Tide Partner Programme

Boost your earnings by partnering with Tide

Join the Tide referral partner programme and earn top commission. Drive customer acquisition and grow retention with partner perks. We’ll help your clients spend less time on finance admin and more time running their business.

Register today

Benefits to Partnering with Tide

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Join a market leader

With over 400,000 members, Tide is the fastest-growing business banking platform in the UK

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Earn top commissions

Get market-leading commission amounts for every successful application you refer to Tide

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Get tailored partner perks

Create added value and engagement with our tailored commercial partnership model

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Earn free transactions for your referrals

Your referrals will receive 1 year of free transactions, access to exclusive member perks and dedicated onboarding support

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Receive help to grow

Designed with longevity and scale in mind, our tailored referral partnership programmes are dedicated to business growth

Become a partner

Who can partner with Tide?

The question is, who can’t partner with Tide?

We have referral partnerships with all kinds of businesses. Whether you have a clientele of sole traders, self-employed or SMEs, our partnership programme will work for you. Check out our
blog post
to find out more about how some of our current partnerships are supporting small businesses.

However you aim for partnership growth, there’ll be a place in the Tide partner programme for you!

Become a Partner
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Partnerships across a range of sectors

Our mission is to help those who work for themselves. Over 575,000+ sole traders and small businesses use Tide to manage their finance admin. If your business has clients in any of these industries, we’ll have a solution for you.

local_shipping

Couriers or Logistics

Go the extra mile for your drivers and let them spend more time on deliveries and less on finance admin.

construction

Construction

From cash flow forecasting to invoicing materials, help those in construction build solid foundations for their business future.

devices

E-commerce

Tide is leading the way in supporting e-commerce platforms. If your website has a network of micro-businesses or sole traders, then get in touch.

work

Gig workers

Delivery drivers, office workers, personal trainers, drop shippers – Tide is dedicated to helping those who work for themselves.

Become a partner

How to partner with Tide

Partnering with Tide couldn’t be easier. Complete our simple Partner Programme onboarding form and our dedicated Partnerships team will get in touch to find out more about how you can become a referral partner.

Become a Partner

Recommend Tide with confidence

Samuel Forrest

Samuel Forrest

Tide have been amazing... The ability to setup an account in less than 5 minutes is a game changer

Chris Mollan

Chris Mollan

Tide makes our on-boarding process even better - a perfect partner that our clients love!

Lorraine Bettis

Lorraine Bettis

Our clients have easy banking - and we are adding more value - exactly what we were looking for.

Wijay Kanagasundaram

Wijay Kanagasundaram

Our clients love how fast and efficient opening a business current account with Tide is!

Lauren Harvey

Lauren Harvey

With Tide, our time-poor clients open accounts in minutes!

Partner Programme FAQs

Partnerships

How can I become a Tide partner?

To register your interest, fill in our partner sign-up form. If there is scope for partnership opportunity, the team will be in contact within 10 working days to set up a call and get the ball rolling.

Who can become a Tide Partner?

A typical Tide partnership is agreed with any organisation that has marketing access to a network of sole traders, contractors, self-employed workers or registered companies. Whether your business is in financial admin, the GIG economy, a company formation agent, consultancy, working in construction, courier company, or food delivery service & want to refer your clients to Tide, then we want to hear from you.

Please note, our partnerships team manages client referral partnerships only – product partnerships or offerings are not within its remit.

Is there a cost to becoming a Tide partner?

No, it’s completely free, and in fact, being a Tide partner can become an independent revenue stream for your business. However, our successful partnerships are those where partners invest in a sustainable marketing plan.

Do I have to refer a minimum number of members as a partner?

While there is no minimum number of referrals required, the partner incentive level is driven by results, mutual marketing investment, and strategic relevance to the SME market. The more members you refer to Tide, the greater the opportunity to discuss long-term incentives.

Will I need to sign a partnership agreement?

Initial partnership engagement is based on joint mutual understanding, however, as our partnership grows we will naturally seek to secure a more formal framework.

What are the benefits of the Tide partner programme?

  • Tide is a proven customer acquisition and retention tool
  • Opportunity to create bespoke customer lifecycle marketing strategy
  • Partner with a market leader
  • Competitive tailored incentives & commission structures
  • 1 year of free UK bank transfers for each client that signs up using your referral code*
  • Ongoing scaling support
  • Member perks
  • Dedicated application support from the onboarding support team

*Transfers to non-Tide accounts are free for one year, 20p per transfer thereafter.

 

Can I put my Tide partner information on my website?

Absolutely. Once your Tide partner status has been confirmed, we will work with you to supply you with the Tide assets needed and brand guidelines to market our partnership professionally. In order to ensure consistency and brand identity, we kindly ask you to align with us prior to using Tide image and video assets.

