[StockClean]

Had a phonecall from my bank manager, asking me to call her urgently.

Called back, and she started pressing me on the use of my account. Im using a personal account for the business, over the weekend 30 payments were recieved through the account and she wasnt exactly all that happy about it.

She asked me if i am a window cleaner, as she could see the payment ref from the bacs credits, and then suggested a business account would provide me with a better option. She also highlighted that they offer merchant facilities through their cardnet merchant account.

She reminded me that i am using the account outside the terms and conditions it was meant for, and very much suggested i should switch to a business account.

I explained that in april i would be turning ltd anyway, and could i do it then?  she agreed and said i wuld get a phonecall from her end of may to get the ball rolling as i cannot continue to use my personal account in this way for ever.

what shall i do?

banks always look to extract money out of you.

All bank charges are tax deductable. The merchant serviced were expensive when we looked into them.
L/tsb used to do good discounts in the first few years of businesse banking with them, so ask them about this. If you are happy with a bank it would be a shame to change just because of charges. You don't get charged for bacs/on line payments, so convince all  you custies to go that way

Thats interesting helen. so you dont pay for bacs transfers?

most of my customers do via bacs so thats a good start.

How about merchant acc, how expensive is it really

[AS Window Cleaning]

i use to use my personal bank account,  and then checked my credit rating,  and found out that barclays where doing frand checks on me,  as was paying that a lot of cash and cheques in to a personnal account casues alarms

Thats interesting, Colin.  How many cheques are we talking about?  

As for Mr window washers, thats a fair enough comment if you are turning over  2 grand a week or more, but for the likes of us pulling in maybe 5 or 6 hundred a week, or less even, we dont have quite so much to worry about.  and every penny counts, especialy when its 60p a cheque and the like.

or maybe im just tight! 

[Londoner]

why pay if you don't have to? They just want to increase their profits by charging you for something that used to be free.

[Simon@ Clearview contractors]

I've been business banking with lloyds tsb for about a year now, when I opened the A/C I got 18months free banking and then after 7 months when I went LTD the deal started again, 18 months free business banking.

It's about 30p per cheque and they charge you for practically everything i.e. this months banknig charges were £49-odd not bad with 100% discount.

When the deal finishes I intend to pay most of my cash into a personal account or ISA until the year end so that it's gaining a little rather than costing a lot.

[Frankybadboy]

dare i say santandar you get free banking for life,dont pay for bacs you do pay for cqs over your limit which i cant remember what it is,think 80 a month,

and before anyone says crap bank,has for me i had it now for 6/9 mths and i havent any problems.

also i got a £100 paid into my account for opening a account with them,

before i was with hsbc b/s account and i had no end of trouble with

[Londoner]

dare i say santandar you get free banking for life,dont pay for bacs you do pay for cqs over your limit which i cant remember what it is,think 80 a month,

and before anyone says crap bank,has for me i had it now for 6/9 mths and i havent any problems.

also i got a £100 paid into my account for opening a account with them,

before i was with hsbc b/s account and i had no end of trouble with

Yes Santandar is good if a bit slow. I firmly believe these banks are just trying it on. Why should you need a business account when you don't fulfill any of the requirements of a buisness customer. What you are paying in is just your wages in reality. If you were a shop or a limited company thats a different matter.

Very slowly by keeping on about it they brainwash people into believing you have to have a business account.

[Frankybadboy]

vince,it just in there terms and condition that no bussines money to go though a persoanal account


what hsbc done to me,its there to read on your current accounts ;)so i shut down 3 off my account and took my business somewhere else

[bobby p]

on the Halifax paying in envelopes to my personal account it says No limit to the amount of cheques paid in  . ive been funneling in quite a few there, no questions yet compared to at the counter they are on high alert if you pay in more than 1 !  i told the cashier all the 8 pounders were from card games amongst mates but im a bad liar and she saw thru me right away but let me go .

i also use a Nationwide personal account to pay in and theyve never raised so much as an eyebrow when i pay in cheques there

i started originally payin in at HSBC personal acc,  but started getting quizzed by 2 branches and phone calls later tryin to set up an appointment to start a biz account , like others have posted in this thread

[Paul Coleman]

Marc.  There are several routes you can take.  For many years I used Santander small business account.  You can deposit cash and cheques at the ATM out of hours.  This is convenient because I live near a branch with an external ATM.  It fell down when I started using BACS a few years ago.  They stopped showing the customer references and took well over a year to put it right.  So I don't trust their competence (it took them 6 months just to admit there was a problem).  Santander is free up to 100 cheques per month and £3k cash (I think !!).  It sounds like you intend to expand your business so this may not be the best option for you.
So I started a Co-op business account.  This is also free so long as you are an FSB member (£100 p.a. for sole traders but a bit more in year one).  IMO this is worth the money.  You get accountancy costs covered if ever investigated by HMRC and free legal advice.  There are other things too that I can't recall.
Co-op do show the BACS references too.  You can make deposits at post offices, sub post offices or Britannia building society branches if one is in your area.  Regarding post offices you can nominate up to four but if you keep switching they have a problem with it (I never did quite get why).  Obviously deposits would have to be made in work hours which may affect your income.
If you live fairly near to a sub post office and have a partner who can make deposits when you need them to be made, I reckon a free Co-op account along with FSB membership could be your best route.
The problem with switching banks is that the account number changes - affecting incoming BACS payments.  There have been mutterings for fixed account numbers - making it easier to switch - a bit like switching mobile phone company but keeping your number.  Hopefully this will come into being sooner rather than later.

