Best bank for Startup?

newbusiness

Title is self explanatory really.

I'm an IT startup.
I would like to keep fees down.
I need a current account, credit card and possibly credit card processing facility.

Whom should I bank with?

Trojan

Ulster and BOI claim to have the best deals for startup businesses - good place to start. You should call your local branch of each and talk to someone in their small business dept, ask those questions & advice.

keefg

I was in the same situation during the summer & I went with Bank of Ireland - Two years free banking & Internet Banking.

I would suggest that you have a decent chat with your local branch business manager (whichever branch you choose) see how you get on with him/her. A good relationship with this person cannot be underestimated as your business grows.

newbusiness

Thanks lads,

I'll examine [edit] Ulster Banks offering too.

/edit UTV??? WTF - I must have an Ulster on my brain...

thefox84

BOI used to be crap but they are a lot better these days. however if you want a merchant a/c for credit card payments your better off with aib

newbusiness

In the end couldn't justify a business account as a startup small trader.
Nor stomach their charges for holding my money (even if UB and BOI will hold off charging me for two years).

I opened a Halifax personal current account, with Visa debit card and cheque book.
To be kept totally separate from my own account, naturally.

Google Checkout looks like they'll handle my credit card customers easily.
They can pay online and I don't have to worry about a terminal.

Thanks chaps.

GaryKelly

Is google checkout similiar to Paypal in terms of fees etc?

I have just set up a Limited company and want to start seperating my personal a/c from the companies. Same experience if you want to set up a company a/c no matter how small your company is you get fleashed on bank charges.

Most of my payments will be via internet so maybe the Halifax personal a/c with credit card would keep the charges down. Is there any legal problems with a limited company's bank a/cs being operated via a dedicated business personal a/c in your own name and not the companies?

My set up is pretty small operation so don't want lots of bank fees.

Tks

stepbar

GaryKelly wrote: »

Is google checkout similiar to Paypal in terms of fees etc?

I have just set up a Limited company and want to start seperating my personal a/c from the companies. Same experience if you want to set up a company a/c no matter how small your company is you get fleashed on bank charges.

Most of my payments will be via internet so maybe the Halifax personal a/c with credit card would keep the charges down. Is there any legal problems with a limited company's bank a/cs being operated via a dedicated business personal a/c in your own name and not the companies?

My set up is pretty small operation so don't want lots of bank fees.

Tks

Of course you will have problems. You won't be able to accept payments in your own name unless you change to being a sole trader full stop. I can't understand why you would setup a single director Ltd company if you are only going to be turning over pennies. It's not worth the extra paperwork and hassle.

GaryKelly

That's interesting, I asked about setting up a single director ltd company and was told by one of the business formation companies that you needed min two directors and that this was only applic in UK.

Well will have to go the business bank route then and see which one does the least amount of fleashing.

boomer_ie

I am currently trying to set up a business account with Ulster bank and 3 weeks on I am still waiting despite a promise of it being ready for Friday 2 weeks ago, yet they are STILL waiting for some credit checking stuff to come back.

Now call me stupid, but wouldnt a new company have NO credit rating so why need a credit check????

stepbar

Good god 3 weeks :eek: I sh1te you not, I would have that opened in less than a week (depending on how busy I was even quicker).

They need to check out that the directors are not disqualified from being directors of a company.

boomer_ie

stepbar wrote: »

Good god 3 weeks :eek: I sh1te you not, I would have that opened in less than a week (depending on how busy I was even quicker).

They need to check out that the directors are not disqualified from being directors of a company.

Thats what they originally told me, I rang them up today and told them they have 48 hours to get it sorted as I have cheques piling up....

stepbar

boomer_ie wrote: »

Thats what they originally told me, I rang them up today and told them they have 48 hours to get it sorted as I have cheques piling up....

I sent an email yesterday to check out the directors of a company and had a responce back in less that 4 hours. Must be something else ???

I've also heard that Ulster can be shocking slow when it comes to approving / declining loans, overdrafts etc so it doesn't suprise me. To be fair you might want to reconsider your bankers TBH.

Seperate

Google Checkout is for US/UK only too so no go there....paypal would be your only decent option with no merchant account

Sully

AIB offered me free banking for two years as a startup. They have an excellent website / internet banking which is why I decided to use them as the bank for my startup.

blobert

Seperate wrote: »

Google Checkout is for US/UK only too so no go there....paypal would be your only decent option with no merchant account

It works in Ireland now too, I have an account with them and have sent payments with no problems.

Much better than PayPal

Sully

blobert wrote: »

It works in Ireland now too, I have an account with them and have sent payments with no problems.

Much better than PayPal

Can you upload/send funds to your Bank? What makes it better?

Seperate

You can send payments alright, but no joy on recieveing payments. Have to enter US/UK address to set up a merchant account.