Find answers to our most frequently asked questions and how to contact our Member Support team.
Contact our Member Support team in the app or by email
If you have any questions or feedback at hello@tide.co
Automated service to report a card lost or stolen, please call: +44 (0) 333 121 0266
We don’t currently accept cheque deposits.
We understand that cheques aren’t going to go away any time soon though. That’s why we’re looking at smart ways to process cheques, like an image clearing system which allows cheques to be deposited straight through your phone.
One of the most common issuers of cheques is HM Revenues and Customs. If you’ve received a cheque from HMRC, you can return it and request a direct bank transfer instead.
In instances where your account is being closed, any remaining funds will be returned to you by banking transfer only. At this stage we do not issue remaining balance cheques.
All GBP payments sent from your Tide account are Faster Payments.
These can be processed as standard one time transfers, scheduled payments, standing orders, and Direct Debits.
Tide accounts come packed with smart and time-saving tools, letting you focus less on admin and more on your business.
That’s just the beginning! You can see more on our features page, and keep up to date with what’s coming next on our roadmap
It depends.
For most of our members: not yet. Payments can only be made to and received from UK accounts. For now, you can use third-party services to send and receive international payments.
Some Tide members with limited companies have a Tide International Currency Account. If that’s the case for you, there’s a full list on our blog of which countries you can make payments to and receive payments from: International transfers: our new rules
No. There’s no guarantee your transfer will be directed to us if you’re using an online IBAN generator, it’s very risky and we wouldn’t recommend using this method under any circumstances.
That will depend on whether you’re a sole trader or a registered company.
Tap “Accounts” from your in-app More menu to see your full account limits, or to request a limit increase.
Yes! Tide supports outbound Direct Debits.
If you’re asked to provide the name and address of your banking provider, you can find the address in the app: More > Transactions > Direct Debits.
Please note that Direct Debits can take up to 5 days to become active once requested.
The Direct Debit process starts 8.00am Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays.
We don’t offer overdrafts but we’ve partnered with Iwoca to bring our members business loans.
With Iwoca, you can apply direct via Tide on the web for up to £250,000 of credit, which you can use as an alternative to a traditional overdraft.
This service is for eligible members only. If you’re eligible, you’ll be able to see Credit under the navigation bar when you log into Tide on the web.
We’ve partnered with the Post Office and PayPoint, so you can deposit cash at over 40,000 locations in the UK!
Here’s how to make a deposit:
Processing Times
Post Office deposits made before 6pm will be added to your account the next working day, deposits made after 6pm will take an additional working day.
PayPoint deposits will show in your account after about 10 minutes.
Fees and Limits
There is a £1 fee for a deposit at a Post Office, and a 3% fee on the total deposit value at PayPoint.
The fee is automatically deducted from the deposit at time of processing.
You can deposit between £10–500 each day. Other currencies aren’t supported at the moment.
Yes! You can download a statement on the 4th of the following month.
Just tap More > Transactions > Statements, then select the months that you’d like to download a statement for.
You can export transaction data to CSV files directly from the app – we offer a few different formats to best suit your accounting needs.
The export button is located in the top right corner of your accounts page, directly under the card icon.
To access your account on a new phone, or if you re-install the app after deleting it, you’ll need to complete a quick account recovery process to verify your identity again.
If you’re restoring the apps linked to your previous device, you’ll just need to delete and re-install the Tide app. For security reasons, entering your passcode on a ‘restored’ version of the app won’t work.
To begin the account recovery process, open the app and tap “I already have an account” at the bottom of the screen.
Manage, activate, or cancel your team’s cards by heading to More > Team Cards in your app.
Yes! You can access your account from a desktop at web.tide.co by using the QR code scanner found within your Tide app.
Tide runs on iOS 10 and above, and on Android 5.0.0 and above.
Unfortunately, Tide is not compatible with Windows phones.
Not yet, currently accounts can be accessed only by the named account holder.
However, you can order up to 35 Team Cards per account, and grant your colleagues or accountant Read Access.
Full multi-user access is on the roadmap.
Yes!
Production and sandbox APIs are available via Open Banking Developer Portal.
Production and sandbox APIs are available via Open Banking Developer Portal.
What does this mean for Tide members?
Members will be able to link third party financial tools directly to their Tide app by using Open Banking services. You’ll be able to make payments and see your account balance using linked third party apps, and grant access to time saving accounting tools!
Who can integrate with the Open Banking APIs?
Our Production API can be accessed by any authorised TPP who has enrolled on the OBIE Directory and has production Open Banking or eIDAS certificates. Alternatively TPPs may also integrate via our trusted TSP ‘Yapily’.
Our API Sandbox contains a full simulation of our APIs, without connecting to any real customer accounts. Any developer can access the Sandbox using their own self signed certificates.
Currently we support the following browsers:
We don’t charge monthly or annual fees for our current account.
You only pay for what you use:
| Bank transfers (in or out) | 20p |
| Payments between Tide accounts | Free |
| Card transactions home and abroad | Free |
| Cash withdrawals | £1 |
| Cash deposits (through the Post Office) | £1 |
| Cash deposits (through PayPoint) | 3% of the total transaction value |
With Tide, when you spend abroad or online in other currencies, you get Mastercard’s exchange rate with no additional mark-up or fees.
Our standard fee of £1 to withdraw cash at an ATM still applies.
You can use Mastercard’s Currency Conversion Calculator to work out the daily rate for a transaction.
The Mastercard rate might be different from the European Central Bank (ECB) foreign exchange reference rate.
The ECB is the central bank of the 19 EU countries which use the euro. They publish rates daily based on an average of the rates of European banks. Mastercard set their own rate which can be different from the ECB rate.
If you’re using your Tide card to pay for goods or services in or from other countries, or to withdraw cash abroad, we recommend you opt to be charged in the local currency. This is because our Mastercard rate is generally far better than the conversion rate a merchant or ATM will charge. Remember, some ATMs charge an extra fee for using their machine.
