Business bank accounts
The business needs its own bank account, connected to your bookkeeping by a daily feed.
Call or WhatsApp 07476 989568
Keeping the business money separate
Limited company
The company’s money is not yours. Paying for the weekly shop out of the company account is a director’s loan, and a year of it takes paid accountancy time to untangle.
Sole trader
You may legally use a personal account, but a separate one is still better. Mixed transactions mean every line has to be judged instead of coded, which is slower, more expensive and less accurate, and it makes an HMRC enquiry longer.
What to look for in a business account
Banking elsewhere
Your accountancy service works the same wherever you bank. We work with whatever account you have, and the only practical requirement is a reliable feed into the software.
A working feed into your accounting software
A daily read-only feed keeps the books current. A bank that requires you to download statements adds a manual step every month.
Free, or nearly
Plenty of business accounts are free for small businesses. A monthly fee is worth paying only if you know what it buys.
Cash and cheques, if you take them
A lot of app-based accounts handle cash badly or not at all. If you take takings over a counter, check this before anything else.
Sub-accounts or pots
Moving the VAT and the corporation tax into a pot as it is earned keeps the money ready for the payment date, and pots are usually free.
Getting hold of a person
You need one on the day a payment fails or an account is frozen.
Mettle, by NatWest
- Free to open and free to run
- Built for sole traders and small companies
- Feeds cleanly into the accounting software
- FreeAgent free for as long as you make at least one transaction a month, which is £330 a year plus VAT you would otherwise pay
- Eligible deposits protected up to £85,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme
Who can open one
- Sole traders
- Limited companies with up to two owners
- UK-based, with the owners UK tax resident
- Balances up to £1 million
Who cannot
- Companies with three or more shareholders
- Most partnerships
- Any overseas ownership
Check this before you spend time on an application.
What people ask about business banking
Do I legally need a business bank account?
A limited company does in practice, because the company is a separate legal person and its money is not yours. Taking it out informally creates a director’s loan with a possible 33.75% s.455 charge attached. A sole trader does not legally need one, and should still have one, because mixed transactions make the bookkeeping slower, dearer and less accurate.
Do I have to bank with Mettle to be a Buzz client?
You can bank anywhere. If your current bank has a reliable feed into your accounting software, stay where you are.
Does Buzz get paid if I open an account?
No. Buzz has no commercial arrangement with Mettle or any other bank, and receives nothing if you open an account.
Is my money safe?
Eligible deposits are protected up to £85,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, the same protection that applies at any UK-authorised bank. If you routinely hold more than that, spreading it across institutions is the standard answer and worth a conversation.
Talk to us about your banking
If you do not fit the Mettle criteria, with three shareholders, a partnership, overseas ownership or a lot of cash across the counter, tell us what the business does and we will talk about what works.
Get a quote
Call or WhatsApp 07476 989568 or email hello@buzzaccounting.co.uk
Accreditations and partnerships
