In our quest to find the best business bank account we’ve looked at number of traditional accounts and digital challengers. In article we turn our attention to Tide.
Originally this was an overview of the account highlighting the features and benefits of Tide at launch, but as I’ve used the account for my own small business over the last 7 years, it has now morphed into a full review of the Tide Business account.
| Pros | Cons |
|
|
What is Tide?
Tide is an alternative ‘bank’ account aimed at small businesses, freelancers, and independents. Think sole traders and small limited companies, and anyone wanting a free, quick, and easy business bank account.
In true digital challenger style, the Tide account is based around a smartphone app. And while other popular alternative business accounts also enjoy banking apps they aren’t necessarily as central their proposition.
In Tide’s case, the app is everything. It is the account. You won’t find any traditional online banking though there is an online portal, costly customer service numbers, or frustrating login procedures. The account is run and managed within the app. It offers a web portal, but you’ll need to app to log in. Customer service also comes via the app, though you can of course email too if needed.
How does Tide work?
The beauty of the Tide account is in it’s simplicity. Basically just sign up to Tide here and follow the on screen prompts. The application process takes less than 5 minutes, and all being well you’ll have your sort code and account number sent to you a few minutes later.
In my initial testing there was a slight issue verifying the ID I used, but I still had the account details within a couple of hours, while the Mastercard came within three working days. Another account I opened using similar details was opened almost immediately.
Payments to and from the account can be made immediately, but direct debits can take a few days to setup. Unlike some other digital business accounts, there are no split pools. The money in your account, is in your account. There’s no need to split funds between the account and the card, they are one and the same.
Note: It seems that Tide has rejected some applications from sole traders that have not pre-resgistered with HMRC. Tax rules state that you only need to register within 3 months of starting to trade, but Tide may require this registration before you apply for an account.
Tide business account fees
Here’s the real boon. The standard Tide account costs just 20p per transaction. That’s it. Well almost it. There’s a £1 ATM fee, but that’s all. No monthly cover charges, no hidden fees, just 20p per transaction, and not even on all transactions. If you can receive payments via BACS rather than Faster Payments, then there’s no fee at all.
In addition to the free account Tide also offers three paid accounts Plus, Pro, and Cashback.
Tide Plus costs £9.99 and waives the 20p transaction fee for the first 20 transactions, as well as adding priority support, telephone support, and a 24/7 legal helpline.
Tide Pro is £18.99 a month and is really aimed that business making a high number of individual transactions. In addition to the benefits Plus, Pro offers unlimited transactions i.e. no 20p fee, and an additional expense card.
Tide Cashback is £49.99 a month and is really aimed are larger businesses. It includes three expense cards, 150 free transactions, plus 0.5% cashback on spending.
For most businesses, especially side hustles and start ups, the free account will likely be sufficient. Then as the business grows, so too can the account.
What can you do?
- Sign-up instantly (roughly 3 minutes)
- Open an account with no credit checks
- Pay in cash at the Post Office or PayPoint
- Enjoy fee free foreign exchange, commission, or loading when spending abroad
- Get telephone customer support (paid accounts)
- Integrate with Xero and FreeAgent
- Full FCSA deposit protection
- Works with iZettle, Paypal, Stripe, GoCardless etc…
- 4.33% interest on your business savings
You can use the account like you would any standard bank account to make and receive electronic payments, to setup direct debits, and standing orders, to make card payments, and to transfer money.
Additionally, you can also send and manage invoices directly from the app, and use the card abroad at point of sale, or online, without incurring any foreign exchange fees. For the ultra tech savvy, Tide also has an API for hooking up your account data to external services.
Integration with accounting favourite Xero is available right out for the box, FreeAgent integration was implemented in March 2018 which is a great for micro businesses and sole traders that use it send in their tax returns.
One huge benefit of Tide compared to some other digital challengers is that Tide offers full FCSA protection for deposits up to £85,000 via it’s partnership with Clearbank.
Like many digital banks and challengers, Tide customers can now pay in cash at Post Office branches, or at PayPoints around the UK. There is a small charge this though of 0.5% when paid in a the former, and 3% when paid in at the latter.
What can’t you do?
Whilst you can now pay in cash over the counter, you can’t receive cheques, nor can you make international payments. And while I loved the app, it is the sole means of accessing and administering the account. That won’t suit everyone, particularly those used to more comprehensive online banking platforms. There is a web-based portal that features the same functionality as the app, but you need the app to access it.
