Business account - which bank?

[potato632]

I sort of agree with @potato632, obviously not "no-one" but certainly less and less people carry any cards with them while practically everyone carries their phone 24/7.

We took my 78 year old mum out to a garden centre recently and I was very impressed when she got to the till, whipped out her iPhone and nonchalantly tapped the card reader to pay...

My girlfriend actually got caught out with this the other day. We live rurally so she made a special trip to the nearest town to get some cash from an ATM... only to find that she was so used to using her phone to pay for everything that she hadn't taken her physical debit card with her so it was a wasted trip.



That would be a great feature! I also got caught out recently when we were in London; we were just chilling taking each day as it comes, found ourselves in Kensington and decided we wanted to go to the Churchill War Rooms.

Checked online on my phone and could see it was popular and only limited availability left so tried to order tickets only to find that they didn't accept Google or Apple Pay, you had to manually enter card details which I didn't know from memory and none of my apps would show me the full card number.

Annoyingly by the time we got back to the hotel later that day all tickets had been sold for the next 36 hours so we weren't able to visit during our trip. On the plus side it's a good excuse for another trip down to the capital at some point in the near future.

It seems a lot of people took my wording of "no one" using cards as literal just a figure of speech, in reality I meant way less people than thought


It's always nice to see when older folks embrace technology and are open to learning new things! My mother's in her early 70s and tried using contactless on her phone once or twice but she didn't want to give it a proper try by putting in some effort to learn it (phone has to be unlocked to work). She also struggles with self scans in supermarkets for the same reason and demands to use a regular checkout human

I've seen some cash machines that have contactless available to get cash out or you can do cashback at shops if you buy something and pay by card, they'll give you hard cash and charge the card for the amount

Do you have a phone case? Slip a £20 or two between the case and your phone for emergencies. On holiday i'd put the hotel room keycard in there, my family member did the same and wondered why they couldn't pay for things with phone contactless, it was trying to charge the hotel key card! It worked fine if the hotel card was at the bottom of the phone case

Fewer amd fewer people may be using cards, but there is still a very high number who do so. Based on observation of transactions I see, I would say 15% are phone payments. I don't use phone payments at all but, if I did, I would always carry my cards as well. What if you run out of charge?

It's totally possible to run out of phone charge but there are lots of ways to avoid it, I have a phone charging cable and this cigarette lighter USB that lives in my car https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B093V384KK

If you're out and about, most places you sit down at will be fine letting you borrow a charger they probably have behind the bar or if you have your own cable and charger in the car, find a socket in a pub

Having said that, if i'm gonna be far away from home or on a multi day trip I will bring some backup cards, I just don't carry them on my person

And cash only places are not something i'm interested in supporting anyway, they're either avoiding tax or refuse to adapt to modern living card transaction fees are so low these days

 

[Newchodge]

It's totally possible to run out of phone charge but there are lots of ways to avoid it, I have a phone charging cable and this cigarette lighter USB that lives in my car https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B093V384KK

Assuming you have a car!

You seem to be suggesting that there is really only one way to live properly. I am perfectly happy accepting that different things work better for different people, and a society that demands everyone conform to the current norm is not one I would wish to live in.

 

[fisicx]

Over the summer I attend many shows, events, fetes and similar. A lot of them are in fields in the middle of nowhere with very limited signal. Some are lucky to have a bit of 3G.

Cash is king but card readers do work if you insert the card. Those with phones seem to struggle far more.

I don't have a problem with anyone who uses a phone to make a payment. But also carrying a card in a purse or wallet with some cash and various membership cards seems far more sensible.

 

[Ziggy2024]

I am perfectly happy accepting that different things work better for different people, and a society that demands everyone conform to the current norm is not one I would wish to live in.

100% agree. I think nowadays we forget the adage "agree to disagree".

 

[Daybooks]

Co-op do free business banking.

Having had the misfortune of needing to use it for a client - you certainly wouldn’t pay for it.

 

[Porky]

Back to the OP question:

I mean if you can be bothered nothing to stop you switching between the main banks at the end of the Free period.

The issue with some of the challenger banks is a) financial stability and b) often lack of sophistication with anti fraud technology.

Metro i would avoid like the plague, TSB online banking is dire, its platform so dated its painful, co-op really struggle with fraud checks, just over the top to a point where they regularly decline that many transactions its annoying, nat west ok but online banking could be better for them also.

For what you want for a main bank i would say for strong online banking facilities Barclays once set up is pretty good, then Lloyds, then HSBC.