We’ll be able to verify your identity from most European National ID cards, international driving licences and passports.
To apply for an account with Tide, you will need to meet our eligibility criteria outlined below:
To apply for a registered business account, you’ll need to be registered with UK Companies House as a director of that company.
To apply for a sole trader account, you’ll need to be a UK based sole trader or freelancer.
For both account types, you’ll need to be aged 18 or above, have a valid UK phone number and address, and hold a compatible device registered to a UK App or Google Play store.
We’re on a mission to help businesses owners spend less time on money admin, and we want to enable as many small businesses as possible to do that. It’s a balancing act though, certain company types are more complex to onboard, so the scope of businesses we’re currently able to offer accounts to is a little more focused than your average high street bank.
We hope to broaden this scope as we grow, but currently we’re unable to onboard the following types of companies:
You can read more about this in our blog post: Providing financial security for our members.
On-boarding timeframes vary depending on the types of applications we receive, but more than half of our new members this year opened their 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 we’re unable to on-board charities at this stage.
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! Applicants who are not based in the UK may apply for a Registered Business 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.
We need to get a better understanding of your business, this is for regulatory purposes and so we can build a projected financial profile, so we can better protect you from any fraud in the future.
Of course your information is your own, but the more detail you’re happy to provide, the quicker we’ll be able to verify your application.
Here’s what’s very useful to us:
Necessary
Also helpful
If we’ve asked you for Dates Of Birth (DOBs) or addresses for yourself and/or your major shareholders*, we weren’t able to complete digital checks with the information we have.
DOBs often fail because we pull information from Companies House who don’t store the day a director or shareholder was born on, and this isn’t amended during sign-up.
Addresses generally fail because the address we’ve received isn’t a residential address, or because the resident hasn’t lived at that address for more than three months.
Here’s what we suggest:
If we’re still unable to digitally verify a given address we’ll need to see proof of address.
If we’re still unable to digitally verify a DOB, we’ll need to see a photo of valid ID.
If you or your shareholder have not been at any address for more than 3 months i.e. a foreign national new to the country, we’ll need to see a valid Biometric Residence Permit (for the UK) and proof of a foreign address.
*We see a ‘major shareholders’ as any shareholder currently holding more than 24% shares in the company.
There are a few reasons why your ID and selfie might have failed. Your ID might be expired, it might be invalid, or the picture we captured just wasn’t clear enough. Your selfie might have been too blurry or, and this is rare, we’re not sure that the person on the ID is the person in your selfie.
Here are some tips:
Here’s what we can accept:
Sometimes we might ask you for a second piece of ID, to supplement the first. This is for regulatory purposes, and we try to avoid this wherever possible.
We’ve spotted that the shareholding of your company has changed recently and that this isn’t accurately reflected in its Filing History on Companies House.
A lot of our applicants let us know that they’ve already submitted the necessary documents such as significant control updates or confirmation statements without updates.
However, we need to see a ‘Confirmation Statement (with updates)’, this is the document which explicitly details current shareholding.
Submitting a Confirmation Statement is a very quick and easy process and most of our applicants usually get back to us with 24 hours to say this has been completed.
Once this is done, we can verify the correct shareholders.
We weren’t able to automatically verify your details during on-boarding. If you’re sure we should be able to verify your full name against your address, then feel free to reiterate your address for us – there may have been a small error the first time round.
If not, then here’s what we can accept:
Strong
Weak – we’ll need to see two separate proofs
You can send through photographs of the full document or PDFs if appropriate. Unfortunately, we cannot accept scans or photocopies, screenshots.
In some cases, we may need to ask for additional evidence that your business is established.
Here’s what we’re looking for:
If you don’t have any of the above, feel free to send what you do have. We’ll definitely consider it but will probably also ask for something below.
Alternatives:
If you’re supplying alternative proofs, we may ask to see more than one.
If you’re sending a photo of anything make sure to send a clear photo of the whole document.
*Your social media page(s) must indicate a clear history of business activity and client-base. We may ask for further proof if the page is relatively new.
Registered businesses can create up to 4 current accounts per company from your more section in the app, each of which will have its own unique account number.
You can use these accounts for a specific expense such as marketing costs, or to save for your tax obligations.
We have integrations with Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent, ReckonOne, Kashflow and Sage, with other integrations to follow in the future.
Find details on how to connect on our Accounting integrations page.
You can check your PIN code at any time from the app home screen – just tap the card icon and ‘Show PIN’.
If you’d like to change your PIN, you can do so easily at most ATMs.
Yes! You can apply as many limited business accounts as you need, each application is subject to our standard approval criteria.
Our Multi-business feature lets you toggle between companies on the same one device – you can find instructions on setting this up on our blog.
Multi-business access is currently capped at five businesses per device – if you have more than five businesses, you can set up multi-business on an additional device.
Yes! Our Members have successfully used their Tide accounts with all of these services.
Most of our members receive their cards within 2-4 working days. If it hasn’t arrived within 5 working days, please get in touch through the app.
Your card will automatically be shipped to your trading address.
If you’d prefer your card to be sent to a different address, you can edit your trading address by tapping More > Profile in the app.
Outbound payments are processed as Faster Payments and should arrive within minutes.
Some banks can take 2+ hours to process Faster Payments, so depending on the receiving institution’s processing time, Faster Payments can take up to 4 hours to be processed.
Tide-to-Tide transfers are instant!
If you have a question about a payment that has taken over 4 hours to arrive, send the Member Support team a message, they’d be happy to help.
Yes! We are actively partnering with organisations that help business owners – if this sounds like you, please visit our Partners page.
Unfortunately not. If you’d like to switch between a sole trader and registered company account type, you will need to close your existing account and open a new one.
Faster Payments are generally processed immediately and cleared within minutes.
Some banks can take up to two hours to process Faster Payments. Therefore, depending on the originating/receiving institution’s processing time, Faster Payments can take up to 2h30 min to be processed.
