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CACalculates taxes & VAT for you automatically
July 2022
For a personalised banking report, and access to tailored funding and savings opportunities for your business, simply register here.
Choose your business current account options
Anna Money business account
Account fee
Free
Opening time
10 mins
Bank transfers
Free
Invoicing
doneOverdrafts
closeCalculates taxes & VAT for you automatically
Tide business current account
Account fee
Free
Opening time
1 day
Bank transfers
£0.20
Invoicing
doneOverdrafts
closeFree tools for accounting and invoicing
Countingup Business Account
Account fee
Free for the first three months
Opening time
3 mins
Bank transfers
£0.30
Invoicing
doneOverdrafts
close0.3% cashback on purchases for new and existing customers, available until 31st May.
GoSolo business bank account
Account fee
Free
Opening time
10 mins
Bank transfers
£0.20
Invoicing
doneOverdrafts
closeNew Limited company registration
Revolut Free Account
Account fee
Free
Opening time
3.5 days
Bank transfers
£0.20
Invoicing
closeOverdrafts
closeHold and exchange 28 currencies at the real (interbank) rate
Lloyds Bank Start up
Account fee
FREE for 12 months, then £7 per month
Opening time
7 Days
Bank transfers
Free
Invoicing
closeOverdrafts
doneInterbank Agency Agreements
Lloyds Bank Switcher Account
Account fee
FREE for 12 months, then £7 per month
Opening time
7 Days
Bank transfers
Free
Invoicing
closeOverdrafts
doneInterbank Agency Agreements
Bank of Scotland Start up
Account fee
FREE for 12 months, then £7 per month
Opening time
7 Days
Bank transfers
Free
Invoicing
closeOverdrafts
doneInterbank Agency Agreements
Bank of Scotland Switcher Account
Account fee
FREE for 12 months, then £7 per month
Opening time
7 Days
Bank transfers
Free
Invoicing
closeOverdrafts
doneInterbank Agency Agreements
Cashplus business bank account
Account fee
No monthly or annual fees, just an initial £9.95 card fee
Opening time
4 mins
Bank transfers
First 3 free and then £0.99
Invoicing
closeOverdrafts
doneIntegrated with all accounting packages
Barclays Start-up business account
Account fee
Free for 12 months, then £6
Opening time
Within 3 weeks
Bank transfers
From £0.35
Invoicing
doneOverdrafts
done12 months FREE banking
HSBC small business account
Account fee
£8
Opening time
15 Days
Bank transfers
Free
Invoicing
doneOverdrafts
doneFree banking for 12 months
Barclays Switcher
Account Fee
From £6
Opening time
Within 3 weeks
Bank transfers
From £0.35
Invoicing
doneOverdrafts
doneMultiple tariffs to suit your business
Fair Everywhere business account
Account fee
£12.50 + £55 application fee
Opening time
1 day
Bank transfers
£0.30
Invoicing
closeOverdrafts
closeGreat currency rates
Card One Money Business Account
Account fee
FREE for first 3 months then £12.50 per month + an application fee of £55
Opening time
4 hours
Bank transfers
£0.30
Invoicing
closeOverdrafts
closeNo credit checks
Revolut Grow Account
Account fee
£25 per month
Opening time
3.5 days
Bank transfers
First 100 free then £0.20
Invoicing
closeOverdrafts
closeEcommerce: accept payments on your checkout page and with platform plugins
* Swoop’s service features a selection of providers from whom we receive commission.
Register your business with Swoop and integrate your bank account for your personalised reportDon’t despair – it’s still possible to open a new business bank account with bad credit. Many small business owners in the UK are impacted by their bad credit history, but there’s no need to let bad credit prevent you from starting and running a prosperous business.
Negative credit scores can seriously affect your finances; it can make it difficult to apply for financing such as loans, mortgages or even bank accounts. But, even if your credit history includes bankruptcy or a County Court Judgement (CCJ), it is still possible to open a business bank account. Thankfully, there are several banks who don’t require a credit check in order for you to open an account with them.
In most cases, opening a business bank account is conditional to a credit check. This is the first hurdle you may fail at when looking to open a business bank account.
The bank will run a search on your credit history and establish your credit worthiness. However, there are a number of business bank accounts that do not run credit checks, therefore giving customers the ability to get up and running with a new account incredibly fast (in as little as 4 minutes, so almost instantly!). Anna, Tide, Cashplus, CardOneMoney, as well as Fair Everywhere all allow customers to set up business bank accounts without running a credit check. If you’re looking for ways to compare them, you can utilise our comparison table to decide which account is the right fit for you.
Business accounts that offer no credit checks often offer very similar services to regular business accounts. Notable differences are usually that they will not offer an overdraft. However, you should expect to still receive the following services:
Challenger banks have begun to revolutionise business banking similar to how we have seen Revolut and Monzo gather millions of personal banking customers. Challenger banks have risen since the financial crisis to offer an alternative, often to SMEs who are looking for more flexible and digital solutions to perform their day to day banking needs.
Challenger banks are more likely to offer innovative solutions and integrations into other services you might use as a business owner such as accounting software.
Another key aspect challenger banks have focused on for customers is speed to open an account. It is a lot quicker to open an account on average with a challenger bank over a traditional bank as the system tends to be streamlined and can be done in most cases without needing to interact with a human. This can be a huge win for business owners who are seriously time stretched and need to get accounts open quickly.
If you still want to bank with a traditional bank, then there are a number of ways that you can start to get your credit score moving in the right direction.
To get started, you may want to get a credit report and get to know your score. Read our in-depth business credit scores guide and get your free business credit health check.
Here are a number of ways you can affect it in a positive way:
At Swoop, we offer an independent business bank comparison table so you can easily compare which bad credit business current account will work for you. You can compare business accounts on Swoop across monthly fees, overdrafts, speed of opening, invoicing, mobile app, free banking, foreign exchange and more.
In August 2021 the BVA BDRC published the findings from its Business Banking Service Quality survey. Undertaken as part of a regulatory requirement and published at the request of the providers and the Competition and Markets Authority, the study surveyed 16,800 SME bank account customers between July 2020 and June 2021.
Each customer was asked how likely they would be to recommend to other SMEs –
The results show the proportion of customers of each provider, among those who took part in the survey, who said they were ‘extremely likely’ or ‘very likely’ to recommend each service. A detailed breakdown for each category can be seen in the table below.
Source: BVA BDRC
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