[MWC]

Are you required to have a business account? whats the difference between using your own account and a work account?

[Ian Lancaster]

You will be charged for a business account.  You can still get a "free" personal account and there's no reason why you can't use it for your business except that your bank may object and insist you open a business account.  In that case, change banks

[MNWC]

If you are a sole trader you can have a normal current account

[MWC]

Thanks, i suppose if someone makes out a cheque to "xxxxx" and not your personal name. Ive had this the odd time and had to send the cheque back

[dai]

I have just gone through a nightmare with this issue.
I have been using a seperate HSBC account for business for the last 17 years. I was asked to call in the bank a couple of weeks ago where I was told I would have to open a business account. I was reluctant, and to be fair a couple of years ago I would have just gone elswhere.
The problem is I have so many clients that now pay directly into my account. I didn't want to have to contact every one of them with new bank account details.
Those of you who have made direct payments yourselves will know that after you make one payment, a box remains in your account with that persons details, It's dead simple to make subsequent payments by just entering future payments into that box and click pay. I know that some clients will forget the new details and pay into the old account.
It turned out I was faced with this problem anyway, as my business account has a different number.
Hsbc left me in the position where they closed my old account after tranferring the balance into the new one. I had'nt got a clue who had paid and who had'nt.
I got back to them raising hell, they reopened my old account for me to check on payments made, and have aggreed to list all future payments and payers into the new business account. I am still holding my breath on this one.
I'm 70 years old, what do they think they are going to make out of me? I have 18 months free business banking.
All this is so some young business account manager can meet his targets. Banks I hate them.

[MWC]

I have just gone through a nightmare with this issue.
I have been using a seperate HSBC account for business for the last 17 years. I was asked to call in the bank a couple of weeks ago where I was told I would have to open a business account. I was reluctant, and to be fair a couple of years ago I would have just gone elswhere.
The problem is I have so many clients that now pay directly into my account. I didn't want to have to contact every one of them with new bank account details.
Those of you who have made direct payments yourselves will know that after you make one payment, a box remains in your account with that persons details, It's dead simple to make subsequent payments by just entering future payments into that box and click pay. I know that some clients will forget the new details and pay into the old account.
It turned out I was faced with this problem anyway, as my business account has a different number.
Hsbc left me in the position where they closed my old account after tranferring the balance into the new one. I had'nt got a clue who had paid and who had'nt.
I got back to them raising hell, they reopened my old account for me to check on payments made, and have aggreed to list all future payments and payers into the new business account. I am still holding my breath on this one.
I'm 70 years old, what do they think they are going to make out of me? I have 18 months free business banking.
All this is so some young business account manager can meet his targets. Banks I hate them.

Thanks for that insight. Banks just want $$$$ anyway they can.

[PurefectWindowCleaning]

I have a business bank account with Santander which is free. Only stitch is that I have to send my cheques away in the post, so running the risk them getting lost, but this is yet to have happened... touch wood.

[MWC]

I have a business bank account with Santander which is free. Only stitch is that I have to send my cheques away in the post, so running the risk them getting lost, but this is yet to have happened... touch wood.

Is this still free to get one?

[PurefectWindowCleaning]

I have a business bank account with Santander which is free. Only stitch is that I have to send my cheques away in the post, so running the risk them getting lost, but this is yet to have happened... touch wood.

Is this still free to get one?

Yes it is.

[MWC]

I have a business bank account with Santander which is free. Only stitch is that I have to send my cheques away in the post, so running the risk them getting lost, but this is yet to have happened... touch wood.

Is this still free to get one?

Yes it is.

I had a quick look but its says its only free for the first 12months or so

[britishwill]

Santander are changing and will be charging everyone for their business accounts. It has been a post on here a few months back

[PurefectWindowCleaning]

Well ive not heard or been told anything about it. Ive been banking with them for about 4 years and not paid a penny.
Previous to Santander, I banked with natwest for about 3 years, and barcleys for about 3 years, and paid them more than what I earnt 

[LT carpet cleaning]

Just join the fsb?? £100 a year for unlimited banking, you get £25 back anyway....and if you ever get a taxman after you, all the fees are paid for! Dead obvious solution really.

[KS Cleaning]

I have a business bank account with Santander which is free. Only stitch is that I have to send my cheques away in the post, so running the risk them getting lost, but this is yet to have happened... touch wood.

Is this still free to get one?

Yes it is.

I had a quick look but its says its only free for the first 12months or so

Santander is only free for a limited period to new businesses,if you are already trading it is £7.50 a month,great value

[MWC]

I have a business bank account with Santander which is free. Only stitch is that I have to send my cheques away in the post, so running the risk them getting lost, but this is yet to have happened... touch wood.

Is this still free to get one?

Yes it is.

I had a quick look but its says its only free for the first 12months or so

Santander is only free for a limited period to new businesses,if you are already trading it is £7.50 a month,great value

Is it really great value? What do you actually get from a business account beside charged ££££?

[KS Cleaning]

I have a business bank account with Santander which is free. Only stitch is that I have to send my cheques away in the post, so running the risk them getting lost, but this is yet to have happened... touch wood.

Is this still free to get one?

Yes it is.

I had a quick look but its says its only free for the first 12months or so

Santander is only free for a limited period to new businesses,if you are already trading it is £7.50 a month,great value

Is it really great value? What do you actually get from a business account beside charged ££££?

I run a business so I like to have a business account.Yes it is great value for me,compared to the charges of other banks for cheques,bacs,standing orders etc I see it as £7.50 well spent,I was with RBS and for the same amount of transactions I would have been paying around £60 a month

[geefree]

Why dont you sole traders just have your customers make out the cheques to you personally?

That way you can use your current account...

and dont be telling us you use your company name for all your cheques because you are a bigger concern or employ.....

Because if thats the case ,you should not be asking a simple question like this.

You should know!

[robertphil]

iv found if you dont pay in more than 4 cheques at any one  time  to a personal account the banks/building societys let it go .   paid in 10 once and i got a narkey phonecall telling me this has got to stop ,giving me earache about HMcustoms to try to scare me  

 i now mostly pay in cheques using the automatic paying in machines,these are an absolute blessing and i spread doing it over 3 different banks/societies .  if one gets narkey/starts phoning me  i dont use it for a while,its a bit of a game isnt it- all we are trying to do is pay money in ,not rob them or anything for heavens sake

when you think about it,a window cleaning firms money is chicken feed in comparison to some of their customers

[MWC]

Thats what i dont understand, why do you have to pay to lodge money in a bank. Using my personal account is not too much of a deal as i dont put many cheques in. Mostly collect cash but its just the odd time i've had to return a posted cheque because it was in a business name.

I know £7.50 aint that much but when you start to add all the small costs, they no longer seem so small.