If you want to go to a challenger bank probably starling is ahead of the pack.imo. but I would go Barclays over starling all day long on a free banking period but guess its personal choice.

 

[potato632]

The issue with some of the challenger banks is a) financial stability and b) often lack of sophistication with anti fraud technology.

I don't really agree with this

Challenger banks can be under more scrutiny from regulators due to their rapid growth and newer compliance requirements

With them being more tech-forward and modern systems, they have a greater opportunity of catching or preventing fraud as it takes place, since most or all transactions go through their banking app which is incredibly rich in data (IP addresses, device, typing patterns, etc)

A big issue with legacy banks is their apps are crap, their banks run on ancient software and they probably don't want to alienate their core-customers by changing things too much or by nudging customers to using an app that offers the latest features

One example as a business owner, it's necessary for me to download specific dated account statements: Monzo, Starling and Mettle allow this - and I can export in multiple different formats as required

Barclays (non-business account): only allows me to download 1 month at a time with no option for different formats AFAIK - it's incredibly basic and limited. It makes more work for accountants!


In terms of financial stability, any bank can have issues - you just have to get FSCS protected accounts

 

[fisicx]

A big issue with legacy banks is their apps are crap, their banks run on ancient software and they probably don't want to alienate their core-customers by changing things too much or by nudging customers to using an app that offers the latest features

I disagree. Some may be sub-optimal but the ones I use are great (Halifax, Santander and NatWest).

 

[DontAsk]

Over the summer I attend many shows, events, fetes and similar. A lot of them are in fields in the middle of nowhere with very limited signal. Some are lucky to have a bit of 3G.

Cash is king but card readers do work if you insert the card. Those with phones seem to struggle far more.

Not the ones that need a mobile signal. They're just as useless as 'phones when there's no signal.

The café owner at Charmouth the other day was dancing around with his card reader waving it around in the air saying "oh, its a bit slow today" Another staff member "yeah, it was like that yesterday".

I paid cash.

 

[Ozzy]

Not the ones that need a mobile signal.

Handy to have at trade shows, but I never understand why anyone would use one of those at a fixed premises. At least have one with wifi access, and have a router with a SIM card failover in case the line goes down if your business relies on these things.

 

[Nathanto]

but it's been years since one of us ran out of charge on our phones - is that even still a thing?

So I still think @fisicx and @Newchodge are luddites for ditching contactless and apps in favour of out-of-the-ark physical plastic cards but I do have to eat humble pie regarding charging phones.

I find Google maps on my iPhone is better than any of the built-in car sat nav systems and so use my phone as such with a dashboard Magsafe charger. It worked brilliantly for years until at the end of a recent three hour drive I realised the charging cable had been unplugged and the phone was practically dead.

Mentioning no names but I can imagine some people here might have a strop at the new fangled technology letting them down, bin their phone in frustration and replace it with a bag of 20p coins so they can use public phone boxes instead...

...fortunately me being down with the kids and all that means I now just pack a USB power bank whenever we go away. So even if I run out of charge while on holiday I can still order an Uber and check how overdrawn my bank account is. What's not to like?

 

[fisicx]

All I said was I prefer using a card to my phone. Not sure how that makes me a Luddite.

I also prefer vinyl albums to streaming services. The sound quality is far superior. Does this also make me a Luddite?

 

[Newchodge]

So I still think @fisicx and @Newchodge are luddites for ditching contactless and apps in favour of out-of-the-ark physical plastic cards but I do have to eat humble pie regarding charging phones.

I find Google maps on my iPhone is better than any of the built-in car sat nav systems and so use my phone as such with a dashboard Magsafe charger. It worked brilliantly for years until at the end of a recent three hour drive I realised the charging cable had been unplugged and the phone was practically dead.

Mentioning no names but I can imagine some people here might have a strop at the new fangled technology letting them down, bin their phone in frustration and replace it with a bag of 20p coins so they can use public phone boxes instead...

...fortunately me being down with the kids and all that means I now just pack a USB power bank whenever we go away. So even if I run out of charge while on holiday I can still order an Uber and check how overdrawn my bank account is. What's not to like?

You realise that some airlines are banning power banks because of fire risk?

 

[Karimbo]

co-op and mettle (both free business accounts), co op just because I like a real high street bank.

I use co-op as my main account that's with all my clients, I use mettle as a expense card and for the free access to freeagent. I'm not a big fan of these app banks, they actually try to get you hooked onto their eco systems and then increase the fees.

