[duncan h]

I use  personal account only one customer ask me why, just said I cannot afford a business account.One of the advisers at the bank told me to stick to a personal account and when my business  get very big change to a business a/c.

Same here mate. Self employed 4 times now. When I had a milk round at 19 I had a business account. They were free in those days. You just got a big cheque book.
Now I have a Barclays personal account. Open on line. DONE. Don't get any cheques. Cash or they pay into my account. All free

[NWH]

Maybe with the amount of money your paying in it dosent look like your running a business,do you pay in over 100-200 cheques a month I don't these days but if you did I can't see any bank not seeing your running a business.

[ChumBucket]

Maybe with the amount of money your paying in it dosent look like your running a business,do you pay in over 100-200 cheques a month I don't these days but if you did I can't see any bank not seeing your running a business.

My bank knows I'm running a business, in fact, the teller usually asks me how it's going! What makes you think that it's a requirement to have a dedicated business bank account to do business banking? It isn't.

[NWH]

Legally yes you can do it but it depends on the volume of transactions and turnover etc,you can't have cheques made out to chumbucket window cleaning though can you lol or borrow enough for a new van over the phone can you. More advantages with a business account but harder to hide money eh

[ChumBucket]

Legally yes you can do it but it depends on the volume of transactions and turnover etc,you can't have cheques made out to chumbucket window cleaning though can you lol or borrow enough for a new van over the phone can you. More advantages with a business account but harder to hide money eh

Explain why I could not borrow money for a new van over the phone then..........

[David Beecroft]

It depends on how you see your business developing. If your customers are going to pay via BACs or similar, you won't want to change bank account details midstream. Selling your business might go better if you are able to pass over the bank account as well. Also you might want to be building up your profile with the bank. If you join the Federation of Small Businesses you can get free banking through the Co-op bank. I have a Santander account that I opened when they were offering free banking for life, not available anymore. Hope it goes well for you.