Which business bank account with low fees?

[Jon12345]

I've been with HSBC for about 20 years, but they have been charging me £15 per month for the privilege and £32 per year for a business credit card. It is too much!

My attempts at getting a business banking account with Starling were rejected, although I have no idea why. So, I am still looking. One important criteria is that it links with Xero.

Any recommendations? I hear about Wise, Monza, I think Nat West have some business banking lite account or something. Any recommendations of lowest cost that also works with Xero?

 

[fisicx]

£15 isn’t that much. And tax deductible as well.

 

[TBLZ]

The Co-operative Bank charge us around £30 per month. This fluctuates because it depends on how many payments (in and out) we make each month. I, too, would be interested in hearing about recommendations for decent business bank accounts.

 

[Jon12345]

£15 isn’t that much. And tax deductible as well.

Starling is £0.

 

[Jon12345]

The Co-operative Bank charge us around £30 per month. This fluctuates because it depends on how many payments (in and out) we make each month. I, too, would be interested in hearing about recommendations for decent business bank accounts.

My £15 per month is for the privilege of having the account. I am not including any things like foreign transaction charges, cheques etc.

 

[fisicx]

NatWest is free for 24months.

 

[DontAsk]

Santander £7.50 per month. Would not hesitate to recommend them.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I think your expecting to much its the cost of doing business

 

[DontAsk]

I think your expecting to much its the cost of doing business

£15/mo is definitely too much

 

[LPB 123]

I've been with HSBC for about 20 years, but they have been charging me £15 per month for the privilege and £32 per year for a business credit card. It is too much!

My attempts at getting a business banking account with Starling were rejected, although I have no idea why. So, I am still looking. One important criteria is that it links with Xero.

Any recommendations? I hear about Wise, Monza, I think Nat West have some business banking lite account or something. Any recommendations of lowest cost that also works with Xero?

I would reccomend Santander. £12.50 a month but if you credit £300,000 plus per annum they give you £300 back a year so paying you to bank with them. They also have a 1% cashback credit card.

 

[Deleted member 356896]

Virgin is free as well.

Starling is another free one.

 

[ecommerce84]

I don’t mind paying a small fee for an account, and we use Lloyds which charges £7 a month.

We still have cash to deposit and change to acquire and our local branch is only a 5 minute walk from our house which is handy.

would definitely recommend them.

 

[DontAsk]

I would reccomend Santander. £12.50 a month but if you credit £300,000 plus per annum they give you £300 back a year so paying you to bank with them. They also have a 1% cashback credit card.

It's that the Edge account? The ordinary business account is only £7.50.

 

[LPB 123]

It's that the Edge account? The ordinary business account is only £7.50.

It's the 123 account.

Yes the standard account is £7.50 but you don't get the £300 per year back so costs £100 per year instead of receiving £150 per year.

 

[Jon12345]

Virgin is free as well.

Starling is another free one.

I was not aware that Virgin did one for free as well. They also throw in Xero for 3 months. But I'm more interested to know if they allow Xero to be automatically connected to the Virgin account so I don't have to manually import the transactions.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Many of the challenger banks do not charge a monthly fee.

If you are doing a lot of international transactions, many of them offer low international fees.

 

[MyAccountantOnline]

TSB (which I believe works with Xero) is free for 30 months and then £5 per month.

 

[Jon12345]

I've found that Mettle, which is a Nat West offshoot, has free banking and it links with Xero, at least that is what I can gather from my initial read. That covers all the bases for me if indeed this is the case, unless I have misunderstood their blurb.

 

[fisicx]

NatWest is also free and connects to xero.

 

[Ozzy]

A small plug for our latest new partner of UKBF, which hasn't been announced yet (announcement going out next week), you could also have a look at Cashplus Bank

 

[Someone else]

Wise! Formerly TranferWise. I was with Barclays for a long time but their fees kept going up while there were fewer and fewer services for which I could still go to my local branch. Then someone else suggested Wise.

Brilliant.

Also, re Starling, have you contacted them and asked? Could be a simple thing.

I've been with HSBC for about 20 years, but they have been charging me £15 per month for the privilege and £32 per year for a business credit card. It is too much!

My attempts at getting a business banking account with Starling were rejected, although I have no idea why. So, I am still looking. One important criteria is that it links with Xero.

Any recommendations? I hear about Wise, Monza, I think Nat West have some business banking lite account or something. Any recommendations of lowest cost that also works with Xero?

 

[Someone else]

Oh!

NatWest is also free and connects to xero.

Good to know. Thanks.

 

[NickZ]

No one is using N26?
I thought it was an expanding bank, even in Spain that bank is known. Private accounts cost 0 to maintain.

 

[DontAsk]

No one is using N26?
I thought it was an expanding bank, even in Spain that bank is known. Private accounts cost 0 to maintain.

And for business accounts...?

 

[Jon12345]

Wise! Formerly TranferWise. I was with Barclays for a long time but their fees kept going up while there were fewer and fewer services for which I could still go to my local branch. Then someone else suggested Wise.

Brilliant.

Also, re Starling, have you contacted them and asked? Could be a simple thing.

I haven't asked Starling because from what I read online, they don't give out any reasons so you can't game the system.

So far, it looks like a toss-up between Wise and Mettle. Both seem to connect with Xero. Tick. Mettle is a bank and so you can do that automated system where they transfer over all your direct debits etc. But Wise seems better for foreign currency related stuff, I am presuming. It seems like these two have very low fees. Makes no sense for me to stay with HSBC, paying £210 per year for the honour.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Cashplus Bank

Is that still Patrick?

 

[YasmeenLondon]

NatWest don't have a monthly charge, you also get access to FreeAgent which is a decent accounting software.

 

[fisicx]

So far, it looks like a toss-up between Wise and Mettle.

Use Wise for FX but do not use it as as your main business bank.

 

[Jon12345]

I've decided to switch from HSBC to Mettle. Then, because it has Freeagent, I can cancel my pricey £40pm Xero subscription. So I'm better off by about £700 per year now. But wait! I have a £30pm subscription to LinkMyBooks, which links Xero to my Amazon account. But Freeagent has something similar for £10pm.

Next, I will open a Wise personal account. I've worked out I will save about £150 in fees transferring my dollar lump sum into UKP using Wise instead of having my existing FX provider do it, Currencies Direct.

So, I'm nearly better off by £1,000 after having this discussion here. Thanks all!