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You do not need a business account to run a business legally. It MAY be against bank policy to use a personal account, but that's not the law! You can do perfectly legal accounts and tax returns from a separate current account under your own name.
As Dan said, However I was made to open one by natwest - Their policy is anyone using a personal acount for trade use will be forced to have a business account - with all the fees associated with it.
You may get away with it on a low turnover, but the moment you start talking employees etc, the bank will want to charge you - they like getting the £50 or so a month from small businesses.
As Dan says above, its perfectly legal as a sole trader. But you will be breaching the terms and conditions of the personal account policy. There was a similar post just a few weeks ago on this. Do a search and you will get the information you need.
http://www.landscapejuicenetwork.com/forum/topics/free-business-ban...
http://www.landscapejuicenetwork.com/forum/topics/what-is-the-best-...
http://www.landscapejuicenetwork.com/forum/topics/what-is-the-best-...
i was very close to opening a business account but as this is my first year the fees put me right off, like yourself i asked a lot of soletrader joiners etc and they all used personal accounts.
I just opened another personal account and i have started using that. as soon as i get a payment in i take 20% of it and transfer to a savings account for tax etc. it's all new to me so i may be doing it wrong lol.
I use Mycashplus it is a pre paid credit card which I can be paid by Bacs from customers. I can also set up direct debits and pay one off payment by transfer. The only thing I can not do is to pay cheques in how ever in 3 years of trading only 1 person wanted to pay by cheque. Everyone else is happy to pay by BACS. The account has a sort code and account number cost is £4.95 per year. Also anything brought has the cover of being brought with a credit card.
Without a business bank account you will have to make sure any cheque's you receive are made out to you and not your business name.
nationwide have never batted an eyelid with my paying in cheques ranging from £20 to £10k - i also have a free overdraft facility for when i go in the red, all it costs me is the interest. that and a credit card with a £6k limit means i can do most jobs that I quote for with no cost in interest charges etc.
if you live out of your work account (you know, mortgage, tickets to the movies, council tax etc) then if you were to be investigated by the revenue, then of course they will be looking at your personal account as well as your business account - so seperate them!
i offer my bacs details to all customers on my invoice, but maybe 20% still prefer to send or give a cheque. that changes all the time as people get more trusting of internet banking, but some people i do work for give the impression they would rather rub scotch bonnets in their eyes than trust a computer.
I am with the Halifax and also have a Co-Op account, the Co-Op account I tend to use only for the livestock I keep, the Halifax is for work and personal banking and they are brilliant, they know full well its effectively a business account and not only don't care but quite often have put cheques through that have my trading name rather than my banking name without ever questioning it. (I am officially a sole trader so all my cheques are in my name) I know its customary to bash banks but I honestly could not be happier with who I have. I closed my Natwest account a few years back after they failed to inform me a MASSIVE cheque had bounced and left me heavily overdrawn. Then had the gall to charge me more than £150 because of fees incurred!
I would suggest joining the FSB which has a huge number of benefits including free legal/ tax advice with full backup with employee disputes. They also offer free banking for life with the coop. I think the coop actually pay you £20 a year just for using the account.
This deal is only available to FSB members.
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