I am currently totally disillusioned with my Bank, Barclays – incompetent doesn’t even come close to covering it! Hence I have decided I will vote with my feet & move my business accounts.

I have a few basic requirements:-

Must have internet banking available as I pay my subcontractors & many suppliers this way

I would like to have a real person available at the end of the phone who would at least know something of myself, my businesses & my account, in case there are any items I need to discuss or advice I want to ask for – I don’t care whether they are called a personal banker or whatever, but I would prefer them to be in a branch 5 miles up the road rather than on the opposite side of the planet & speaking a foreign language!

Must have a network of branches all over the UK – I guess this limits me to Nat West, Lloyds, HSBC & RBS? Have I missed any?

Charges for a/c

Must still issue that rare thing called a cheque book!

Can any of you guys recommend banks you are currently with who can cover the above requirements & whom you have had good experience with? Or indeed say "Don't use ................. 'cos they are rubbish!"

Interesting post Russ.

I too am looking for a UK bank for my business and will be interested in the replies you get here.

For the moment I am with HSBC for the very limited amount of sterling I deal with and given their level of service I was planning on staying with them.

That is not a lot of help I know but just count it as a very small 'yes' for HSBC.

Looking forward to seeing the other replies.

Cheers,

Mike

+ 1 for HSBC.They have just revamped my whole business banking charges and services.Well worth alook

I use HSBC never had any problems.

Avoid Yorkshire Bank

Backwards mother fuckers still live in the 60's

I have used HSBC for 2 businesses cant fault them, English people on the end of the phone 24*7 and reasonable internet banking

I got a digital account usual cheque book etc but much much lower fees (usually no fees)

This will be an interesting thread as we are looking to move the business account away from Barclays.

Only worried about out of the frying pan and into the fire.

I will at some point be writing a very long essay on Barclays recent screw ups

They have cost me around £500 through misinformation & incompetence & then just downright arrogance & total disinterest in sorting out a customers problems which they generated! I will let them keep my current account & mortgage tho' as I couldn't possibly ever match the deal anywhere else now - I just hope it's costing them money!!

I use Barclays, I give them a . Was with NatWest . My son runs his business with Santander, he says they are and the customer service is .
Sorry! Not much help, I have been running my business for 40 odd years but can't recommend one bank over the other.

I use hsbc fir personal and business banking and can't fault them - personal banking service has notably improved since I got the business account running too, which might be coincidence.

Online banking system is really easy to use too.

speaking from past experience. DONT USE barclays.

We had nothing but issues with them.

Maybe they are different now with it being 5 years ago.

But my local branch made too many mistakes to catalogue.

I'm with Lloyds. Their business banking staff at the call centres are very good and i have always been very impressed at what they will do for a business customer. Only trouble with them is the business side of the call centre is only open on weekdays during the day. If you need to do something like a transfer on a weekend you will get the personal banking staff that so far have been completly useless. When i joined i was told how they would help me improve my business and my account manager would be in touch to make sure i was happy. I have never heard from him/her in 2 years and the only time i did need make contact he was on holiday. Transfers from Lloyds to another banks account seem to be take a ramdom amount of time to complete. Most of the time they are fairly instant but i have waited up to 2 weeks! Oh and don't forget your online password, this screwed my whole finances up for a few weeks. On the plus side you do get a cheque book though although i never use mine.

Another one for Lloyds. We don't have a business account but there are real people in the branch's to talk too and from recent experience very helpful. Good online banking also.

I would join the FSB - Federation of Small Business, then get an account with the Co-Op, totally free banking for life. That's if the Co-Op will have you, they didn't want us

I have several business accounts with HSBC - I get all the things you ask for in your original post and never had a problem.

Obviously I get charges but I don't know how they compare with other banks.

So seems like HSBC are 1st at presnet with lloyds 2nd & Coop (who I would never have dreamt of) a poss 3rd

Anyone had any issues with any of the above?

depending on your business I would seriously consider setting up either 2 business accounts with seperate banks or having provisions in place that cover you should something unexpected happen to your account.

We had the unfortunate scenario of a business account being cloned, fortunately it was put right quite quickly, unfortunately some supliers can take up to 4 weeks to draw up supplier agreements, or payment/credit terms on a new account.

That meant that for over 4 weeks we had to buy everything cash in hand to meet customers orders, then had to wait up to 28 days to be paid. It was a frightening 8 weeks in the current trading climate.

Just a thought!

We've just switched from Barclays (who were hard work to deal with) to Nat West. Not long enough yet to tell what they're really like, but they seem more switched on than Barclays.

I started up with NatWest (approx 16 months ago). Internet banking is great. One thing I did not like though was all the stuff they were asking me to sign up for!!!! It took me a while to realise that they are only interested in selling you a product so they get a big fat bonus at the year end
So I returned the credit card (don't use credit) and told them straight. I'm still on free banking (well for about 7 months) but I will be looking into changing banks.
I rate NatWest at 5/10. Personally I think they ignore the Sole Trader.. Guess they don't like the idea of a customer being in credit all the time

Natwest For me, never had issue with business banking, always been good to speak too, 24/7 UK call centres is a bonus, online banking is good, local branch is good, but my business bank manager is on the end of phone rather than in branch, doesn't bother me to be honest, i've probably spoken to them less than once a year on average, but when i have required to speak with them, they've always called at the time pre agreed.

Been with them for just over 10 years and never an issue.

Maybe not relevant but Barclaycard cancelled my direct debit and refused to set it up for three months. This, apparently, was my fault. I had a normal bank account with them but because I couldn't tell them how much I earned (as I had recently become self employed and could only guess between "nothing" and "loads" I couldn't get my card replaced.

best advice i can give for anyone running a buisness is to leave england and go somewhere effort is rewarded

do abbey national still do free business accounts?

quote:

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Originally posted by ali f27
best advice i can give for anyone running a buisness is to leave england and go somewhere effort is rewarded

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I switched from Barclays to lloyds and never regretted it. Barclays were appalling and nearly destroyed my business through sheer incompetence and arrogance. lloyds have been brilliant. I have my managers mobile phone no on my speed dial and if he doesn't answer immediately he calls back within an hour or so.

I've had nothing but excellent service from Santander. I'm a sole trader and have found branches to be friendly and efficient, call centre staff UK based and helpful and so far I have had no problems at all. No transaction charges either. Worth a look.

Cheers,
Craig.

Many thanx for all the input guys. At least I know where NOT to look!

Hope it may have helped a few others too, interesting to see I'm not the only one to have problems with Barclays!

I have one with Santander and one with HSBC. I dont have massive dealings with either in terms of customer service but judged purely on the online interface aspect:

HSBC - excellent

Santander - Appauling

I've never seen such a backward antiquiated user interface as the santander (formerly A+L) business account. Its like going back 10 years. It doesnt even give you a running balance besides each transaction so trying to keep abreast of your cashflow is a joke. It doesnt even default to date order....just simple stuff which is really daft. Strange as I have a personal account with them and its fine, just as good as any other online bank interface.

I contacted them on the phone and the operator swore to me it did give a running balance, until they actually tried to find it themselves and couldnt?! I also wrote a scathing email but never received any response.

Russ,

have you seen the Following Article,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15077344

regards

Agriv8