Unfortunately, if you lose or damage your phone (as one commenter below did), you are stuck. You can email Tide, to get your account frozen and your card cancelled, but you’re locked out of the app and thus your business fiancees until you get an another smartphone. Compare that with other accounts, that offer full online and telephone banking services that can be used in lieu of the app.
- Limited international payments (no IBAN)
- Totally app based (great for those who live on their mobile, but perhaps not so good for others)
- Cannot accept cheques (yes, some companies still use them)
- No account access if you lose your phone
- Faster Payments are still slow
Who is a Tide bank account for?
Many traditional banks focus on traditional businesses. Those that take cash, send cheques, have a fixed premises, etc.. Tide also covers these businesses but in my opinion is more aimed at the online micro-entrepreneur and micro business crowd with it’s quick account setup and suite of online tools it will cover almost all small business needs, but offers a low cost of entry to those trying out new ideas or going it alone for the first time.
In short a Tide business account is for:
- Freelancers
- Micro-entrepreneurs
- Micro-businesses
- Side-hussles
- Self employed
- Online stores
- Independent traders etc…
Who a Tide account isn’t for?
Whilst I’ve said above that Tide can cover almost all businesses. In my opinion it might not be a great fit for those relying on cash. Cash can be paid in over the counter at Paypoints or Post Offices, but those that need to withdraw cash from ATMs on a regular basis will face a £1 for each withdrawal. As such I can’t recommend it for that purpose.
Additionally, there are a number of businesses that Tide cannot open accounts for, such as money lending companies, or those earning via OnlyFan. If you are a content creator and earn a living though OnlyFans, see our guide to the best bank accounts for OnlyFans creators. Other types of business activity that won’t be accept include:
- Insurance companies (incl. insurance brokers)
- Trading of crypto/virtual currencies
- Operating as a pawnbroker
- Extraction of precious metals and stones
- Investments (incl. real estate investments)
- Money services (such as foreign exchange, loan providers, money transfers)
- Banking services (incl. BCAs, loans, digital wallets, etc.)
- 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
- Unlicensed animal breeding
- Sale, import and export of used vehicles or heavy machinery
- Escort services and other services in the adult industry
- Bidding fee auctions
- Non-profit organizations, including charities
Tide account limits
One thing that often gets overlooked when opening a new business account is the account limits. The level these are set at could determine whether you can even use the account at all for your business type. Annoyingly many accounts, especially digital ones hide these away, so you’ve no way of knowing whether they will fit your business until you’ve opened the account.
Unfortunately Tide is similar here. It’s own FAQ tells users to go to the app to check their limits, but there is nothing to tell prospective users what these limits might be. To give you an idea, of the account and transaction limits, I opened a brand new Tide account. Here’s what I found in my Tide account (see image below).
Can I use Tide for spending abroad
Tide doesn’t charge any additional fees, or loading for using your card abroad, or to pay for goods or services from abroad. That makes it great for dealing with foreign subscriptions or even capital expenditure.
When my main business account was with Santander, Tide was often the card I reached for when dealing with dollar valued subscriptions.
Unfortunately, this is limited to using the card though. There’s no facility for sending foreign bank transfers, and limited ability to receive them.
Tide Credit builder
The credit builder is aimed at new companies, or those starting to do business in the UK that may not have had credit before and need to improve their credit history. In some industries this is important as suppliers may offer more favourable credit terms when dealing with businesses with a good history. Or demand payment up front form businesses without.
Tide credit builder helps improve your businesses creditworthiness by offering a structured loan of £240 repayable over 12 months. This is reported to credit referencing agencies (Experian) to help boost your businesses credit score.
At the end of the 12 month period the loan is cleared and you get your £240 in repayments back. Tide keeps the interest which is set at 24%. This might seem steep for 12 month loan, but you are effectively paying that £33 for the service, so actually represents decent value. What’s more, loan interest is an allowable expense for tax purposes.
What is the Tide business account savings rate?
The Tide business account savings rate is 4.33% AER, that rivals even some of the best instant access personal savings accounts. The account was introduced in 2022 in order to allow its customers to take advantage of rising interest rates.
Unlike more traditional business savings accounts, interest is calculated daily, and paid monthly, and there are no fees or limits on withdrawals. If your business is likely to retain large amounts of profit, or have high levels of working capital, then the Tide business account combined with its instant access saver, is a great combination.
