your Customer and money laundering regulation
I guess so , yeah.
Step 1 apply online
Step 2 we've received your application, please ring this 0345 number Mon-Fri 9am-5pm.
Step 3 on ringing that number, perpetual queue. 'You could start your application online'...
and back to step 1
Lloyds have been acceptable and it was easy to set up. Went into branch and filled out forms, done. Although that may have been because it was a new business, not a transfer.
RBS took six weeks, so the first thing I did with the account was close it. When I told them I'd moved banks due to their repeated screw ups, their business manager said "Oh well these things happen". HSBC got me set up in an afternoon and cards arrived within two days.
Unfortunately, quality of business banking and ease of account setup can vary massively from branch to branch, I've friends who've had the exact opposite experiences with the same banks in different cities.
Cater Allen are meant to be the best, but as soon as I said 'Kazakhstan' they couldn't hang up the phone quick enough. You may have better luck and although I'd never heard of them they are meant to be good value.
I use Barclays for my ltd and it's ok, though transferring USD from an account in Winchester to an account in London is considered "international" and costs £22. Funny, I never need my passport on the M3.
Cater Allen here, no charges - dunno if that's cos SJD Accountancy have a relationship with them, but it was pretty painless.
caspian - Member
I use Barclays for my ltd and it's ok, though transferring USD from an account in Winchester to an account in London is considered "international" and costs £22. Funny, I never need my passport on the M3.
£22 that is a rip-off! Why not just pay a cheque in equivalent into the account in same bank? It only takes 5 working days at the max and usually 3 days if both accounts are with the same bank.
Oh ya ... Winchester is a village and London is foreign country. 😆
Unfortunately, quality of business banking and ease of account setup can vary massively from branch to branch, I've friends who've had the exact opposite experiences with the same banks in different cities.
This ^ go in a few branches and see what they say. FWIW, I've had a painless service from RBS.
local RBS branch set me up with an account, gave decent advice on what *I'd* need, and I still bank there.
The fact that I've banked at the same branch since I was at university, and until recently had the bank manager's mobile in my phone address book, may have something to do with it.
so, ^^ for me too.
Natwest for me across three business have been by far the best.
Account number the same day and cards in three.
Santander have been OK and they've just dropped the £5 a month charge if you don't deposit sufficient money (bloody offensive charge really - have a load of money in the bank but not do anything for a month and they charge you???!!).
Their foreign payments were a complete rip off - I noticed that I seemed to get a rate both worse than their estimate and that was way off mid market rates on top of a big fee. They claimed they couldn't tell me how their rates were calculated or give me historic rates for each day. Needless to say I just use transferwise now.
RBS for me too - though I've had the account for 20 years so no idea what they're like to set up with now. I had a proper bank manager, Bob McNabb, who had a walrus moustache and everything, and didn't laugh too much when I said I wanted a loan to set up a business selling funny bicycles.
ha, previous bank managers (here in Elgin) were an eclectic bunch but were quite happy for me to phone up, take some cash from my folks' account, put it in mine so I could buy a motorbike.. Doubt that'd run these days. Also used to work out ways to get my cheques cashed when I had a signature that didn't match the name on the cheque book..
I'd avoid Cater Allen like the plague, very slow electronic transfers and I got charged credit card fees by some retailers even though it's only a debit card. Transactions made using the debit card show up with a date at the end of the month with the date of the transaction in the description, which is a PITA. I also read about them editing transaction details after they they had been recorded.
Accountants seem to love them though, presumably because they get a kickback (?). I use Barclays now and they have been fine.
I vote for Santander
But....
Go in to the branch and see the business adviser. I had one 1hr meeting with her to set up the bank account and she rang me an hour later with the sort code and the account number so I could start using it straight away.
The cards, cheque book and laying in slips arrived 4 days later.
Also you can use the post office for all paying in and withdrawals and for new businesses it's free for the first year and then £7.50 there after