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Bank charges for your businesses

Adam Turnbull

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14
Location
Carmarthen
So I've been full time on windows for 10 months now, as a sole trader with no intention to employ. I came from independent retail. A big bug bear for retailers is bank charges - as a result of years of hearing them moan about it, I have automatically avoided telling my bank that I'm running a business through what was previously a personal account. The loan for my van was a personal loan too. But is the tail wagging the dog here? I want to change to GoCardless, I'm completely convinced by all the topic material on this site. But  I'm worried about disclosing to my bank that I'm running a business. Am I making a mountain out of a molehill? What bank charges do you guys incur in the running of your business? What bank charges are incurred with  GoCardless?

 
I've had customers paying into my account for years, I did have it mentioned a few years back that I should be using a business account but it didn't come to anything, I'm always in credit so they're getting use of my cash anyway.

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If you decide to go down the buisness account path you’ll get 6-12months of zero charges, I pay £6.50 a month all in, I’d rather not as I’m tight but I’m planning on expanding and want an account that will handle that expansion with me. If you end up having a huge GoCardless customer base it would create a real head ache if you then changed accounts and needed to set them all up again. Take some time to decide what your plans are then research otherwise you could end up with something that doesn’t suit

 
Great - thanks for the feedback - it's good to hear it's not just me running the company through a personal account. But I want to go to GoCardless before I do any more canvassing.  

 
If you decide to go down the buisness account path you’ll get 6-12months of zero charges, I pay £6.50 a month all in, I’d rather not as I’m tight but I’m planning on expanding and want an account that will handle that expansion with me. If you end up having a huge GoCardless customer base it would create a real head ache if you then changed accounts and needed to set them all up again. Take some time to decide what your plans are then research otherwise you could end up with something that doesn’t suit
Changing banks or bank accounts makes no real issue with gocardless as its simply the receiving account that changes. 

 
A business can only be called a business when you employ someone (I'm pretty sure) and since a company is a commercial business you're not that either.

You just make a living as a sole trader.

You don't need a business bank account. But if you plan to expand in the future, become a limited company and employ then it might be best to save changing later.


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If you decide to go down the buisness account path you’ll get 6-12months of zero charges, I pay £6.50 a month all in, I’d rather not as I’m tight but I’m planning on expanding and want an account that will handle that expansion with me. If you end up having a huge GoCardless customer base it would create a real head ache if you then changed accounts and needed to set them all up again. Take some time to decide what your plans are then research otherwise you could end up with something that doesn’t suit
£6.50 a month is ok for the service, which bank? or are they all roughly the same charges?

 
If you stay a sole trader then you would be fine to use your own. But if you want to expand then you would need the bank's backing and that's where a business account comes in. In the end we have one of the best forms of business in the form of a Limited Company. That's what everyone should strive for and it's perfectly legal. Limited liability means the creditor can't come after the boss for his companies debt and the bank usually takes the hit with the taxman. Carillion left over £1.5 billion of debt and its directors ran away with legal millions. Obviously not morally acceptable but perfectly legal and it happens all the time.

 
£6.50 a month is ok for the service, which bank? or are they all roughly the same charges?
They are all virtually identical, what you need to look at are the other charges. They charge for cheques, cash in and out etc. There are different accounts so have a good look around and find the one that suits you best. 

Even access to the bank is a cost factor as your time is money.  

 
Last edited by a moderator:
aye, may bugbear is parking, I like RBS because they have a big carpark in centre of town.

probably close it soon and turn it into a carpark! That despot goodwin or badwin stayed across road from me. Hard to believe how a great company can collapse so quick and we all end up losers bar the person that caused it. lesson learnt as they say. cheers PT 

 
Changing banks or bank accounts makes no real issue with gocardless as its simply the receiving account that changes. 
I wish that was the case but GoCardless will not do that. You need to sing up each customer again this is the message I received from support on this very subject.

“Thanks for your email.

We're not able to transfer customers from one account to another for security reasons.

Unfortunately we're not able to provide more details about this.

However, if there is anything else that we can help you with, please let us know. 

Kind regards,
Paloma”

 
£6.50 a month is ok for the service, which bank? or are they all roughly the same charges?
I’m with Lloyd’s but the only reason I’m with them was at time of me choosing them the buisness accounts manager was based in my branch ( they cover many branches) so they were easier to get hold of. Mine is a flat rate charge and for what I do and hope to do it was suitable

 
I wish that was the case but GoCardless will not do that. You need to sing up each customer again this is the message I received from support on this very subject.
 
“Thanks for your email.

We're not able to transfer customers from one account to another for security reasons.

Unfortunately we're not able to provide more details about this.

However, if there is anything else that we can help you with, please let us know. 

Kind regards,
Paloma”
 
 
I switched banks 2 years now and had no issues at the time.I did it all via the GC dashboard.

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It must be something new hopefully temporary but that was the reply. 
@Iron Giant it must have been temporary as I queried again following this thread and the reply was consistent with your experience. I'm wondering if it had something to do with the issue they notified us about last year ( data breach or something) it would explain why they seamed Uninformitive in their reply. Anyway thought I'd better put it up here for clarification that it is possible to transfer  Gocardless customers from your account to a new account. 

 

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