By Tobias
When you have a business, it is very important to keep the costs down as much as possible. Many new businesses do not last long because they overspend and then get in to difficulty. However, it is important not to cut costs too much and make sure you pay for the essentials.
One thing to consider is business banking. It can be expensive but it is worth it. Some banks will offer free business banking for the first year anyway and so that will make a big difference. It may also be possible to negotiate another free year or find another bank that offers some free banking. Business accounts can be more expensive for things like processing cheques and payments, paying in cash and things like that. Some only charge if you do more than a certain amount. It is worth considering what you might use, with regards to banking facilities and then you can see which will suit you the best.
Choosing personal banking has some advantages. It is free for most things, which means that it can be a cheaper option. It is also allowed by the tax office etc as long as you keep your books correctly. The drawback is that if you want cheques or payments going in to your business name, you will need a business account. Also, if your bank finds out that you are running business banking through a personal account, whether it is your own or one that you set up specifically for the business, they will insist that you open a business account.
There is one main advantage of running a business account rather than a personal account. If you want to borrow money for the business and have had a business account then as long as the bank is offering business loans, they will consider lending to you. This is especially likely if you have kept your business account in order and not gone overdrawn or at least not had unauthorised overdrafts. If you have been running your business banking through a personal account, then they will have that past performance to look at and therefore may think that you are too much of a risk for a loan. You may think you will never need a loan so you need not consider this, but it is hard to tell what might happen in the future. You may want to expand and a loan could be the only way. You may need extra money for all sorts of reasons and without a loan you may not have the option to expand or perhaps even keep the business running.