Hi everyone - I worked in a bank for 10 years and worked along side business managers so I see the two sides to the story.
I completely agree with a previous poster that bank staff are trained to give you the best option for you so my interview would be based around your needs - advisers are going to direct you to business banking if you state its for business use, this is how banks make money and core income.
If you require help for business plans, business overdrafts, funding, general help, expansion help then business managers are invaluable and the crippling bank charges are more than worth it as without a manger to take your case to lending departments nowadays many loans etc for businesses are declined - but always bear in mind credit facilities are how bankers make money.
If you currently have a business manager then do contact them re charges as if you are a business that adds to their core income they will want to keep you and could reduce charges - if they are not willing to help you out then move to free banking companies!
Now if you are not a big business, have no other banking needs (business loan, overdraft etc) or have bad credit a simple personal account opened up online is absolutley fine to use! As another poster said as long as your records for HMRC are spot on it doesnt matter!
Bear in mind if you use a personal account to always check with your streamline company, and if you accept cheques make sure you ask them to present it to your own name not the business.
Im not down on business banking but the reason I say this as I knew when we had customers with legitimate businesses but bad credit the business managers didnt want to know them and told ourselves to open a basic bank account for them - the people who had business acounts but didnt require lending never heard from their business manager - the people with good credit , big companies and the requirement of loans etc business managers bent over backwards for them - so I'll let you take your own opinion from that! That was just the bank where I worked and only my personal perception.
I completely agree with a previous poster that bank staff are trained to give you the best option for you so my interview would be based around your needs - advisers are going to direct you to business banking if you state its for business use, this is how banks make money and core income.
If you require help for business plans, business overdrafts, funding, general help, expansion help then business managers are invaluable and the crippling bank charges are more than worth it as without a manger to take your case to lending departments nowadays many loans etc for businesses are declined - but always bear in mind credit facilities are how bankers make money.
If you currently have a business manager then do contact them re charges as if you are a business that adds to their core income they will want to keep you and could reduce charges - if they are not willing to help you out then move to free banking companies!
Now if you are not a big business, have no other banking needs (business loan, overdraft etc) or have bad credit a simple personal account opened up online is absolutley fine to use! As another poster said as long as your records for HMRC are spot on it doesnt matter!
Bear in mind if you use a personal account to always check with your streamline company, and if you accept cheques make sure you ask them to present it to your own name not the business.
Im not down on business banking but the reason I say this as I knew when we had customers with legitimate businesses but bad credit the business managers didnt want to know them and told ourselves to open a basic bank account for them - the people who had business acounts but didnt require lending never heard from their business manager - the people with good credit , big companies and the requirement of loans etc business managers bent over backwards for them - so I'll let you take your own opinion from that! That was just the bank where I worked and only my personal perception.