If you’re expecting a BACS transfer, this will take up to 3 days to reach your account.
CHAPS payments received into our system before 3pm will be processed on the same working day between 4:10pm and 7:10pm. Any payments made/received after this time will be processed on the next working day from 4:10pm.
If your funds have not appeared within these timeframes, please let us know in the app.
Sorry to hear it!
You can regain access your Tide account from another mobile device by going through account recovery.
If you need to speak to the team, you can get in touch by emailing hello@tide.co
Your account could have been blocked for a number of reasons, most commonly because we’ve seen unusual activity on your account and need to run a few checks. We do this to keep Tide and our members safe, and the checks are normally completed very quickly.
Take a look at our blogpost to learn more about why we might need to block or pause an account.
Yes! Just send us a message in the app, or email hello@tide.co with your contact number and a few details about what the call request is regarding. Our Member Support team are happy to give you a call.
Tide Preview is our beta testing programme, where members can register to be the first to test our new features before they’re released publicly.
We’re always looking for new members to join our Tide Preview community! If you’d like to join, just send us a message in the app.
You can update your trading name in the app by tapping More > Profile. If your Company name has changed with UK Companies House, please let us know in the app to have it updated.
Sorry to hear it! You can freeze, cancel and reorder a card directly from the app – just tap the card icon on your homescreen.
If you don’t have access to the app, please call +44 (0) 3331210266 to have your card cancelled.
We accept most national driving licenses, ID documents and passports, however some older versions of ID documents may not be accepted.
If you’re having difficulty scanning your ID, please ensure that you are taking a clear photo on a flat surface, in a well-lit environment. You’ll also need to grant Tide access to your camera (usually you’ll receive an in-app prompt, otherwise you can update your settings).
Still having trouble?
We’re sorry that you’re unhappy with your experience using Tide.
So we can fully understand what’s gone wrong and to get the best possible resolution for you, please write to us with a brief description of what’s happened.
You can find instructions on how to contact us, and more information about the complaints process by visiting Tide complaints.
If you lose your Tide card or it’s stolen, tell us via the in-app chat. We’ll cancel the card and issue you a new one, but you’ll be able to continue using Apple Pay. When you get your new Tide card and activate it in the app, the details in the Apple Wallet are updated automatically.
If instead you freeze your Tide card, you won’t be able to use it to pay by Apple Pay.
There’s no limit. But some merchants will have their own limit for contactless payments. There are no limits for Apple Pay transactions you make in apps or in Safari.
No. If you freeze your Tide card, you won’t be able to use it to pay by Apple Pay on any of your devices.
When you unfreeze your card, you’ll be able to use it with Apple Pay again as before.
Yes – you can use Apple Pay anywhere that accepts contactless payments.
Yes. Go to the Wallet on your Apple device to add the card.
No. When you freeze a Tide card, it can’t be used to pay by Apple Pay on any device.
When you unfreeze the card, your co-worker will be able to use it with Apple Pay again as before.
Yes, Apple Pay is safer than using cash or a debit, credit or prepaid card. This is because every time you use Apple Pay to buy something, the system uses a device-specific number and unique transaction code. Your card number is never stored on your device or Apple’s servers, and never shared with the merchant.
Apple Pay also keeps your purchases private. When you pay with your Tide card via Apple Pay, Apple doesn’t keep transaction information that can link the purchase back to you. You can see transaction information on your Apple device and in your Tide app, but Apple doesn’t store this data on their servers.
Of course, you need to make sure you protect the security of your Apple device, just as you would with your Tide card.
On your iPhone, open the Tide app and click ‘Add to Apple Pay’.
Or you can open the Wallet app on your iPhone and tap ‘+’ to add your Tide card.
If you have an Apple Watch, open the Watch app on your iPhone and click ‘Wallet & Apple Pay’, then ‘Add Credit or Debit Card’.
For iPad, go to Settings, click ‘Wallet & Apple Pay’ and then ‘Add Credit or Debit Card’.
For MacBook Pro with Touch ID, open ‘System Preferences’. Open ‘Wallet & Apple Pay’ then click ‘Add Card’.
Apple Pay works on iPhones, iPads, Apple Watches, and Macs. To check if your device is compatible and where you can use Apple Pay, read the full list from Apple Support.
Yes, it’s free to add your card to your Wallet and when you pay with Apple Pay, you pay the same price you’d pay by using your Tide card.
You can request company expense cards both in the Tide app and via Tide on the web.
If your team member passes our security checks, the card will arrive at your trading address within a week.
Team Cards, our company expenses cards, are free!
Following feedback from our Community, we decided to keep Team Cards free, so there’s no monthly or one-off fee. They’ll remain free for the foreseeable future.
If you’re already with us, you’re eligible to apply. 🙂
You can order a free company expense card for up to 35 team members per account.
This applies to your main account, as well as any additional Tide accounts you have.
No – they’re a debit card for your Tide account which your team member can use. There’s no monthly fee for Team Cards.
If you want to create a separate pool of money for team expenses, you can do that with our sub-accounts.
If you can’t see the Team Cards feature, go to the app store and check your Tide app is up-to-date.
The main account holder manages all your company expense cards.
Team Cards are a step towards building full team access. For now, you’ll manage Team Cards through the Tide app belonging to the main account holder.
As the main user, you’ll fully manage access for your team – you can freeze and cancel cards, as well as share and hold PIN codes. And of course, you’ll be able to see who spent what.
The main account holder can freeze, unfreeze and cancel individual or all company expense cards.
Not yet. We’re working on team access at the moment so your team members will soon be able to log in and look at what they’re spending.
As the main user, you’ll be able to set different levels of access for your team members.
As soon as this feature is live, we’ll email to let you know.
Not yet. We’re working on this at the moment. When this feature is live, we’ll email to let you know.
If you want to create a separate pool of money for team expenses, you can do that with our sub-accounts.
