Top Small Biz Savings Accounts

A question about : Top Small Biz Savings Accounts

If you have personal savings of Ј50K with a financial institution and you are also the owner/director of a limited company that has Ј50K in a biz account with the same institution, are both amounts covered by the guarantee?

The limited company is a legal entity in its own right, separate from the owner/director, so the savings should be treated separately. But, in this complex world of savings, are they?

Best answers:

• If you have personal savings of Ј50K with a financial institution and you are also the owner/director of a limited company that has Ј50K in a biz account with the same institution, are both amounts covered by the guarantee?
  The limited company is a legal entity in its own right, separate from the owner/director, so the savings should be treated separately. But, in this complex world of savings, are they?
• Thanks for doing this - there are not many places that give business account comparisons
• Could you please list accounts that are available to charities. The Investec Business High 5 is not available to charities registered as trusts.
  The Abbey Business Bond at 3% has closed.
• how about the Anglo Irish account?
• Others not on Martin's list are:
  Secure trust is 2.52% for its 60 day account (phone, post I think, minimum 1K or 10k for ltd)
  Standard life Business Premium Direct Access Account is 1.37% for Ј1+, more for over 50k. This is internet access (premium is limited number of phone transactions per year, basic gives unlimited phone transactions but only 0.8%). Not brill but better than nothing and instant access so useful for VAT etc..
• And Anglo Irish 2.25% instant access and 2.50% 30 day access
• Interesting. Seems like phone/post access and Martin says
  "The Irish government has guaranteed all savings up until 2010, plus it has nationalised Anglo-Irish Bank. As the Irish-owned UK banks operate the passport system, your safety is solely reliant on the solvency of the Irish government. This is something you must be aware of and research if you have money there."
  So perhaps not as safe as a UK bank (small business are covered under the 50k limit like individuals).
• Martin recommends Abbey as a free bank account for business.
  It is free but just like the personal banking, service is really really poor & they make a lot of mistakes.
  A better deal is the coop as if you are a FSB member (simply join for the benefits & don't renew) all biz banking is 100% free
  Also for FSB members is cheaper card payment services
  usually with the major banks you have to pay a hefty set up fee to take card payments (both online or through a pdq machine) of Ј200 to Ј500 each
  With the FSB deal its free setup with Streamline/Natwest & the rates you are charged are better too.
  G
• To cut back on charges on my business account I pay cash into my personal current and then transfer online to my business account, this is only for sole trader / partnerships
• We have a small Limited Company that has to pay in to the current Company bank Account, mainly cash as opposed to cheques and credit card payments. We haven't yet found a Bank Account that caters for the paying in of Company cash without big charges for the paying in of cash. Anyone know of any?
  Also looking for a Company Savings Account with easy access that pays a decent rate.
  It is definitely more difficult with a Limited Company as a sole trader can use a personal account.
• Try Nationwide Businessinvestor free cash deposits but only 5 free payments a month so I use it in conjuction with another account with free payments.
  It used to pay reasonable interest as well but sadly no longer.
• There is just one pitfall with this. Many savings providers work by using a linked (usually current) account to transfer money in and out of their account, and most will not accept a business current a/c as linked account (I have tried with several). As many also do not use faster payments service, this means it typically takes 3 working days to transfer from business current a/c to personal current a/c, then another 3 to savings a/c, and the same back again. If you are trying to 'sweep' surplus cash every month you lose nearly half a month interest with this process.
  One exception to this rule I've found is Egg - while they still take 3 working days, you can link several a/cs including business ones.
• Willowtree, post #13: it's a long time since you posted so you may not see this or you might be sorted, but if you're still needing something A&L Commercial's Free Business Current Account (not a savings a/c) might fit the bill.
  https://www.alliance-leicestercommer...t/SB010002.asp
  We use it only for banking cash and nothing else -- main business a/c is still elsewhere at one of the 'Big 4', and nothing tempts us to move it over to A&L, not even free banking. The cash just goes in temporarily to save on charges, then a cheque straight from there for the same amount into the main business a/c. It's reduced our costs for banking cash and the way we use it works well for us, but there are conditions and lower/upper limits to avoid charges from A&L for banking cash, so read carefully to see if it would be suitable for you. Available for sole traders or limited companies with turnover less than Ј1m, and you can deposit the cash at any Post Office.
  A&L is part of Santander, and their systems will be merging later this year. Whether we'll still be able to use the a/c then as we do now, we wait to see.
• Thanks for the information.
  Evelina
• I recently had a letter from Standard Life bank, one of the better providers of business savings until recently.
  They have offered me a paltry 1.5% to tie my money up with them for most of a year.
  Doing some research, I note that Secure Trust Bank have a variable account paying 3.25% aer with 120 day notice and it's available to business savers too.
  Never hear of this bank before but they seem to be FSA registered.
  Has anyone else had dealings with them?
  Any other tips from business savers would be appreciated.
  Cheers.
  Fermac