I was waiting for the early adopters to iron out woocommerce revolut card payments, but then revolut suddenly started £10 a month fees after relentlessly abusing the notifications for months constantly trying to get me to refer people to get £400 comission. Anyway, the £10 a month fee meant I closed my account and never tried their card payment - still with stripe.

 

[Nathanto]

I also prefer vinyl albums to streaming services. The sound quality is far superior. Does this also make me a Luddite?

That depends on whether you are playing vinyl on a fifty-year-old Dansette or a brand new Denon turntable with a titanium pickup.

While I accept that you prefer vinyl to digital, hardly anyone really believes any more that vinyl sound quality is superior to digital. Most people want to listen to the music as recorded, not with added pops, crackles and whistles that are practically impossible to avoid with vinyl.

 

[Nathanto]

You realise that some airlines are banning power banks because of fire risk?

Fair point but moot in my particular case... my girlfriend has been watching too many Air Crash Investigation TV shows so flying is now a no-no and all our holidays are in the UK these days.

 

[Mark T Jones]

The saying goes - you'll only know how good they are when something goes wrong.

Previously, the last time I needed something from my business bank- Lloyds was 10 years ago, when my co-director (main bank signatory) had a stroke and returned. Their online/ phone process to amend signatories was desperately bad. I ended up going into a branch - the chap was helpful, but had to go through exactly the same process- and was clearly nearly as frustrated as I was.

Then, this weekend, I lost my wallet (something I never do). So decided to cancel my cards, just in case

Chase - 30 seconds.

Smile/ coop (not generally the most efficient) 5 minutes, talking to a real human.

Lloyds - still not done. No online mechanism. Phone is robot, who canylt do anything without your 'memorable word' no hint available as to what ghd word relates to. No humans at work until Monday.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Not sure about business accounts, but you can freeze & replace cards via their app!

 

[Mark T Jones]

Not sure about business accounts, but you can freeze & replace cards via their app!

I have to use the card reader to access the app

 

[Karimbo]

It is probably a generational thing.

I have most of my cards on the phone, however, I prefer to use cards - the phone is a backup!

I saw a ;ady struggle at the petrol forecourt a while back. she went completely cardless and probably has everyting on the phone. She was at the petrol station and the machine at the forecourt was struggling with NFC payments.

Imagine you're stranded like that - cars nearly empty, phone cant pay for petrol. It can just turn a completely easy to deal with scenario into a complete headache.

it was an unattended fuel station so she had to pay first before filling - so she couldn't fill up and doo a whoopsie - can I pay you later thing.

 

[Ozzy]

She was at the petrol station and the machine at the forecourt was struggling with NFC payments.

Easy solution for that. Get an EV and have a charging station fitted to the home

 

[AWA Training]

I was with one digital bank, it worked til they only allows i think 3 manual payments a month before charging. (why cant i remember their name!)

Now i use Mettle bank.
So far i have no issues. All payments from GoCardless and Paypal are made to it seaminglessly
It works with Square
I am not limited on the number of free manual payments
I can have several posts for Corp Tax, contractors money, trial and such

The only slight stickler is i'd have liked to have applied for Klarna with it, but they wont use digitial banks, has to be a classical bank. So for now i am staying put.

 

[Karimbo]

I was with one digital bank, it worked til they only allows i think 3 manual payments a month before charging. (why cant i remember their name!)

Now i use Mettle bank.
So far i have no issues. All payments from GoCardless and Paypal are made to it seaminglessly
It works with Square
I am not limited on the number of free manual payments
I can have several posts for Corp Tax, contractors money, trial and such

The only slight stickler is i'd have liked to have applied for Klarna with it, but they wont use digitial banks, has to be a classical bank. So for now i am staying put.

could be tide, revolut or anna? i dont like how tide and anna charge per transfer, its only 20p but it's a complete ballache on the books to have these microtransactions everywhere. just bill for the month together ffs.

 

[AWA Training]

could be tide, revolut or anna? i dont like how tide and anna charge per transfer, its only 20p but it's a complete ballache on the books to have these microtransactions everywhere. just bill for the month together ffs.

Mettle dont charge for transactions and to be honest having been with them for a year and a bit now, i also like i am not charged ATM fees either.
Seems to good to be true, but i have all but left CashPlus now (that was the original bank i was with)

 

[Raf]

Hi
If you are still after a bank account mettle is good, the app is responsive. You can categorise everything, this helps to see where money is going. You also get the freeagent accounting software for free. <referal code removed>

Thanks bye