Powerful and simple. Apply today through Tide to open an FSCS protected bank account provided by ClearBank.infoTide offers bank accounts provided by ClearBank. ClearBank Ltd is Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority (Financial Services Register number: 754568). Registered Address: 13 Dirty Lane, Borough Yards, London, SE1 9PA.
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Straightforward business current accounts at no monthly cost to get started for sole traders, consultants and contractors
Limited companies save time with accounting integration, invoicing directly from the app and Expense Cards for easy expense management
Upgrade to our Plus or Premium memberships when your business needs more support and enjoy exclusive perks
Our mission is to save small businesses time and money. That’s why we offer a free business bank account with no monthly fee. Choose the plan that’s right for you now and upgrade any time as your business grows.
Fraud is on the rise, so we’ve put together some tips to help you stay ahead of scams.
Understanding the key information on our fraud page - such as that Tide will never ask you to share your details or move funds to another account - can help keep your finances safe.
If you need support, call our Fraud Rapid Response team 24/7 on 159 (supported by Stop Scams UK ).
We pay the incorporation fee on your behalf and give you a free business account.
Apply within minutes and get set up all in one go.
We’re an approved formation agent with a secure Companies House integration, so you’re in good hands.
Our business current account is packed with features which save you time and money:
We automatically tag your income and spending. Customise the labels to suit your company.
Upload receipts, auto-match them to transactions, add a note if you like and it’s all stored digitally.
Link your account to software like Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and more.
No need for a separate system, keep on top of your invoices directly in our app.
Manage your finances in a way that works for you, whether it’s in the palm of your hand, or from your computer.
Invite business partners, colleagues or your accountant to view and download transactions.
Download all your payments, attachments and notes, then upload them to any accounting software.
Forget uploading CSVs – connect your account to Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent, Sage, KashFlow and Reckon.
We’ve made it easy to manage your Tide card so you stay in control.
Spend on your card in the UK and abroad with no fees and no commission. (Getting cash from an ATM costs £1 and some machines might charge an extra fee.)
Stay in control from anywhere. Use the app to freeze, unfreeze, or cancel and re-order your card.
Order up to 50 Tide Expense Cards for your team and keep track of who's spending what. Set up additional accounts to set aside money for expenses.
Spend in shops, buy online and withdraw cash worldwide wherever Mastercard is accepted.
We offer business accounts to directors of limited companies or sole traders.
If you’re a director of a limited company, your company must be registered with Companies House. If you haven’t done this yet, we can register your company and even pay the Companies House admin fee for you.
If you’re a sole trader or freelancer, you must have a valid UK home address and be registered with HMRC. To register with HMRC, you just need to get in touch at gov.uk and follow the site navigation to let HMRC know you’re now self-employed.
We welcome everyone to apply for a Tide account. Our mission is to empower diverse and often under-represented small and medium business owners who lack access to financial services. We don’t discriminate against anyone on the basis of political beliefs, religion, race, or any other characteristic protected by law.
However, we can’t provide services for everyone.
When someone wishes to join Tide, we calculate their risk factors. These risk factors include what type of business they have, how their business makes money and which industry it operates in. If this risk is too high for us to support, we won’t accept their application.
This is to make sure that we keep Tide members safe, that we have the resources to fully support them and their businesses in line with our regulatory requirements.
As a result, we can’t accept anyone whose business is funded fully or in part by regular donations, as these carry specific risks that we are not currently able to service. This is especially true if we or the business owner is unable to trace where these funds are coming from.
We are also unfortunately unable to accept businesses in the following industries:
We understand that this won’t be good news for some people. But we have to do this so we can fully support the financial strength and safety of our new and existing members.
You’re always welcome to get in touch with us at hello@tide.co if you have any questions or comments about this.
Yes.
If you have a ClearBank account, like most of our members, then eligible deposits up to £85,000 are protected by the UK Government’s deposit guarantee scheme, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). You can tell whether your account is a ClearBank account, if its sort code is 04-06-05.
In the past we offered e-money accounts to new customers, which we no longer do. If you still have an e-money account with us, then the funds in your account are stored and protected. With an e-money account, your money is never invested or loaned out, and is safeguarded in line with regulatory requirements. FSCS protection does not apply to the legacy e-money accounts. You can tell whether your account is a legacy e-money account, if its sort code is 23-69-72.
With a bank account, eligible deposits will be protected up to £85,000* by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
E-money accounts store your money in electronic form which can be used to make payments. Your money is held in a Safeguarding Account. This means your money is kept separate from the funds we use to run Tide.
*Eligible deposits with ClearBank are protected up to a total of £85,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), the UK’s deposit guarantee scheme. This limit applies to the total of any deposits you have with ClearBank. Any total deposits you hold above this limit are unlikely to be covered.
There are 3 ways in which Tide members can identify if they have a PPS or ClearBank account:
Yes!
We offer FSCS-protected bank accounts provided by ClearBank Ltd.
ClearBank is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority under registration number 754568. Eligible deposits with ClearBank are protected up to a total of £85,000 by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), the UK’s deposit guarantee scheme. For further information visit fscs.org.uk.
We’ll be able to verify your identity from most European National ID cards, international driving licences and passports.
No, Tide isn’t a bank.
Tide is a business financial platform and the leading provider of digital business banking services in the UK! We are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and offer e-money accounts, provided by PrePay Solutions (PPS), as well as business bank accounts, provided by ClearBank.
We believe that this model gives us the opportunity to provide a wider range of products and services to our members, helping them to save time (and money) on their financial admin.
On-boarding timeframes vary depending on the types of applications we receive, but more than half of our new members this year opened their bank account in less than 10 minutes.
To be exact, 53% opened their accounts in under 10 minutes, 70% in under 60 minutes, and 81% within 48 hours. Even if your business is a bit more complex and we can’t complete your application right away, if you meet our eligibility requirements it’ll still be far quicker than most high street banks!
Saving our members time is at the core of what we do, so we’re always working to optimise and improve wait times. You can read about why we sometimes need a little more information on our blog.
Unfortunately, registering charities requires us to follow a different set of rules which would take us away from our main mission as a company. We may support these types of organisations in the future, but we’re currently focused on offering the best experience for small and medium-sized businesses.
No! To open a current account, we perform electronic checks (run by third-party services) to verify your identity and comply with UK anti-money laundering regulations. While these checks will not impact your credit score, they will appear on your credit report.
Yes! However, you must have a UK residential address. Applicants who are not based in the UK may apply for a business bank account, as long as they are directors of a company registered with UK Companies House. In some cases, we may have to complete additional checks in order to process your application.
Don’t forget – you’ll need to switch your App or Google Play store to the UK to download Tide.
Unfortunately not – but you can use Tide alongside your existing bank account until you have fully switched over.
Find answers to all our most frequently asked questions and how to contact our Member Support team.
No queuing or appointment required
On play store or app store
Like what you do and any shareholders
To securely verify who you are
Sometimes we ask for more information
Tide is about doing what you love. That’s why we’re trusted by 500,000+ sole traders, freelancers and limited companies throughout the UK.
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Business current accounts
Published August 2023
As part of a regulatory requirement, an independent survey was conducted to ask approximately 1,200 customers of each of the 15 largest business current account providers if they would recommend their provider to other small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs*). The results represent the view of customers who took part in the survey.
We asked customers how likely they would be to recommend their business current account provider to other SMEs.
View full survey results