It’s easy. Open your Tide app and go to Invoice.
Start by editing your template then click Create a new invoice.
Add items, add VAT if you need to.
Check all the details then send it to your customer.
If you want extra peace of mind, go to Tide on the web and add Invoice Protection.
Yes. Tide members on all our memberships plans can use the Invoicing feature for free.
As you’d expect, there’s a charge to insure invoices with Invoice Protection.
Yes Go to Invoice > Manage > Settings > Template logo.
You can then upload your logo from your files.
Updated: 8 July 2020
Not yet but we’re building this functionality right now. It will be available soon.
Updated: 8 July 2020
No. However we’re working on solutions so you’ll be able to cancel and clone invoices. We expect these to be ready later in 2020.
Your details are automatically filled in for you.
In your invoice settings, you can change your email address.
If you’re a sole trader, you can change your name and address too.
If you’re a limited company, you can’t change your name and address because for legal reasons, the details on your invoices must match the details we have for your business.
Updated: 8 July 2020
Plenty! Did you know that Invoicing was one of the first features we built to do more for business owners than you get with a conventional bank account? So it’s one of our favourite features.
This year, our dedicated Invoicing team is working on lots of enhancements such as
These and other improvements are all suggestions from people like you, Tide members, who need a quick and easy invoicing system.
A wide range of businesses insure invoices against non-payment – a customer not paying an invoice can happen to any business.
If a large part of your work is done with the same customer, or if some of your customers are new or not yet creditworthy, taking out Invoice Protection can safeguard your company in case your customer doesn’t pay.
You will be protected against the non-payment of a valid invoice, either because your customer won’t pay or their business has become insolvent.
You won’t be protected against:
Any invoice you send to another business is eligible for Invoice Protection as long as:
If you only received verbal confirmation of the order, then you can still take our Invoice Protection. However, Hokodo won’t pay a claim for your invoice if your customer disputes having placed the order.
To take out Invoice Protection, you’ll be asked to confirm that, to the best of your knowledge, your customer:
Hokodo doesn’t expect you to do any further investigation of your customer’s solvency. However if, in carrying out your business, you discover it’s likely that your customer won’t be able to pay your invoice then you must not take out any further Invoice Protection on invoices to that customer.
Invoice Protection covers 90% of the amount of your invoice, excluding the VAT.
If the invoice included VAT on top of the net amount, you can usually claim VAT Bad Debt Relief from HMRC. Find out more at the Government website:
Gov.uk | Guidance | Relief from VAT on bad debts
Our Invoice Protection is arranged by our partner, Hokodo Services Ltd which is a coverholder at Lloyd’s of London. The policies are underwritten by Lloyd’s which is a specialist in insurance and reinsurance.
After you notify Hokodo about the non-payment of your invoice, the usual process is that Hokodo’s collections partner, STA International, will attempt to collect money for you. If STA achieve this, you’ll get the amount they collected within 14 days of them receiving it. This collections process usually takes from 15 to 60 days.
If STA fails to collect money for you, you’ll be asked to fill in a claim form. Hokodo will pay you the amount covered – 90% of the invoice value – promptly when they get your valid claim form.
Hokodo aims to settle the majority of claims within 15 days of receiving a claim submission. However, a limited number of claims need more investigation and, in these situations, Hokodo may take up to 60 days to assess your claim.
Hokodo’s collections partner is STA International. They have deep industry expertise when it comes to collecting trade debt and they’ll manage the process of getting your debtor to pay.
After confirming the debt with you, they’ll contact the debtor by various channels including telephone, email and post. If this collections process succeeds, they’ll pay you the amount they collect, minus their fee of 6% (+VAT) of the recovered money. You can allow them to also recover this success fee from your customer – this is generally allowed by law. In this case, there would be no fee taken off the amount you receive.
If STA can’t collect the debt within 60 days, you’ll be asked to fill in a claim form. Hokodo will pay you the protected amount – 90% of the invoice value – promptly when they get your valid claim form.
Hokodo aims to settle the majority of claims within 15 days of receiving a claim submission. However, a limited number of claims need more investigation and, in these situations, Hokodo may take up to 60 days to assess your claim.
Tide Plus is £11.99 a month including VAT, billed at the 4th of each month for that calendar month.
Your first month will be billed pro-rata, so if you sign up on the 16th we’ll only charge you for the 16th until the end of that month. Then on the 4th of the following month you’ll join the monthly billing cycle.
Get your next month free! If you spend £10k on your cards within the month, your Tide Plus subscription fee will be waived for your next month.
VAT is value added tax, which we’re required to add on top of Plus fees. This is for the value added services associated with your Plus subscription, so is subject to Value Added Tax (VAT) requirements. This is different to Tide’s standard transactional fees, which are exempt from VAT. If you’re VAT registered you’ll be able to reclaim this back at the end of the accounting period. Plus VAT is the standard 20%.
With Tide Plus, you get 20 free transfers a month. This includes all inbound and outbound Faster Payments, CHAPS, BACs and Direct Debits. Please note this does not include international payments if you have an International Currency Account.
Same as always, send us a message in the app and you’ll automatically be bumped to the top of the queue.
To call us, you’ll see an option to phone us in your Support section of the app, Tide Plus phone support is available 9am – 6pm UK time. For your security, our phone support team will take a few minutes to verify your identity – just like high street banks.
We have a financial arrangement with Irwin Mitchell LLP who provide a legal helpline to our members. Trained personnel from Irwin Mitchell will help with any questions you may have. We pay Irwin Mitchell LLP for their services, they’re independent from Tide and provide impartial and confidential advice.
They’re available 24/7 365 days a year.
We’ve created Tide Plus Cashback to give you what we believe is the best value business banking service available on the market. You get:
And unlike most cashback services, no matter what you buy with your Tide card, you’ll get 0.5% cashback. (With some providers, not all card purchases are eligible for cashback.)
Only genuine card purchases count.
Repeat purchases might not qualify.
