Tide business account review

Business Guide
5 min readNov 6, 2020

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What is tide business banking?

Tide business banking has been in the UK market since 2015. It was launched for small businesses and freelancers. It is not actually a bank, but actually an account like an app that is managed completely through the mobile. It contains a debit card or master card for shopping purposes. But it does not have any IBAN for international transfer.

The tide business banking aims to free the user from the problem of finance management and to save their time. But, the tide is actually not a bank, rather it is an app. Now, the question arises that many banks have a mobile application service. So, what is special in it? The peculiarity is that it is based on mobile. All the management is done through the mobile application. However, you can also use an email service when required.

Purpose of tide business account

The purpose and functions of tide business account include

  • It manages the income
  • Deposit cash on the tide business account.
  • Receive and send payments within the UK.
  • It manages the orders.
  • Allows to set up different accounts for multiple purposes.
  • It is also used for shopping purposes.

Being a digital platform, its importance lies in the fact that it can be managed through the “tide app” like it provides the digital invoices whose images can be kept. Your business can be managed on the move.

Who is eligible to open an account?

  • If a user is a business owner, he needs to register himself with the companies house as either the owner of his business or as a partner.
  • Freelancers can also open an account in case they are based in the UK.
  • The user age must be 18 plus. No younger than 18 is allowed to have a tide account.
  • Users must have an address based in the UK.
  • Users must own a registered smartphone.
  • Users must have a personal number.

The tide app doesn’t allow some business persons to open an account. This business include.

  • Traders of crypto-currency and precious stones and metals.
  • Those who deal in money services like foreign exchange, prize bonds and providing a loan, etc.
  • Pharmacies that sell un-licensed medicines.
  • The business that deals with weapons.

How does tide business banking works?

Normally, when you want to open an account, you need to wait for several days to get it open due to the long procedure. Taking an appointment and going to the bank with your business details and ID card and then wait for the approval. However, the tide is not that long procedure. You can open an account within 10 minutes when you want to. What you need is to download the tide app, enter your business details. Scan your ID card and take a selfie to give proof of your identity. Within 10 minutes, you will get the account number and your master card. This is how you can save yourself from wasting time while going to a bank and managing your finance. The tide app has made it possible in the vicinity of your comfort zone.

Peculiarities of tide business account

Some prominent features of tide business account are

  • You can make an online purchase of any product you like.
  • You can keep a track of your transactions and current balance.
  • You can access your app only through the PIN.
  • You can freeze or unfreeze the MasterCard in case it gets lost.
  • You can get free cards from the app.
  • No regular fees, a very minimum amount is charged for free-banking.
  • You can have multiple accounts for a single business. Like you can create 4 current accounts for the same company. This is usually done to manage finance and to reduce the tax.
  • You can log in to your account through desktop and can also provide read-only access to the accountant of your business.
  • You can have access to the monthly statement in PDF format.
  • You can apply for business loans through the tide app.
  • When you apply for a business account, you can register the company for free.

Fee of plans

Opening up an account on the tide app is free and its basic features including the master card are also free. However, it charges just 20p per transaction

  • Tide card payment is free for the UK and abroad.
  • Transfer within the tide account is also free.
  • For withdrawal from ATM, £1 is charges.
  • Cash deposits at the post office charge £1.
  • Paypoint charges a 3% fee.

Tide usually offers free services to those who are new to tide banking. However, for some businesses, it also offers two more plans and provides additional features.

The three plans are

  • Tide free
  • Tide plus
  • Tide premium

Similarities among the 3 plans

The similarities between tide free, tide plus and tide premium app are as follow.

  • Team & accountant read-only access
  • Scheduled payments
  • Accounting integration
  • Hold up to 5 business accounts

Differences among 3 plans

Sole trader

  • For a sole trader, the balance limit is £ 25,000. Sole traders can receive£25,000 and they can send £10,000 from a single transaction.
  • The monthly limit to send and receive payment is £1,00,000.
  • The card limit for both daily and monthly transactions is £10,000.
  • The cash limit to withdraw from ATM is £500.

Limited company

  • For a limited company, the balance limit is £ 1,00,000. Sole traders can receive and send £50,000 from a single transaction.
  • The monthly limit to send and receive payment is £2,00,000.
  • Card limit for daily transactions is £10,000 and monthly transactions are £50,000.
  • The cash limit to withdraw from ATM is £500.

Pros and cons of tide business account

If you own a personal business on small scale and a mobile person. This is the best banking app for you. However, if you own an expanded business, this app may not work for you due to limitations on a transaction.

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