Is Tide a safe business account?
Yes. Although Tide isn’t a registered bank itself. It has partnered with Clear Bank which offers full FSCS protection on deposits of up to £85,000 just like any regular high street bank. The accounts are fully PRA and FCA regulated, and I’d personally be comfortable with leaving day to day funds in the account, along with those ear marked for tax and vat.
Early Tide accounts, didn’t have this protection, but any Tide account opened in the last couple of years will be covered. If you are still using an older Tide that isn’t covered, you should contact Tide about getting your account changed over.
Is Tide a good business account?
The Tide account is a welcome alternative to traditional business bank accounts. It’s the closet to basic business bank account I’ve found, but it’s not for everyone.
It’s simplicity and ease of use, makes it perfect for micro businesses that need a basic account and need it quickly, while the lack of credit checks, and ease of application make it a great proposition for those with a poor credit history.
Typically, such users would struggle open a traditional business bank account, and instead turn to the likes of CashPlus or Card One Money. See our article on the top business accounts with no credit check for more on that.
That being said, the account does have some limitations. Although you can now pay in cash, cash-handling businesses (which truth be told are becoming rare), might still prefer a more traditional account.
Similarly, not being able to accept international payments, or cheques (despite the partnership with ClearBank), could also present a problem for a subset of businesses. Cheques especially, seem to have comeback from the dead since rule changes in 2018 mean that they should clear within a day.
Managing the account solely via an app might put off some, but could be seen as a plus for others. It means quick customer service, and removes the pain of dealing with call centres when replacing cards, or dealing with account issues.
This area of the fintech industry is beginning to get crowded as more challenger banks open up for business, and traditional banks start upping their game. But, with it’s unique approach, and simple payment structure Tide is step in the right direction.
At 20p per transaction, it is one of the most cost effective business bank account around, and depending on your business could work well as a main or even back-up account. In my opinion it makes a great sole trader bank account given that there’s no credit check and the barrier to entry is low.
In addition, the instant access business saver account is a real plus. For ltd companies it allows owners to maximise returns on retained profit, and optimise their tax strategy when it comes to payments and remuneration.
Overall, Tide’s Business account is a solid option for small business owners looking for a simple and intuitive mobile-first banking solution. While it may not be suitable for businesses with more complex financial needs, its transparent fees, competitive pricing, and helpful features make it a strong contender in the digital banking space.
Alternatives to Tide business account
The main alternatives to Tide are offerings from other digital challengers such as Starling and Cashplus.
Starling
Starling in particular is a great alternative. It offers many of the same features, while also incorporating cheque pay in via the app, and the ability to send and receive international payments.
The account is also free for sole traders and small business, and doesn’t carry any transaction fees for basic incoming and outgoing payments. See our full Starling business bank account review for more details.
Cashplus
Cashplus, is the older of the two accounts here, and is a fully registered bank in its own right. It’s ‘Go’ business account, operates in a similar fashion to Tide in that there’s no monthly subscription fee or contract, and instead charges a small fee per transaction. In this case 30p for incoming and outgoing payments. Unlike Tide, the first three transactions are free, and direct debits are never charged a fee.
See our full Cashplus business account review for more on the Go business account.
Tide Bank FAQ
Who owns Tide?
Before you jump into bed (so to speak) with a new bank, it makes sense to understand a little about its organisational structure and ownership. This is important as protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) is own on a per institution basis. For example HSBC owns First Direct that means if you have accounts with both of these, the £85,000 FSCS guarantee is split between them.
Who exactly owns tide then? Tide is a private limited company founded by George Bevis in 2015. Tide has a customer base of nearly 350,000 small and medium-sized business, making up a market share of over 5.5% in the SME sector. Notable investors include Augmentum Fintech, LocalGlobe and The SBI Group, a Japanese-based investor.
Tide has a partnership with Clear Bank providing customers with full FSCS protection on their deposits.
Can I open a Tide Business account if I have bad credit?
Yes, one of the advantages of using Tide is that it does not require any credit checks to open an account. This makes it an ideal solution for sole traders who have less than perfect credit.
Is Tide good for small business?
In our opinion Tide is great for small business. With no monthly fees or charges, Tide is great way to test out your business ideas while keeping your banking costs as low possible. It is especially well suited to side hustles, and those sending, receiving, and earning money electronically.