ATM withdrawals don’t count towards your cashback.
If we find out that any cashback has been given or calculated incorrectly, we reserve the right to reclaim or deduct payments from your Tide account, including those relating to returns, exchanges or chargebacks made on your account.
It’s £59.99 a month including VAT.
The monthly fee goes out of your Tide account on the 4th of every month.
To upgrade to Tide Plus Cashback:
You’ll be upgraded immediately. The fee for your first month is calculated pro-rata.
If we can’t collect the fee on the 4th of the month because there isn’t enough money in your account, we’ll try again every day until the end of the month.
If we haven’t been able to collect the fee, your account will be automatically downgraded and your access to Tide Plus Cashback will end on the 1st of the following month.
In the first week of every month, we’ll send you an email to confirm your total card spend and the cashback you’ve earned during the previous month.
Your cashback payment will go into your account within the first 21 days of the month after you earned it. The payment will have the reference ‘Tide Cashback’.
Send us a message in the Tide app to tell us what’s wrong or call your dedicated account manager directly on the contact number in-app. We’ll investigate and reply as soon as possible.
Tide Plus Cashback will run on a trial basis for three calendar months from 4 August 2020. If you no longer wish to be on the Tide Plus Cashback plan during or after this trial, you can downgrade in the app. Otherwise, you’ll remain on the Tide Plus Cashback plan afterwards.
You can view and save the T&Cs here:
Tide Plus Cashback Terms and Conditions (PDF)
If you have any questions, message us in the Tide app or email hello@tide.co
The ‘Bounce Back Loan Scheme’ is a new support scheme from the Government, adding to the existing support for small businesses affected by coronavirus.
You can borrow from £2,000 up to 25% of your annual turnover, up to a maximum of £50,000 for up to six years.
For the first 12 months, you won’t pay any interest because the Government will pay it for you. You also won’t have to make any repayments in the first 12 months. There are no fees on a Bounce Back Loan – unlike other loans, you won’t pay fees to arrange the loan, to repay it early or if your repayments are overdue.
For the rest of the term of the loans, you’ll pay interest at 2.5% per year.
Bounce Back Loans are delivered only by lenders accredited by the British Business Bank. The Government provides a 100% guarantee to lenders for all eligible Bounce Back Loans, but you remain liable for all the repayments, as well as the interest after the first year.
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme is separate from but similar to the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme. Both loan schemes lend money to businesses via lenders accredited by the British Business Bank.
Small businesses can be eligible for both schemes but the Government launched the Bounce Back Loan Scheme to help small businesses borrow smaller amounts more quickly, and with more generous terms.
Read more from the British Business Bank: What is the difference between CBILS and the Bounce Back Loan Scheme?
If your business is already getting a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan of more than £50,000, you’re not eligible for the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
However, if your Business Interruption Loan is for £50,000 or less, you may take out a Bounce Back Loan and use the money to repay your Business Interruption Loan, as long as the money you get from the Bounce Back Loan is enough to pay back the other loan in full.
You may not hold both a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan and a Bounce Back Loan.
Update (7 July 2020): We’ve paused lending and our waiting list is currently closed.
We’re offering loans under the Government’s Bounce Back Loan Scheme. Find out if you match the eligibility criteria here: Bounce Back Loans: Are you eligible?
For the first 12 months, there’s no interest to pay and you won’t have to make any repayments. After that, the interest rate is fixed at 2.5% p.a.
If you’re interested in getting a Bounce Back Loan from us, please register your interest.
We’ll email you to confirm we’ve added you to our list. If or when you can access a Bounce Back Loan from us, we’ll message you again by email or app notification.
To receive the money you must confirm that you’re eligible by signing the declaration and activating your offer. From there, you’ll have six months to withdraw a single amount up to your approved limit.
Important: the maximum you can borrow is 25% of your annual turnover in 2019
If your business was established after 1 January 2019, you should apply the 25% limit to your estimated annual turnover from the date you started your business.
You may only withdraw once. The money will go into your main Tide account straight away.
In your Tide app, you’ll be able to see the details of your Bounce Back Loan, including the date of your first repayment.
We’re very sorry you’ve been waiting. If you urgently need a loan, please explore the alternatives you were investigating before we became accredited, and/or apply to another accredited lender. (We made this suggestion previously due to the number of people who registered interest in our loans and the uncertainty that we could provide a loan to everyone who registered.)
Update (7 July 2020): We’ve paused lending and our waiting list is currently closed.
We’re delivering Bounce Back Loans from the week commencing Monday 18 May 2020, with a phased approach. This means we’re giving access to businesses in batches.
We aim to deliver these loans to as many eligible members as possible but because we’re expecting a high demand, we can’t guarantee that everyone who joins the waiting list will be able to access Tide Bounce Back Loans.
Did you already register your interest? If not, please join our waiting list.
If you’ve already joined our waiting list, when you can access a Bounce Back Loan from us, we’ll send you an email or app notification to let you know that your offer is ready and what you need to do to take up the offer.
Update (7 July 2020): We’ve paused lending and our waiting list is currently closed.
If we need more information or documents from you before we can give you access to a Bounce Back Loan, we’ll be in touch.
If we give you access to a Tide Bounce Back Loan, you’ll have to successfully complete a self-declaration form confirming your eligibility and accept our Bounce Back Loan Terms and Conditions before you can withdraw the funds.
Read more: FAQ: Is my business eligible for the Bounce Back Loan Scheme?
Like all Bounce Back Loans, you won’t pay any interest for the first 12 months because the Government will pay it for you.
After that, the interest rate is fixed at 2.5% p.a.
You can borrow from £2,000 up to 25% of your annual turnover in 2019, up to maximum of £50,000.
If your business was established after 1 January 2019, you should apply the 25% limit to your estimated annual turnover from the date you started your business.
Update (7 July 2020): We’ve paused lending and our waiting list is currently closed.
