What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
Community group
What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
Authorizing payments, and tracking receipts are the biggest annoyances.
I would like to see in app notification as soon as a payment is made asking for the secondary authorization.
Also the ability to attach a picture of a receipt to the transaction to prove whats been payed for.
What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
Barclays banking app.
What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
Its a pain to login and use, finding historic data and authorization always feels painful and requires a calculator style auth device to make any changes.
If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
Multiple cards with authorization for trustees of the community group, taking it further perhaps member cards which then ask for authorization from 2 trustees so that a card could be made available to members for small purchases.
In general features for running local clubs would be excellent think sports or music clubs which are funded by members and run in trustees spare time to keep them going current banks donāt handle this setup very well, seems like a good place to test things out while filling a void.
1. What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
Limited company that sells clothing items globally.
2. What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
Xero integration is the main one. Everything else runs pretty smoothly. As itās a clothing business, cashflow is always an issue.
3. What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
Xero, Expensify, Excel
4. What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
Barclays:
Pros: I trust them. We get good interest on dollar accounts (reflects US dollar interest rates) that covers costs of actually having the account.
Cons: Clunky interface for FX accounts. Poor UX. Fees are high. Adding payees is a pain. Too much security.
5. If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
As our factory is in Europe and weāre paid in many currencies - Good FX support. So separate dollar and euro accounts with interbank rates, or at least virtual IBANs. Revolutās model is really good in that area and currently serves our needs well i.e. we pay Ā£300 a year to save Ā£1000ās in FX fees. Donāt partner with Transferwise for this, itās not competitive enough for business. https://www.currencycloud.com/ seems to the be partner of choice for Revolut (and now Starling)
Other features: One really important one is being able to set it up quickly. With other business ventures one of the biggest pain points has always been getting a business account running quickly.
We wished we had a fully integrated banking / invoicing / tax application. Rather than having to log in and out of the bank to perform payments, then having to wait 24 hours (or more!) for those transactions to be imported into FreeAgent, where we then have to individually explain each transaction - and only then do we know what dividends we can allocate / what our tax position is.
Thatās a great one, Tricky. A subtle, but very awesome feature. Once a transaction is made is could be added to a Xero account as a Bill or similar. Basically so you can do all your book keeping in real time.
What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
Limited company, VAT registered, sole director
What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
Not being able to add receipts, no instant notifications, not being able to categorise on Apple Watch, getting data out for analysis, linking to other tools like FreeAgent. And opaque charges on overseas transactions.
What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
Lloyds bank account and business credit card. Freeagent for invoicing, cashbook and to give to my Accountant
What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
Like:
Phone app
Solid and reliable
IBAN and other international numbers
Dislike
See 2 above
Having to use business credit card for all transactions to avoid bank charges
No interest on cash holdings
No easy way to set aside (pots) money for other uses
Wish it worked like my Monzo account so I could photograph receipts and extract them
If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
Has to be at least as good as traditional banks - i wouldnāt switch until everything was in place
Would prefer a fixed fee to all the fiddling with bits of charges I face at the moment
Much better integration with FreeAgent - itās clunky at best at the moment
A way to deposit cheques by photograph
Ditto to many other things which others have already mentioned
And finally an easy way to earn interest on cash holdings like pots put aside for VAT
considering the success of the crowdfunding campaign? whatās the current plan for business accounts?
Iām a limited company exporting software services finishing a hardware product. sole director, sole employee, dealing almost exclusively in USD, main account with starling and paying Ā£25 per month to revolut for a multicurrency IBAN and āfreeā currency exchange.
I think Iām right in saying the pace of business accounts will depend on whether Monzo is successful in bidding for the RBS Remedies Fund rather than the crowdfunding per se.
Basically, I think itās a few years away, unless they win a slice of the RBS fundā¦
Iād like for it to be automatically dormant when no transactions enter or leave the account in a month - in other words, to not pay when itās not being used ā¦ even if there is a residual balance.
Whilst Iām not a business owner or freelancer I do know many people who are and judging by things they say I reckon features to track and remind them to chase invoices and payment i.e. the app could give push notifications on the day the payment is due if the person hasnāt made the payment into the account before a certain date. Many of my friends find it a pain to remember to track payments made/to chase from their clients.
And perhaps some sort of email confirmation from Monzo to the payee just generically saying something like "This email confirms that X has received the payment due which they referenced as (whatever reference put into the notes section). If you have any further questions regarding this transactions and reciepts/invoices please contact the account holder.
I am a sole director of a limited liability company.
I am a consultant and receive most of my fees from clients in the US. I travel internationally and use my card to pay travel expenses and to withdraw cash. I pay about 5 expenses a month locally. My business has no need of cash deposits.
Currently with HSBC and they have done nothing wrong, but their app and online banking just suck.
I have a few businesses, so would need to be able to have multiple business accounts on Monzo. Iām sure I canāt be the only entrepreneur that has a few businesses, so Iām sure Iām not alone needing this.
One account has a small overdraft (more of a cash flow safety net), so would need option for business overdraft.
Iām happy to pay for all this, I wouldnāt expect business banking to be completely free. I currently pay Ā£5.50 per account each month with all electronic transactions free. I wouldnāt really want to pay more than this, but if monzo could provide what I need at about this price, Iād be straight over!
What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
One of four directors in a Limited Company working in Ad-Tech/Data consultancy. We work at a global level, although billings generally occur in four currencies (GBP, EUR, USD and AUD)
What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
Getting access to the account. As others have mentioned, currently only one director can access the account and if he gets hit by a bus tomorrow, I really donāt know what we do.
