[5-minute read]
Written by guest writer and Truevo Customer Insights Specialist, Lindsay Hardie
A big part of running a business is reducing costs. That may seem like a good reason to run your business finances through your personal account – it’s certainly less expensive and it may work… for a while.
But soon, your business will grow and you’ll need a business account to fulfill important business needs: signing up for a point-of-sale device or applying for a business loan, to name a couple. When that time comes, here’s how to choose a business account that works for you, and a shortlist of some of our favourite neobank features.
Choosing the right business account
Visiting bank websites can feel overwhelming. They have tons of information, but that makes it almost impossible to know what the important things are to look out for. So to keep it simple, look out for these four points when researching and comparing business accounts.
- Fees
You need to know how much this account is going to cost your business each month, including all the hidden fees and penalty charges. Don’t be distracted by bright graphics and cute illustrations – make sure you read the fine print. - Services
Make a list of everything you need from this business account. Does the account seem to serve your needs? Here are a few things that might be useful to a growing business:- Do they have a dedicated support team to help with business queries?
- Can you view balances, recent activity, and initiate transfers to other accounts?
- Do they offer direct debit mandates?
- What about debit cards for your employees – are those things you’d need?
- Limits and restrictions
Some bank accounts have limits on how much money you can deposit into the account and withdraw from it. You want to make sure that your business is operating within those limits, and that as your business grows, your bank isn’t charging you fees for exceeding those limits. - Personal preferences
At the end of the day, a lot of business accounts may end up being fairly similar. You can use your personal preferences to make the final call. If you like making payments through an app, go with the best app experience. Or, if you want to keep your business and personal accounts with the same provider, go that route.
Our favourite neobank account features
Even with that short list above, it might still be difficult to sift through the information and find the right business account for you. So we took a look at four neobank providers in the industry and listed some of the best features and reasons to consider going with a neobank account.
- They’ve been built to serve small businesses that are looking to grow. This means they have a variety of products that will grow with your business. Are you a freelancer or a company? Are you just starting out or are you more established? Do you need to operate in multiple currencies or are you local? Many neobanks let you start with a simple business account. As you grow, upgrade to the account that suits your business needs the best.
- Neobanks are all about ease and efficiency. Many neobanks focus on helping businesses find tricks to make managing your business finances as easy as possible — they have tons of integrations to choose from, open APIs, and fantastic apps.
- They’re inexpensive for businesses that are just starting out or looking to save money on overhead costs. Many neobanks have the option to start out with a free business account — some are online accounts with virtual cards, and some even give you a physical business card. As you upgrade to paid business accounts, they’ll give you access to useful stats and analytics, better support packages, and insurance cover.
- Neobanks have the most useful add-on features. Some let you tag your transactions which helps you organise your business admin and taxes. Others are built to make managing international businesses easy. And even more, are aimed at simplifying your business admin with open APIs, integrations, monthly statements, and batch payments.
At the end of the day, we’re lucky to have as many options to choose from as we do. It may make the decision process a little more difficult, but it also means we’re more likely to find the perfect fit for our business.
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P.S. Want a payment solution that does what it says it will do? Get Truevo. We can’t wait to connect with you.
