Which Bank ?

iMax

Hi guys,

Looking for advice on banking. I was advised not to have my business account with the same bank my personal accounts would be with. I'm with AIB.

Recommended to me is Ulster Bank & BOI.

I'm going to need to be able to have a company credit card & also be able to take online payments. I'm guessing there's going to be a third party in here which will process the online payments, but out of those two choices, is there a recommendation for one which would work better with the payments facilitator ?

Axwell

iMax wrote: »

Hi guys,

Looking for advice on banking. I was advised not to have my business account with the same bank my personal accounts would be with. I'm with AIB.

What was the reasoning behind that advice?

iMax

A combination of having all your eggs in one basket and giving one bank too much knowledge of your financial situation - if business account is in debit & personal account is in credit, they may insist you move money.

Axwell

I would imagine the banks have access to each others accounts anyways, someone might be able to confirm or deny this. So they would be able to see if you had other accounts if such an issue arose.

However I would personally think it better to have all your dealings with one bank and branch so they get to know you and dealing with you. Also you would have a better credit rating with them having all your accounts with them.

Also personally I find AIB's online banking to be the best of the major banks and having experienced both them and BOI I would prefer AIB every time. Just my 2 cents on it.

Accountancy

I would recommend having the business and personal serparate.
I would recommend that you call both banks and see what they offer.
And based on what they offer i would then choose.

The banks are offering free banking and free internet banking with different durations.
See if they will give you an od and if so what amount.

Definitely price round. Nothing stopping you pricing AIB also.

contentking

I can recommened Ulster Bank, fantastic customer service but their online banking is an absolute disaster!!!

neris

Ive used both ulster bank and bank of ireland for both personal and business banking. Find Ulster a lot more customer based especially for small/medium business. Their online wasnt great when I used them but bank of irelands isnt much better either for setting up transfers.

Business banking is all about the relationship you have with your bank. If you already have a personal account for years and you have built up a good history, ie. always being in the black, never missing payments on anything you should be setting up your business bank account with the same bank

What you should do is try and build a relationship with one of the managers in the bank, someone you know by first name and can drop in and see at any time.

This kind of thing will help you get better terms, and loans in the future. If you default in one bank most likely the other banks are going to know about it anyway. On your form applying for the business account you will have to list your other irish accounts, and they will keep a cross check on that....if you told them you didnt have one, I doubt they are going to set you up a business account.

GaelTadh

Avoid BOI.
We set up a business account with them almost a month ago.
Haven't received laser/credit cards yet. Just found out today that their business website ONLY works with Internet Explorer on Windows!
This is after having to schedule a phone call weeks in advance to even get business banking set up.

GaelTadh

GaelTadh wrote: »

Avoid BOI.
We set up a business account with them almost a month ago.
Haven't received laser/credit cards yet. Just found out today that their business website ONLY works with Internet Explorer on Windows!
This is after having to schedule a phone call weeks in advance to even get business banking set up.

It will work with Google Chrome on a MAC

Axwell

Deleted User wrote: »

It will work with Google Chrome on a MAC

It should work on everything, you shouldnt have to go getting a specific browser on Mac just to use it. Considering its for a major bank thats pretty poor.

mneylon

Axwell wrote: »

I would imagine the banks have access to each others accounts anyways,

No - they don't.

They can get access to some types of information for credit checks etc., but they wouldn't have that much access to actual information without court orders etc etc