Your Bounce Back Loan amount will be based on your estimated annual turnover for 2020 which we’ll ask you to provide before you accept Tide’s Bounce Back Loan Terms and Conditions and withdraw the funds.
The maximum you can borrow will be 25% of your estimated annual turnover for 2020, up to £50,000.
The maximum you can borrow as a Bounce Back Loan is 25% of your annual turnover in 2019, up to a maximum of £50,000.
If you need more than this, you could apply for a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan.
Remember, you may only hold one Bounce Back Loan, and with only one lender, and you aren’t allowed to have both a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan and a Bounce Back Loan.
When you activate your offer, you then have six months to withdraw. And remember, you can only withdraw once.
You’re eligible for a Bounce Back Loan if your business:
If your business was an ‘undertaking in difficulty’…
You’re eligible if you certify that taking out a Bounce Back Loan won’t breach state aid rules and that you won’t use the loan for export-related activities.
You aren’t eligible if your business is:
To find out if you can access a Bounce Back Loan from Tide, open your Tide app and go to More > Credit > Bounce Back Loan
If you’re interested in taking out a Bounce Back Loan with us and you don’t see it in your app, please join our waiting list.
Update (7 July 2020): We’ve paused lending and our waiting list is currently closed.
Yes, we’re considering limited companies and sole traders for Bounce Back Loans.
Yes, we’re emailing members if we won’t be able to offer a Bounce Back Loan.
Update (7 July 2020): We’ve paused lending and our waiting list is currently closed.
Yes. We can’t offer you a Bounce Back Loan if your Tide account currently has an unauthorised negative balance or if you have an overdue debt to Tide Capital Limited or Tide Platform Limited.
Are you already on the waiting list for a Tide Bounce Back Loan? Whether you’ve already joined the list or not, to make sure you’re eligible you must pay into your account so it has a positive balance, or repay what you owe.
You’ll still need to meet all the other eligibility criteria and remember, we can’t guarantee to offer Bounce Back Loans to everyone on our waiting list.
When we launched our Bounce Back Loans, we said that after you registered your interest, you’d get a notification if we were ‘pre-approving’ you for a loan. We decided this was confusing – it’s a phrase we use internally at Tide but it’s not a normal expression that makes sense to everyone – so we stopped using it.
‘Pre-approved’ just means that based on the information we already have about you, we can offer you a loan subject to you successfully completing the self-certification questions. It’s as straightforward as that. If we need any extra information from you, we’ll be in touch.
Bounce Back Loans from all lenders are self-certifiable – you have to confirm your eligibility for the loan, for example by confirming that your business has been negatively affected by coronavirus.
No – you won’t be asked to sign a personal guarantee on a Bounce Back Loan.
The Government guarantees 100% of your loan with your lender, but you remain liable for all the repayments, as well as the interest after the first year.
No, you don’t need to activate your Tide card to be eligible for a Bounce Back Loan from us.
No. You may only hold one Bounce Back Loan, and with only one lender.
It isn’t possible to ‘top up’ a Bounce Back Loan with more money.
You can only take out one Bounce Back Loan.
If you’re currently in the process of applying for a Bounce Back Loan with another lender or if you have received a Bounce Back Loan, you should not register your interest in a Bounce Back Loan from Tide.
If you withdraw your application for a Bounce Back Loan with another lender or if you’re rejected, then you’re welcome to register for our waiting list.
It depends. Government rules state that you may only have one Bounce Back Loan.
If you’re a sole trader, this means one per person.
If you’re a Director of a limited company, this means one per limited company or group. Two or more companies form a ‘group’ when one or more are subsidiaries of another, or when your companies come under the same holding company.
If you operate as a sole trader and are also the Director of a limited company, then you may have one for your sole trader business and one for your limited company.
No. We can’t swap a loan offer to a different company. The loan offer is based on the eligibility of that company, so we assess each company separately.
Your other company will still be on the waiting list. To find out if we can give you access to a loan for your company, you’ll need to wait. Remember, we can’t guarantee to offer a Bounce Back Loan to everyone on our waiting list.
Update (7 July 2020): We’ve paused lending and our waiting list is currently closed.
Yes, it’s possible to have both a Flexible Balance and a Bounce Back Loan with us.
To find out if you can access a Bounce Back Loan from Tide, open your Tide app and go to More > Credit > Bounce Back Loan
If you don’t see Bounce Back Loan in your app, please join our waiting list.
We want to let you know exactly when you can expect to get a Bounce Back Loan from us. So far we haven’t been able to predict dates because offering these loans is completely new to us and there are many variables. Instead of disappointing you, we asked you to wait.
We know you need more certainty, but as with all other lenders, getting a Bounce Back Loan depends on a number of factors. These include:
When you look at this process as a whole, it isn’t as simple as flicking a switch. The Tide team is working round the clock to align these factors to offer loans to as many of you as possible, as fast as possible.
Because of these factors, we can’t guarantee that we’ll be able to offer a Bounce Back Loan to everyone on our waiting list. We stated this on the webpage where you registered your interest.
If you need a loan and can’t wait, you can also apply or join waiting lists with other lenders. This is because you don’t ‘apply’ for a Bounce Back Loan with Tide, you join our waiting list. (Remember, you can only have one Bounce Back Loan.)
For a Bounce Back Loan, you can apply or join waiting lists with other accredited lenders. This is because you don’t ‘apply’ for a Bounce Back Loan with Tide, you join our waiting list. (Remember, you can only have one Bounce Back Loan.)
To find out what other Government support is available for businesses negatively affected by coronavirus, ask our chatbot: Eligibility checker
If you’d like to help us campaign to get direct access to funding from the Government for Bounce Back Loans, please email your local MP.
Update (7 July 2020): We’ve paused lending and our waiting list is currently closed.
As with all new features, we need to make sure we scale effectively and offer the best experience for our members to access the loans. As always, we beta-launched with a select number of limited companies who had been a member of Tide for a while, before making the loans available more widely.