EDIT FOR CORRECTION:  After reading Frankiebadboy's post, I checked the Santander website.  It appears that the "free banking forever" (up to certain limits) deal is no more. Instead they have free for 12/18 months then cheap banking as he already stated.  No idea when that disappeared as I've been on their free banking "forever" deal for about 10 years.  Hopefully they won't start trying to change the definition of "forever".

[Pope vader]

why not do what all the trad cleaners do and ask for cash only and deposit in the weatherspoons bank, when it open at 11am,  no charges

[Londoner]

vince,it just in there terms and condition that no bussines money to go though a persoanal account


what hsbc done to me,its there to read on your current accounts ;)so i shut down 3 off my account and took my business somewhere else

Whats business money at the end of the day? As far as I am concerned these are wages, personal wages, its just that I happen to get my wages in this form.
Its not like I am a shop paying rent and wholesalers etc or buying sand and bricks by the ton. Or banking takings every day

This money goes into my account once a week on a friday and is used to pay personal bills, nothing else.

I have had all this out with manager in Lloyds in the past. Stroppy woman but she didn't know what to say in the end. I said to her all she is doing is trying to work herself out of a job because the only reason I still bank with Lloyds is because I haven't bothered to move my account. If she insists I open a business account she can be sure it won't be with them

[Dave.]

Santander free banking for life ended at the end of October

I got in just in time

My biggest problem is the nearest Santander is nearly 20 miles away - so I'll still not be paying in cash, and I'll be posting the cheques in the prepaid envelopes.

Aparently they are looking at being able to use the post office for business accounts in the near future

[bobby p]

at the Hsbc im pretty sure once they notice you pay in cheques aplenty a FLAG  goes up on your account each time you pay in .  i sometimes pay in cash there and i see the cashiers eyebrow raise once they look at the computer screen. then im asked odd questions ,about how long has my mortgage got to run, ive not seen you in here  before, i can invest some of that money  blah blah blah

 i then reply with odd questions  about  their own mortgage,surely paid off by now ,whose are those fancy  gloves that are laying on the counter and youre in the wrong job with such a smiley face,you could easily work as a compere  etc

[simbo]

Dave you can pay your cash in at any post office, also you can give them your envelope with the cheques in and not have to pay for stamp

[Dave.]

Simbo, Is that for a santander business account or a personal account - I phoned their customer services last week and they said I couldn't pay in with the free account??

[AS Window Cleaning]

why not do what all the trad cleaners do and ask for cash only and deposit in the weatherspoons bank, when it open at 11am,  no charges

   Sounds like a good plan!  although been put off their breakfasts recently, frankie and bennys, now thats a good breaky!

 

at the Hsbc im pretty sure once they notice you pay in cheques aplenty a FLAG  goes up on your account each time you pay in .  i sometimes pay in cash there and i see the cashiers eyebrow raise once they look at the computer screen. then im asked odd questions ,about how long has my mortgage got to run, ive not seen you in here  before, i can invest some of that money  blah blah blah

 i then reply with odd questions  about  their own mortgage,surely paid off by now ,whose are those fancy  gloves that are laying on the counter and youre in the wrong job with such a smiley face,you could easily work as a compere  etc

I love the smooty operatorness bobby!  only trouble is in our hsbc they are, well, rather wrinkly, and i dont think would fall for that one to easily!!!!

[Londoner]

Its the wrinkly ones who like it the most. trust me

[H2GoKent]

As far as I'm aware I didn't think it was illegal or against policy to use a private account?

should have a business account if in business, but get away with it as long as you can, little tip - we have business account and its around 60p per cheqque so we ask some customers (domestic) to put my name on and not business name, put them into private account and once per month total it up and do 1 cheque into business account,

The only problem with that is that if you get investigated by HMRC they will be able to argue that they can look at your personal accounts as there is what they call 'contamination' between the two accounts

This is what an accountant told me tho' I'd imagine they could find a way to do it anyway

you are best off keeping the two seperated.

[StockClean]

hmm some interesting opinions on here.

Thanks paul for your advice, problem is the 3 grand limit isnt going to cut it with my growth plans, i took one lot of rounds from one month, and merged them together. So this month im clearing nearly 6 and a half grand, with a view to getting the alternate months up to a simular figure, this is porbbably why im getting called by them.

i might well have to bite the bullet, go ltd in april and just go for it.

anyone use a merchant account?

[SunShineCleaning]

I can't believe some of the comments on this thread. Just get a business account to run your business, pay yourself a wage from it and get 3-6 months worth of 'float' in the account to see you over any rough periods or equipment issues.

£6k a month and fussing about bank charges is just daft, you're in business, run it like one.