How do I refer clients to Tide?

You’ll be given a referral code and landing webpage that you can use to refer clients to Tide. This will enable us to track your clients and give them all the benefits of a partner referral. In case you have a digital onboarding journey and you wish to include Tide as an opt-in, our API connections are available to facilitate this.

If my clients have any issues with signup, or their account in general, what can I do to help?

You will have your own dedicated Partnerships Manager. Just send them an email and they’ll be right on the case to assist.

Which sort of businesses can get a Tide account?

If your client is the director of a company registered with UK Companies House, your client will be eligible for a Registered Business account. UK-based sole traders and freelancers with a valid UK residential address who are registered with HMRC are eligible for a Sole Trader account.
For both account types, your client needs to be aged 18 or above, have a valid UK phone number, and hold a 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.

But it’s a balancing act: we can’t take on too many accounts that are in high risk industries as that means we’re not able to focus our time and energy on the rest of our members.
As a result and going forwards, we will not be offering current accounts to businesses in the following industries:

 

  • Trading of cryptocurrencies
  • Trading of precious metals and stones
  • Money services (such as foreign exchange, loan providers, money transfers)
  • Casinos, prize draws and other betting or gambling activities
  • Sale of unlicensed pharmaceuticals
  • Sale or trade of cannabidiol (CBD) products
  • Trading of weapons, explosives or armaments
  • Unlicensed trading and processing of scrap metal
  • Unlicensed waste management
  • Sale, import and export of used vehicles or heavy machinery
  • Escort services and other services in the adult industry
  • Bidding fee auctions
  • Unregistered charities and charities that aren’t incorporate

You can read more about this in our blog post: Providing financial security for our members.

Can a charity open an account with Tide?

Yes! All charities must be registered with both the Charity Commission and with Companies House UK to be eligible for a Tide account.

Unfortunately, we’re unable to onboard CIOs at this time.

Can my sole trader clients get a Tide account?

Absolutely! All accounts are subject to certain approval criteria, but being a sole trader doesn’t impact eligibility.
We offer sole trader accounts and registered company accounts.

What fees will my clients be charged?

Your clients only pay for what they 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

Can my clients who live internationally get a Tide account?

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 their application, and all accounts are subject to approval criteria.

Your clients will need to switch their App or Google Play store to the UK to download the Tide app.

If my clients have any issues with signup, or their account in general, what can I do to help?

Our Onboarding Support team is available to assist with any account opening enquiries and you can call them on 02038932915 weekdays from 9 am to 6 pm. You can also contact our member support team by messaging on the app or an email to hello@tide.co.

Once an account is opened, our Member Support team are available in app, 24/7 or can be contacted by email at hello@tide.co.

Will Tide refer their members to me?

At the moment, we’re not able to support this kind of partnership, but watch this space!

Do you offer overdrafts?

Whilst we don’t offer overdrafts, we’ve partnered with Iwoca to bring you business loans – allowing you to apply for up to £150,000 of credit straight through the app, which can be used as an alternative to a traditional overdraft.

Your clients can apply straight through the app, on the home screen.
For more information visit our business loans page.

Can my clients get a business loan?

Yes, we’ve partnered with Iwoca to bring business loans. Your clients can apply for up to £150,000 of credit straight through the app, which can be used as an alternative to a traditional overdraft.

Your clients can apply straight through the app on the home screen.
For more information visit our business loans page.

Can my clients pay in cash or cheques?

Your clients can pay cash into their Tide account by taking their cash deposit and Tide card to their local Post Office or PayPoint. For more information on cash deposits, including fees and maximum deposit amounts visit our pricing page.

Unfortunately, we’re not able to accept cheques. Some of our members choose to deposit these cheques into their personal accounts, and transfer the funds across to their Tide accounts. If your clients have received a cheque from HMRC, they can return the cheque to HMRC and instead request a cash transfer to be made into their account.

Can my clients log in to their account from a desktop?

Yes! Your clients can access your account from a desktop at web.tide.co by using the QR code scanner found within your Tide app.

Can I make payments on behalf of my clients?

No, but you can have read-access of their full transactional data, available for download whenever you like!

Is my client’s money safe?

Always. Tide’s accounts are provided by PrePay Solutions (PPS), who are regulated by the FCA via an e-money license.

Our members’ funds are kept in a protected safeguarding account, meaning that they can never be loaned out to other customers and, as such, are not exposed to risk. As your client’s funds will never be reinvested, they do not require FSCS protection (which is only required where banks reinvest and take risks with your money).

