Fees, cards, service: Here you will find the best business accounts

Many business people appreciate the personal connection to their house bank.

Fees, cards, service: Here you will find the best business accounts

Many business people appreciate the personal connection to their house bank. But does everything really speak in favor of leaving the business account with the previous house bank? Or are there also arguments for direct banks and large branch banks? The experts at FMH financial advice have examined this.

A good relationship with your own house bank is still worth money for the self-employed, freelancers or craftsmen. And in the literal sense, even if account management via app is often faster and usually cheaper than processing via the branch bank. After all, for anyone who needs to set up a company or bridge financial bottlenecks in an existing business, talking to the local banker is and often remains indispensable.

There is therefore a lot to be said for a two-bank model, according to FMH. Privately, business people can opt for the cheapest offer from a direct bank. In a business context, on the other hand, it pays to choose the account provider carefully.

Nevertheless, the question arises as to whether direct banks also offer good services for tradespeople and freelancers. The experts investigated this question and researched which bank offers the best business current account.

The evaluation was based solely on numbers. Nevertheless, the question was complex: In addition to the monthly or annual account management fee, it was also necessary to consider how high the fees per booking process are and what sums the bank charges for a credit or debit card.

However, (possible) custody fees were not included in the evaluation, as these will no longer play a role in the foreseeable future.

In order to find the best business current account, FMH asked 42 banks about their costs and conditions. In addition to the account management fees, the Frankfurt experts determined the monthly costs that two different sample customers have to calculate with: variant one was a small company with 40 booking processes per month, variant two was a larger company with 120 account transactions per month.

The differences are enormous: With 40 booking processes per month, a company faces additional costs of between 36 euros and 600 euros per year, with 120 actions the range is from 36 to 647 euros. A comparison of the account conditions is therefore warmly recommended to every self-employed person and every entrepreneur, according to FMH.

Anyone who can do without direct contact with their banker is currently best off with Fidorbank. It is the cheapest provider among direct banks. The downside: It does not offer a Girocard. The second-placed Deutsche Skatbank and the GLS Bank, which is very concerned about sustainability, are also very good alternatives.

There are even more providers among the branch banks, which FMH has rated as “very good”. Commerzbank, Targobank, Postbank and Deutsche Bank are almost evenly matched ahead of HypoVereinsbank. Nice extra: All providers in the top segment either pay a premium of 100 euros when opening an account or waive account management fees for the first six months.

Among the regional banks, only the Berliner Volksbank received the best grade - albeit with two different business account models. The Hamburger Sparkasse, the Saalesparkasse, the Mittelbrandenburgische Sparkasse and the Berliner Sparkasse are just behind and were each rated "good".