Thatās only the tip of the iceberg though. The sole access we have to the account is through a card and card reader, and that causes all sorts of problems. I donāt think exaggerating to say that in the two years weāve been running, weāve probably had access to our account for less than half of that. Security protocols get changed, new card readers have to be sent out, but they need to be sent out separately to new pin codes. And PIN codes/card machines either get sent out at times where they donāt overlap or they get sent to different addresses. Either way, itās just a complete mess and there have been a few months where weāve had to pay salaries on debit card because we canāt get access to our account. Needless to say that if you can get this up and running, I am VERY interested.
What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
Quickbooks What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
Iāve said most of it above - itās dreadful. Itās inflexible, customer service is terrible and we have very little access to our accounts. If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
Ability to handle multiple currencies centrally, multiple user access, real time notifications when cash hits the account
P.S. Would love to chat about this more if there is the option to talk over the phone.
Iām looking for a business account now so itās a shame monzo doesnāt have one yet. Hopefully this is helpful to the monzo developers as its not for a standard business.
Yesterday, myself and the three other flat owners in my block completed purchase of our freehold through collective enfranchisement.
We now need an account that we can pay into as a sink fund, out of for insurance etcā¦
So the company is made of 4 directors who donāt really know each other in a business that makes no profit and no loss.
It would be great for any of us to be able to pay into the account and for anyone to be able to pay or transfer out of the account with pin code authorisation from the 1 or 2 or 3 others (as we choose).
It would also be great to have some way to have a āfly on the wallā option so that the accountant could be invited to view the account for a time period without having any access to the money, of course. This might make their life easier in other ways that a traditional statement doesnātā¦ hash tags etc. (thinking out loud now)
Last thought. If I sell my flat, I sell my share of the freehold and thus, the business, so the ability to remove old people and add new people to the account would be essential.
Good luck, Monzo! Iām sure the business account will be awesome, whatever you come up with!
Hey both! Weāre working as fast as we can at the moment, and trying to gather as much information as possible form users like you to understand your needs, and think of potential solutions. Peterās right on point - we are applying for the RBS Alternative Remedies Package, and if we win - weāll be able to speed up that work! if we donāt, we still have a team on the ground working hard at this, so hopefully we can have something out next year!
Iād love to see how Monzo can revolutionize the business accounts, too. Here are my replies:
What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
Limited
What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
Not being able to access my currency account withoutpaying Ā£50/mo with Lloyds! I have to call them or go to branch (which are slowly disappearing) just to see my balance. Transferring payments overseas? Takes at least 30 min. At the branch.
What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
Business acct with Lloyds and Wave as software
What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
Online banking is limited in functionality. We do international trade and need quick access to currency qccount to receive payments from our customers and pay our vendors in USD
If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
Decent online banking, currency account, being able to earn interest on balance, definitely desktop interface, smartphone will not cut it for BCA.
@jrdn: Iām super hyped about business bank accounts and would be an early adopter. Iād also love to have a chat on the phone in detail! - DM me.
What do you do?
Iām a Contractor
with a limited company.
web developer in fintech.
Pain points?
Canāt use my Barclays business account via Google pay NFC
freeagent eases all my pain points around accounting, invoicing etc.
Tools?
Freeagent
Barclays bank feed into Freeagent
Like/dislike about current business bank account?
Barclays bank feed into Freeagent
Same app for business and personal accounts
Key features?
Monzo business bank account feed into Freeagent
Business bank linked to Google pay so I can pay with my phone via NFC
Business and personal accounts in same app
Pots to put vat and corporation tax into so I donāt spend it.
Basically as an MVP I just want the same features as the personal current accounts have. Then asap I would want it to feed into FreeAgent which is when I would really start to use it and switch from Barclays.
Other features like automatically putting the correct amount of Vat and corporation tax into pots when money is deposited would be awesome but isnāt a deal breaker.
What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
LTD company - only one employee - me
What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
I do all my invoicing and accounting in another package (FreeAgent), so wouldnāt use Monzo business account for invoicing (I donāt think).
My current bank (Barclays) are quite good at keeping up to date (paying in cheques using the camera, bank feeds etc) - but it can be better
What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
FreeAgent - direct bank feeds into it. This is essential for me
What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
The App and website online tools are poor. Slow. Lack of new innovative features. However, being able to see my business and personal accounts together in one app is great (with Barclays). now I have moved my personal account to Monzo, I am keen to get it all in one app again. I think Barclays App may let me view my Monzo account, but havenāt tried it yet.
If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
Pots as per the Monzo Personal account. Would be great for stashing away VAT bills.
What do you do? Are you a sole proprietor, contractor, limited company?
One of two directors in what is, in effect, a one-man Limited Company.
What are the big pain points in managing your business finances? (think about things like invoices, expenses, payroll, taxes, etc.)
I have quite a lot of international transactions and I really resent being ripped off with absurd exchange rates and/or fees.
What tools do you currently use to manage your business finances?
Invoicely and Expensify.
What do you like / dislike about your current business bank account?
High foreign exchange fees or rates is a big dislike. Good app and quick response with no fees. Customer service isnāt great.
If you could request one key feature for your business current account, what would it be? Are there any other features you look for in a BCA?
Easy and fair foreign exchange transactions. Pots for tax etc. Integration with accounting packages.
- DM me.