In the unlikely event of Tide’s insolvency, services would continue to run as normal under management of PPS. Funds will be available to draw down at all times as they are safeguarded according to the rules stated above.

Can my clients make and receive international payments?

Not yet. Payments can only be made to UK accounts unless your client opened a Tide International Currency Account (ICA), which we’re currently rolling out to members with limited companies.

If your client has a limited business account and would like to register their interest in accessing the ICA feature, they can let us know by chatting to our support team in the app.

Does Tide carry out credit checks when opening accounts?

No! To open a current account, we perform electronic checks run by third-party services to verify your client’s identity and comply with UK anti-money laundering regulations. While these checks will not impact your client’s credit score, they will appear on your client’s credit report.

If I don’t use an accounting software, how can I view my clients' transactional data?

We can set you up on the Account Reader dashboard – for ongoing read-access of your clients transactions, available for download in any .csv format.

Can existing accounting software been integrated with Tide?

Yes, your clients can integrate a range of popular accounting software with Tide, including Xero, Sage and FreeAgent. To find out more information, please visit our accounting integration page.

Open Access

What will happen to my Tide Membership account if my bank connection expires?

Your Tide Membership account will remain active even if your bank connection has expired.

What happens if I don’t renew my connection and it expires after 90 days?

Once the bank connection expires, Tide will no longer be able to access any new account information from your banking provider. However, Tide will still have access to any data you have previously shared

After this point, the data displayed in your Tide Membership account will no longer be up to date.

You can renew this connection any time after the 90 day period has passed. Simply log in, follow the steps to reconnect, and then continue using Tide’s products and services!

 

How do I reconnect my bank account?

Select the reconnect option from within your Tide Membership account. This will take you to the secure portal of your banking provider to reconfirm your consent to share data before returning you to Tide.

When I log into my Tide Membership account I see a message that my bank account connection will expire soon. What does this mean?

All providers using Open Banking are regulated by the FCA or European equivalent and must adhere to industry standards.

These standards include the requirement for all customers sharing account information with a Third Party Provider to confirm that they are happy to continue to share this data every 90 days.

This means you will need to reconnect your bank account to your Tide Membership account every 90 days.

What is Tide’s Open Access Service and why is Tide offering this?

We are launching this service as we understand that not all businesses will want to change their existing current account provider. This service, therefore, allows you to stay with your existing bank whilst getting access to some great Tide features.

All you need to do is connect an existing business current account to Tide’s platform through Open Banking (essentially this means providing your consent for Tide to access your account and transaction data). By providing this consent, you will be able to view the transaction history of your existing account on Tide’s platform and you will gain access to some great Tide services which will help you manage your money.

Our mission at Tide is to help small businesses save time and money – we are committed to this even if you don’t hold a Tide business current account.

Is Open Access available to Registered Companies and Sole Traders?

Yes, if you are a Sole Trader or Registered Company with a business current account elsewhere you can connect to the Tide Platform. However, some of the features are only available to Registered Companies, for example, Cashflow Insights and Credit. We are continuously adding new features.

Is it free to connect my existing business current account?

Yes! it is totally free to connect your existing business current account and use our products and services.

How do I connect my business current account to Tide to use your features?

Connecting your existing business account is very straightforward as there are just a few short steps to follow. We use Open Banking to enable you to connect your account to our platform. This will enable you to view your business current account transactions, as well as use some of our great time-saving features. To connect your account:

Step 1: Choose the bank account you would like to connect

Step 2: Provide consent to link your account

Step 3: Authenticate the account you would like to connect – we will link you out to your banking provider to log in and provide this authentication automatically

Step 4: Provide some basic details about yourself and your business

Step 5: You will have access!

Once I have access - is there anything else I need to do?

Every 90 days, you will receive a notification to provide consent again. If you do not do this, then we will no longer be able to display your business current account transactions and you will no longer be able to use our services. This process is very quick and easy and we will send you reminders and information on how to do this.

When we introduce the facility for you to make payments from our platform, you will need to provide your consent every 30 days.

What should I do if I can’t connect my bank account?

If you experience problems connecting to your bank, the best way to check if everything is working correctly is to try to log in via your online banking (via your bank’s website, not their mobile app). After you have logged in to your online banking successfully, try again to log in to Tide.

Do not make multiple attempts in a row otherwise your bank might block the account temporarily.

What should I do if I can’t find my bank?

In order to use Tide, you will need to connect a business current account. As we have just launched this feature, we currently only have a limited number of banks available to connect. We are continuously adding new banks, so please try again soon if your bank is not currently available.

Do I need to be the account holder to connect a business account to Tide?

Yes, you will need to be the account holder to connect your account to Tide.

What information do I need to provide to connect my account?

