Small business banking

[ians]

If you turnover less than 10 million the bank regards you as a number, you dont qualify for personal attention. You do however get to speak to some arb person in a call centre.

So time to treat banks as a number, if the number you see is not what you want to see or you can getting lower number from another bank just move.

Something to look at is an EGA account with Standard bank if you have a balance over i think it is R 6000 then you dont pay any fees. Would just need to verify this statement.

[Houses4Rent]

What does EGA stand for?
My Stranded account needs a balance of R6500 to get 5 free transfers/EFT's a month which at R6.00 a pop is a R30 saving.

[Dave A]

Something to look at is an EGA account with Standard bank if you have a balance over i think it is R 6000 then you dont pay any fees.

Unfortunately the "no fee" option is only available on personal bank accounts, not business accounts.

It used to be a pretty good option - only needed R2k for unlimited number of transactions, but that's changed quite drastically in recent times. I suspect the package options will work out cheaper for most folk, especially when you add up things like credit card fees etc.

[flaker]

I'm with Nedbank. Herewith my fees on a business account which fees were reduced by some 30-40% in July. An EFT payment = R8, inter account transfers under the same profile =R4, debits by suppliers such as cell providers, insurance= R13

How do your charges compare? Thanks

[Houses4Rent]

They do it for you.

Wow, do you know how? Is Standard Bank letting them into their systems then to get them out? I doubt that. Please tell me how that works, because I has asked Stranded bank how I can export the beneficiaries and they said its not possible. I am sure it is, but they do not know how or do not want to tell me.

I just stumbled over this article about the banks being fined for non compliance.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/financial/2014/08/28/banks-must-improve-their-compliance-or-risk-fines

[ians]

EGA base account, i have no idea what it stands for. It comes up on the phone when i log on to the bank. I think it is a plusplan (savings) account. I am starting to think this is the route i should take. IF the balance is over R6000 for the whole month i "believe there are no fees, but i need to verify this first.

I am still no closer to making a final decision as to which account, do I go with FNB R200 package or do i go with a start biz account R130. The problem with the startup account with standard bank is that once you reach the 30 limit the fees to use the account cost R20 you use a couple of those and you gona be down the crapper with a small fortune in fees again.

I need to find out what the fees are like once you reach the limit of transactions with FNB.

[ians]

Thinking out loud...

Why go open another account, no matter how cheap. Rather simplify what i already have, close accounts which are not serving a purpose and use other which i already have, at the end of the day another account is just going to incur more fees.

So here are my thoughts...

Business cheque account - use for primary business (the one which pays the bills at the moment)
Ega base account (business savings) - Use as i am at this point in time, for debt orders, a place to keep money separate from the daily running of the business and a little extra for a rainy day. Benefit with this account once it stays over a certain level, the fees are reduced.
Elite account - Use for hobby/new business venture, card swipes are free plus i get a few transaction free. Will become a sole prop entity so personal account, taxes etc still the same.
credit card (personal) - transfer money from business account and use to pay supplier and goods purchases. EFT will be done directly from the business cheque account. Use this account to save purchase fees on business account card.

After typing all this another thing comes to mind, time to hoof the accountant i am using and to find one which can assist me with information, instead of trying to figue it out myself. At the same time, find a branch of Standard bank were the business banker actually knows what they are taking about to assist with rates and services. I certianly cant give the branch i am dealing with any credit for services.

[Houses4Rent]

Time to hoof the accountant i am using and to find one which can assist me with information, instead of trying to figue it out myself. At the same time, find a branch of Standard bank were the business banker actually knows what they are taking about to assist with rates and services.

Good luck with that. If you are successful you should be able to sell that info, lol
I think its impossible as its dynamic and not static.

[Dave A]

Standard Bank's internet banking hasn't fallen over yet, but it certainly is down to a crawl at the moment.

A very, very slow crawl

[Dave A]

Actually - cancel that "crawl" comment. It isn't responding at all now.

[BusFact]

No problem my side. Just paid salaries without a hitch - well no obvious hitch anyway.

[Dave A]

I tried again at about 13:30 and it went just fine. I guess I hit rush hour earlier.

[reuphk]

I am just sitting here in shock that you paid R55 for an EFT to a supplier. That exact same function cost me R1.50 at Capitec.

A pity Capitec does not do business accounts