Tuesday 12 November 2013

Top tips for managing your business banking


Business is hard, and money is precious, so we should do everything we can to minimise the expenses and maximise our returns. One of the areas people totally overlook when thinking about their business finance is the income and expenses from the bank.

Top tips to make sure you maximise your money:

1. Talk to the bank and find out how much you pay for your accounts and what you get for it. Many people set up an account and then don’t review it for years. It may be that you are using an account you don’t need and you could reduce the monthly account fee or move to something more relevant for your business.

2. Look at the other services you get with your account, a lot of accounts now come with roadside cover or travel insurance and other perks.  People forget this and purchase separate travel insurance, roadside cover and so on. If you are happy with the level of cover the bank gives you then cancel your other policies. You don’t need two of these things, so save the money.

3. If you are one of the lucky people with savings, research the market to see who has the best savings interest rates, if you have left your money in an account for a few years it is likely the rate you are getting is not the best one available.  So move your money to get as much return as you can.

4. To maximise the interest you earn, try to make sure any spare or unused funds (if you have any) are transferred into the account with the highest interest rate. Just make sure you check you still have access to the money when you need it and it’s not ‘locked in’.

5. The flip side of researching a savings interest rate is to look into the interest rates you pay on loans and overdrafts. These days many of us operate with some form of debt and like with savings we tend to just go with whatever the bank tells us. It’s much easier to change accounts now so find out how much interest you pay and see if you can get a better rate.

6. Check what the bank is doing and don’t be afraid to question them. Banks make mistakes and can over charge or enter erroneous transactions which they may not realise. So check your statements, query anything you are not expecting, and argue your case if you get fines or charges you don’t think you should have to pay for.

Just a quick check online can provide you with the information you need to action most of these points… and you are online now…. so why not do it now?

For further information please contact Erin: erin.walls@wardwilliams.co.uk

No comments:

Post a Comment