The first batch received offers of Bounce Back Loans from us on 19 May. Since going live, we’ve been learning and improving our Bounce Back Loans and getting ready to ramp up.
Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee everyone who registers will be able to get a loan from us.
After we launched the registration page on our website, we emailed all Tide members to let them know. Within the first day we had more than 15,000 registrations, so if you signed up on the first day or two, that’s why there are thousands of people ahead of you in the queue.
Update (7 July 2020): We’ve paused lending and our waiting list is currently closed.
This would have been ideal. Unfortunately there are so many businesses in difficulty and we don’t want to delay lending by building a method to assess who is more in need.
We know how important these loans are for all businesses who’ve registered interest and we believe that the fairest and fastest process is to work through the waiting list.
Update (7 July 2020): We’ve paused lending and our waiting list is currently closed.
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme is a Government initiative open to all eligible small businesses. We believe it isn’t fair to discriminate against new customers so that’s why any small business owner can still apply for an account with us, and if they wish, register their interest in getting a Tide Bounce Back Loan.
Almost 90% of the businesses on our waiting list are existing rather than new members.
Update (7 July 2020): We’ve paused lending and our waiting list is currently closed.
No, we’re not giving priority for Bounce Back Loans to members on any of our different membership plans.
Update (7 July 2020): We’ve paused lending and our waiting list is currently closed.
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme is a Government initiative open to all eligible small businesses. We decided the most fair thing to do was to offer Bounce Back Loans to as many businesses as we can. That’s why we’re not prioritising people for loans based on what Tide membership they have.
The monthly charge for Plus and Premium membership is for an enhanced service to support your growing business and for extra perks you don’t get with our free basic membership.
Update (7 July 2020): We’ve paused lending and our waiting list is currently closed.
The beta-test members who first received Tide Bounce Back Loans were limited companies. When we announced this, we’re sorry if this was confusing and it seemed like we’d offered loans to all limited companies who’d registered. Our small beta-test batch were owners of limited companies who had been Tide members for a while.
Since then, the Government has made changes to the law about Bounce Back Loans so that all accredited lenders can lend to sole traders as well as limited companies. We’re delighted about this update to the rules because we know it’ll help so many of you who’ve told us you’ve ‘fallen down the cracks’ of the support from the Government. We’re now working on making the loans available to our sole trader members as soon as possible.
Your first repayment will be due in the thirteenth month after you receive the money. You’ll be able to see this in your Tide app.
You can choose to repay earlier if you wish – there’s no early repayment fee.
We’ll take the repayments automatically from the Tide account into which you received the loan money.
It doesn’t matter if you use another business account for your banking but you must make sure there’s enough money in your Tide account when your repayments are due.<
You can choose to repay earlier if you wish – there’s no early repayment fee.<
Yes, you can choose to repay all or part of the loan earlier if you wish.
There’s no early repayment fee.
If you’re concerned you won’t be able to make a repayment on your Bounce Back Loan, let us know as soon as possible by emailing: collections@tide.co We’ll talk over the options and work out a repayment plan.
Over the last month, we’ve been working with a large number of financial institutions to secure funding to lend through the Bounce Back Loan Scheme.
However, the design of the Government’s Scheme doesn’t meet the requirements of our prospective funding partners to be able to provide the capital for us to lend to you.
Oliver, our CEO, has explained this in full in this letter to members.
Our aim has always been to offer a Bounce Back Loan to every eligible business who registered their interest with us. The Government scheme is open to all eligible small businesses and they stated that you should have speedy access to this urgently-needed money. We believe in this sentiment and we want to help as many of you as possible. That’s why our waiting list remained open while we negotiated with financial institutions to secure the funding for our loans.
However, we knew demand would be high so on the page where businesses registered with their email address, we stated that we might not be able to offer a loan to everyone who registered.
If you’re already registered on our waiting list:
If and when the Government grants direct access to funding for lenders, we’re ready to lend at scale. We’ll be able to re-open our waiting list and launch our waiting list tracker, so you can find out your eligibility and position. If and when this happens, we’ll update everyone on our waiting list by email.
We don’t know. We’ve asked the Government to make changes to the Scheme that would allow us to begin lending again. These changes are unlikely to be in place in the very short term so if you urgently need a loan, please explore the alternatives you were investigating before we became accredited, and/or apply to another accredited lender.
We’re sorry you’ve had to wait. We only decided to pause lending on 7 July and as soon as we made the decision, we told our members.
Since we became accredited in May, we’ve been negotiating with many financial institutions to secure funding for our Bounce Back Loans. And for weeks, we’ve been campaigning for the Government to adjust the design of the Bounce Back Loan Scheme so that lenders like Tide can receive funding directly from the Government. These negotiations are complex and we’re sorry we haven’t been able to proceed faster.
On 7 July, we weren’t able to secure the funding we needed. We’re devastated. We decided to pause lending and we told our members immediately.
The Government hasn’t yet made a decision to change the Scheme but we’re hopeful this will happen soon.
We’re very much trying to!
Bounce Back Loans are 100% guaranteed by the Government but not funded by the Government. ‘Guaranteed’ means that if the lender doesn’t collect the loan, the Government reimburses the lender.
Because the Government doesn’t provide the money we need to loan to small businesses as Bounce Back Loans, we have to raise the money elsewhere.
Since we became accredited in May, we’ve been negotiating with many financial institutions. The design of the scheme means that we haven’t been able to secure funding.
On 7 July, we decided to pause lending. We’re devastated, and we hope the Government will soon change the design of the scheme to grant us direct access to funding to loan to our members as Bounce Back Loans. You can read more about what we’re doing in this letter from our CEO.
We paused lending on 7 July so at the moment, regardless of your position on the waiting list, we’re not lending to anyone. To enable our Member Support agents to help more people with their day-to-day banking, we decided that we won’t be answering queries about where you are in our Bounce Back Loan waiting list.