In order to connect your business current account to the Tide platform, you will need to:

  1. select your bank

  2. provide consent to connect your account

  3. authenticate the connection

  4. provide some basic information on yourself and your business e.g. name, DOB

You need to be the account holder to be able to connect an account.

What are the benefits of linking my business current account to the Tide platform?

By providing consent to connect your business current account to Tide, you will be able to view the transaction history of your existing account on Tide’s platform and gain access to some great Tide services which will help you manage your money.

Initially, you will have access to the following features on Tide’s platform:

Cashflow Insights and credit – View real-time forecasts up to 30 days ahead and get tips and recommendations to manage your cash flow. This service is only available to Registered Companies and not Sole Traders

Cashflow Insights | FREE cash flow forecast | Tide Business

View account and transaction data – you can view the account, balance and transaction data of your existing business current account on the Tide platform and use our expense management features to search and filter and categorise your income and expenses

We are continuously adding new features – so keep an eye out for other time savings products.

I got my SMS verification code wrong multiple times - what should I do?

For your security, we only allow a limited number of attempts to enter the SMS verification code correctly. If you are having difficulties, you can request a new SMS, which will contain a new code and provide you with several further attempts.

To stop hackers abusing this feature, there is a limit to how many SMS codes you can request in any 24 hour period. You shouldn’t reach this, but if you do, you can try again the following day.

I want to transfer my access from my old device to my new device?

Open the login page on your new phone. You’ll be able to log in with your username and password and set up your biometrics on the new phone.

Can I connect a personal account?

Unfortunately, as Tide exists to support small and medium-sized businesses, you are unable to connect a personal account. If you are a Sole Trader and currently use a personal account for your business, then you can set up a business account with Tide. This will enable you to use our banking services, as well as our other products and features.

Opening a business account with Tide as a Sole Trader or Limited Company is FREE!

Click here to open a business current account.

If I connect my business current account to Tide, but later decide to switch my banking provider to Tide - can I do this?

Yes, we will be adding the capability to upgrade and get a Tide business current account. This functionality is not yet available, but it won’t be long!

Once I’ve connected my business current account to Tide which features can I access?

Initially, you will have access to the following features on Tide’s platform:

Cashflow Insights and credit – View real-time forecasts up to 30 days ahead and get tips and recommendations to manage your cash flow. This service is only available to Registered Companies and not Sole Traders

Cashflow Insights | FREE cash flow forecast | Tide Business

View account and transaction data – you can view the account, balance and transaction data of your existing business current account on the Tide platform and use our expense management features to search and filter and categorise your income and expenses

We are continuously adding new features – so keep an eye out for other time savings products.

The information you have displayed about me or my business is incorrect and I can't change it.

This information has been sent to us from your existing banking provider when you connected your account. If the information is incorrect, please contact your existing banking provider.

What device/browser do I need to use to access my account?

For now, the best experience is on mobile via the web browser. We do support access on some laptops if they have strong authentication hardware, e.g. MacBooks with a fingerprint reader, or computers with Windows Hello.

If you’re still having trouble on a device that does have a hardware authenticator, try using Safari on iOS or Chrome on all other platforms.

We’re working on a secure way to enable login on other desktop/laptop computers.

I never received my SMS verification code - what should I do?

If you don’t receive an SMS verification code within a minute you can try clicking the button to send a new code.

What should I do if my phone is lost or stolen?

If a device has been lost or stolen, then you should reset your account password immediately. This will prevent anyone from being able to access the account from your old device.

They can log in on a new device by visiting the login page on your new phone.

What are the eligibility criteria for connecting an account to Tide?

To apply for access to Tide, you will need to meet our eligibility criteria outlined below:

You will need to hold a business current account with another banking provider, from which you are prepared to give Tide consent to access data.
You will need to be the account holder of the above-mentioned account.

You’ll need to be aged 18 or above, have a valid UK phone number and hold a biometric-enabled device.

We’re on a mission to help business 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:

  • Trading of cryptocurrencies
  • Trading of precious metals and stones
  • Money services (such as foreign exchange, loan providers, money transfers)
  • Casinos, prize draws and other betting or gambling activities
  • Sale of unlicensed pharmaceuticals
  • Sale or trade of cannabidiol (CBD) products
  • Trading of weapons, explosives or armaments
  • Unlicensed trading and processing of scrap metal
  • Unlicensed waste management
  • Sale, import and export of used vehicles or heavy machinery
  • Escort services and other services in the adult industry
  • Bidding fee auctions
  • Modelling agencies
  • Travel agencies
  • Car wash services
  • Political parties
  • Charities
  • CICs and CIOs

You can read more about this in our blog post: Providing financial security for our members.

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