Yorkieabroad

Not sure if they do business accounts or not - we didn't check with ours - we have a Credit Union account (Membersource) from one of my wifes previous jobs, and its OK, but nothing to write home about - no fees, but mediocre telephone service and online facility, and some of THE most confusing statements I've ever seen. But one of the main problems with it is that the closest branch is a long way away - i guess if they had one round the corner it may make a difference. But worth checking out the local ones, particularly if the banks are ripping your face off!

Suffolk Bumpkin

[QUOTE=Yorkieabroad]Take a look at Wells Fargo if they are near you - we have our personal and business accounts with them, and they're not bad (nowhere near as good as our UK bank, but by local comparison, pretty decent).



Yorkieabroad - strangely enough I had found the Wells Fartgo account earlier this evening, and it did appear to be a reasonable offer - i.e: basically a straight honest deal - no frills attached. So I'll be seriously considering that. (i.e: rather than a deliberately, and elaborately, designed scam).

Also - Thank you everyone who has contributed so far, - my humblest gratitude for your time.

Also ...- Manc - You're a Twat.


Cheers,

Bumpkin

Bob

you've obviously missed all the fun with earwig then and the florida greatness...

Patrick

Yet you are the one who cant do research into business accounts before you open one, strange that!

The key to living in the US is research, before you do anything, buy a car, open an account actually do about anything you have to research it or they will screw you into the ground - its all about the mighty buck her and how much they can get out of you!

Englishmum

I have news for you:

http://www.thebritishmidlands.com/br...siness--2.html

Hong Kong is the place which has the least bureacracy and regulations for running a business....with just 15% income tax to boot, but the cost of property rental is very high.

Suffolk Bumpkin

[QUOTE=Patrick]Yet you are the one who cant do research into business accounts before you open one, strange that!
QUOTE]


Never said I hadnt done any research... It just helps to gather as many valid opinions as possible before making a decision. Asking a question on this forum is all part of that research...

Thank you.

Suffolk Bumpkin

Hey - looks like I did miss something subtle about Mancs comment. Manc - I hereby remove from you the honorary title of 'Twat' .

Thank you.

Franklin

OK, go to the next post ... anorak time ... don’t say I didn’t warn you … go to the next post.

I didn't know Hong Kong is a country ... isn't it part of China? China, the country that is ripping off intellectual property (IP) at a fair lick? Western hi-tech companies are having their arms twisted to hand over IP to get the nod and wink from the Chinese authorities to set up businesses in China … sorry, but China is acting shamelessly and the only people acting more shamelessly are the idiots who let them get away with it. Don’t you see what is happening? China is offering “deals” to western companies to get their hands on western IP. Recently this came to the public’s attention in the Chinese grab for Rover’s IP assets (re: UK Rover fiasco), so the IP grab broke cover, but it is going on at an alarming rate. China (and now India) sees the importance of IP … and are going for it in a very organized fashion, willing to make “deals” and offer seemingly low taxes on profits … they want the IP. The IP is more important than anything because access to IP means they can leap frog ahead.

So China is boxing clever, they are engaged in several IP grabs. They broke cover with regard to Rover. See, e.g., Chinese state owned Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC) is believed to have paid Rover £67m last year in return for the intellectual property rights to Rover's K series engine and Rover 25 model. It plans to manufacture these in China … so the Chinese government has bought the IP rights to Rover’s technology hence why they don’t need Rover to build Rovers! Hence why Rover’s factories have shut down. Why thousands of Rover employees are without jobs. Rover management failed to understand the tactics of the Chinese government, and the UK government did NOTHING to stop what was happening. The Chinese government is spending hundreds of millions to leap-frog its automobile industry. Once Rover is in liquidation the Chinese could buy the Rover manufacturing plant for a song (given that the plant is geared to produce Rover cars, cars that no one else can make given that Rover IP is now in the hands of SAIC) and SAIC ship it back to China to make Rover type automobiles … they have Rover’s IP locked up.

So it seems that the report you refer to is somewhat out of date or has glossed over the trends in, e.g., the automotive and pharmaceutical sectors. For example, that report stated: "From an industry perspective the UK was competitive across a number of sectors, especially aerospace, automotive, telecommunications and pharmaceuticals." Well … we know for a fact that UK Rover has just gone to the wall. Also, the UK automotive supply industry has just taken a HUGE whack, the UK government is giving the supply industry money ( Rover suppliers receive payouts) to help it get back on its feet, but there are going to be serious layoffs in the UK automotive supply industry.

Meanwhile, the USA has several big things going for it: the spirit to do business, and a dependable legal system. Those that set up businesses in the USA can be confident that, for example, a Federal Judge is unlikely to be persuaded by bribes or threats. The USA has very strong foundations that provide confidence both to home grown businesses, new businesses, about-to-start businesses, inward foreign investment, etc. From my perspective, the USA is the greatest country in the world to start up a business, and I stand by that.

Franklin

Manc might be many things, but yes you are right, he is no twat! Karma to you buddy for recognizing that!

Patrick

I think what most people who come from England dont realise is that in most states it is still Buyer Beware. Where as in England there is a lot of consumer protection. Banks have Ombudsman and watchdogs in the UK, in the USA they are self governed, try and find a complaints department with your US mortgage lender (aint gonna happen).

fatbrit

You're a good few years out of date. The US currently really only has a few things going for it currently: a large market, plenty of natural resources and low interest rates. Unless you hadn't noticed, all the smart money is going elsewhere in the world, hence the sinking dollar.

I agree the legal system is reasonably fair; pity that it's so freakin' inefficient, costly and slow. The power of the lobbies for the big corporations is obscene and this kills small business. Try doing business with Wally World as a small business and see who wins. If you really have a death wish, try taking them to court for a contract infringement!

Mix that in with a population that is fast becoming illiterate, an infrastructure that has had little investment for a long, long time, and a society that is unable to accept change but rather seems content to rest on its past won laurels: the outlook ain't rosy!

Manc

no worries, I was only having the crack, and besides I've been called worse.

TouristTrap

The key is to push, push and push some more for free everything. Got a b/account for a new biz venture this week, and they weren't prepared to budge on fees, till we said..fine, we'll go down the road....suddenly, their world was our oyster. (Might have something to do with the fact we have banked there for nearly a decade, but you can always try).

Banks are duking it out for customers (where I live anyway), so do some aggressive shopping around.

Amywen

My husband is a banker here in the US, so this thread made me smile

He has to explain the US banking system to me a lot. I had some issues with the whole deal of being able to run a bank card as a debit or credit... which are two entirely different things in Canada. I was also used to debit transactions being entirely free, so every transaction I did in the US I put in a PIN number... he explained that one to me once he showed me the usage charges on our joint account. Oops!

AdobePinon

Who the hell charges for debit transactions? Visa or whoever takes their cut out of the purchase price (except for cash withdrawals).