If you’re already registered on our waiting list:
If and when the Government grants direct access to funding for lenders, we’re ready to lend at scale. We’ll be able to re-open our waiting list and launch our waiting list tracker, so you can find out your eligibility and position. If and when this happens, we’ll update everyone on our waiting list by email.
We’re very sorry you’ve been waiting. We were ready to beta-launch our tracker so you could find out your eligibility and position in our waiting list. While our tech team was building the tracker, we were in talks with financial institutions to finance our Bounce Back Loans. Until we had more money secured to lend, there was no point launching the tracker.
If and when the Government grants direct access to funding for lenders, we’re ready to lend at scale and we’ll be able to launch our waiting list tracker.
No. Tide exists to support small businesses so when, in March, the Chancellor announced support for SMEs in the Budget, we immediately expressed our interest in becoming an accredited lender for the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). We pursued this application until the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) was announced in April. This scheme is much better suited to our members so we switched our application.
The Bounce Back Loan Scheme is a Government initiative open to all eligible small businesses. We believe it isn’t fair to discriminate against new customers so that’s why any small business owner could apply for an account with us, and if they wished, register interest in getting a Tide Bounce Back Loan.
We’ve gained some new members but in fact almost 90% of the businesses who joined our waiting list were existing rather than new members.
Yes. If you have realised you have made a mistake and entered in your turnover incorrectly or the amount available does not look right, contact us in the app immediately and we can look to reset your loan. Unfortunately, if you withdraw your loan before you contact us, we are unable to help you so make sure you do not withdraw first.
If your account balance is too low, we will try to send the funds to your additional account. We are working on a solution during the application process where we can open a sub-account on your behalf to allow you to withdraw your Tide Bounce Back Loan. This will only apply for Registered Businesses, for Sole Traders we are still busy finding another solution for this.
If you need to transfer the money out, remember that your transaction limits stay the same.
To check your account and transaction limits, go to More > Accounts in your Tide app.
There is no ‘cooling-off period’ needed. When approved, you have six months to decide whether you wish to draw down on the loan. After you’ve drawn down, if you decide you no longer need the Bounce Back Loan, you can repay it at any stage. There’s no early repayment fee and if paid within 12 months, you won’t pay any interest.
No. When you get your Bounce Back Loan offer from us, you may only withdraw once. Given how important this is, we remind you in our app before you withdraw.
We’re sorry you made a mistake but unfortunately, under this Government Scheme, we can’t allow you to withdraw more.
If you believe you weren’t able to withdraw the amount you wanted due to a technical error on our part, message us in the app and we’ll investigate.
Yes, we’ve offered Bounce Back Loans to a large number of members and the majority of them have already withdrawn from their loan offer.
We want to be open and clear about what’s happening. Our CEO Oliver Prill has written to all members to update you about our Bounce Back Loans:
Tide Bounce Back Loans / Update 3 / A letter to all members (7 July 2020)
Tide Bounce Back Loans / Update 2 / A letter to all members (10 June 2020)
Tide Bounce Back Loans / Update 1 / A letter to all members (22 May 2020)
Make sure you’re using the most up-to-date version of the Tide app.
To do this, go to your app store and search for ‘Tide’. In the app page, if it says ‘Update’, please select this. When the update is complete, open your Tide app and go to More > Credit > Bounce Back Loan
Still can’t see Bounce Back Loan in your app? Please send us a message in the app and we’ll investigate.
If you’ve applied for a Bounce Back Loan elsewhere, or you no longer want a Bounce Back Loan from Tide, it’d be helpful if you could let us know. Message us by email (hello@tide.co) or in the app and we’ll remove you from the list.
Not yet but we’re working on it.
If you’re interested in switching the amount you owe as part of your Credit Line to a Bounce Back Loan, let us know by email: hello@tide.co
Great question! The Bounce Back Loan Scheme is 100% guaranteed by the Government. ‘Guaranteed’ means that if the lender doesn’t collect the loan, then the Government has to reimburse the lender. It doesn’t mean the money is given to lenders by the Government.
All loans that we provide through the Bounce Back Loan Scheme are funded by Tide and not the Government. This means we have to raise the money we lend through the Bounce Back Loan Scheme. Because the Government guarantees the loans, they need to have control over how much all accredited lenders are lending.
The phone number printed on Tide cards is for PPS, our card issuer that manages lost, stolen or damaged Tide cards – they can’t answer queries about Bounce Back Loans.
All the information about Bounce Back Loans is available for you on the Bounce Back Loans page and in Support and FAQs. We post regular updates on the Tide blog.
If you’re on our waiting list, please wait and we’ll contact you when you can access a Bounce Back Loan from us. For any urgent Bounce Back Loan queries or problems withdrawing your loan, message us in the app and our Member Support team will reply as soon as they can.
We’ve increased our Member Support team to make sure we can respond to all members who need our help, whether you’re asking about the loans or anything else about using Tide.
As well as hiring more staff and training them quickly, we reorganised our priorities so that Tideans (our word for Tide staff) from across the company were able to jump in to help our Member Support team.
We’re working 24/7. Because we’re working remotely to comply with coronavirus guidelines, there are more of us able to help and for more hours.
We know this is a stressful time and many people are within days or weeks of losing their businesses. The majority of the 40,000+ people on our Bounce Back Loans waiting list have been very patient. We appreciate this and we’re working as fast as we can.
We support free speech but if anyone posts messages that are abusive, wrong or threatening, we’ll take steps to address this and protect our staff.
Some of you have told us that some lenders appear to be prioritising customers who are vocal on social media. We believe the fairest way to work is in order through our waiting list – voicing impatience or frustration on social media doesn’t make someone a higher priority for a loan than everyone else.
We’re sorry you’re not happy – did you give us a chance to sort it out? Please message us in the app or by email hello@tide.co
We set out our complaints handling procedures and the rights you have to complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service in our Tide Terms.
Read more: FAQ: How do I make a complaint?
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