How does Tide bank make money?
The standard Tide account may be free, there are some additional charges. It’s 20p for each payment/transfer you send or receive, and there’s a £1 charge to cover ATM fees. Outside of those costs Tide makes its money in similar ways to other banks. For example the interchange fees. These are fees Tide charges retailers and merchants whenever you use your Tide debit card.
Does Tide accept cheques?
No, unfortunately Tide doesn’t accept cheques. At least in the UK. Tide recently launched in India, where it has a partnership with RBL, allowing cheques to be deposited over the counter.
28 comments on “Tide business bank review”
Front camera has a crack across it and it wont let me take selfie with normal camera, shame everything was going great till then,
This is one of the problems with these mobile-first accounts. If you have a phone problem you are locked out. Compare that with a traditional account, where you can use telephone banking, or pop into a branch (in the worst case scenario). Still, these are more one-off events.
We’re currently testing Starling (personal account), and it not only requires a photo of your photo ID, but also that you record a video of yourself saying some kind of daft phrase.
a Business man with a cracked phone hahaha behave will ya, get yourself a new phone man
Cheap isn’t always cheerful. Moved to Santander business banking after my Tide app lost its verification (on the same phone BTW) due to Tide’s back end server issue last week and I lost access to my entire business funds.
Reverification was by taking a picture (I always carry my face) but also needed me to scan a passport into the camera, if I’m away on business in the UK I don’t carry my passport around so when away from home domestically I cant reverify.
Tide seems experimental and I wasn’t happy with my business being used as a guinea pig so closed my Tide account.
Santander have amazing customer service, and opened my business banking online in less than an hour, so I’m not sure that Tide claim that they’re beating high street banks with instant accounts really stands TBH.
Banking is based on trust, and I just don’t trust Tide with my funds.
This is one the things I point out when talking about these mobile-first accounts (Tide, Monzo, Starling etc…) if you lose your phone, or have some sort of issue you’re stuck. No online banking or telephone banking as a back up. Most even run customer service through the app too. They will get there eventually.
Think ill give this company a wide birth. With Banking there has to be a robust system with open lines of communication. Clearly this Bank hides behind an app meaning its accountability is reduced massively.
Not sure i would want to have an issue and not be able to resolve it within hours. Could be detrimental to business continuity , sorry not for me, ill be looking elswhere
The app is full of bugs and if you need to contact customer service – because of the bugs – you have to use the direst of in-app messaging systems and even if you repeatedly ask them to phone you they WILL NOT!
Signing up to this service will put your business at risk – think lost revenue, unhappy clients and bankruptcy.
I would rather invest in mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations than give my money to Tide!
Run before the Tide comes in!
Harsh words from Rowan, but criticism is how these challengers get better. The recent outage won’t have gone unnoticed either.
This market space is getting interesting, especially now that CashPlus has announced its application for a full banking licence.
Interesting development – Has anyone tried using the app from an android emulation on a PC? or a second Mobile?, or is the App locked to a single device for acess to the account?
I am currently finding problems with receiving standing orders . One out of three has succeeded
Not impressed my first business bank account and think I shall leave
Hi,
I would stay away from Tide. They’re are useless they locking accounts for compliance review purposes. Not only that they do it with YOU knowing it. No warning at all. Funny thing is they don’t know it either! Basically tried to make some payments and couldn’t some error came up. Wrote quickly to helpdesk and she wrote back that they had some issues processing today and I should try again later, obviously wouldn’t work. Following day received a in app message that my account is locked for compliance purposes. Beyond believe how can they do that I don’t know.
They claim it should take 3-5 working days with regular updates. There are no updates I guess there are few staff to carry out quickly and efficiently the checks.
Checked reviews on Trustpilot and they’re not good all the bad reviews have same issues like me and some people reporting months of locked account.
My advise is its a great app based account until they decide to review your account for compliance without letting you know first for as long as they like ( as its stands its way longer than 5 business days, we are at 10 working days and counting).
I gave up going back to high street bank.
STAY AWAY ..read all the reviews on Trust Pilot
They will freeze your account without notice, they say its a compliance issue, which, after you provide all of the details they request (and that takes them takes DAYS ) you are still locked out of your account.
IF YOUR business relies on this account alone..BE VERY WORRIED
I contacted the financial ombudsman and sent them ALL my correspondence with this CROOKED set up
Moved back to high street bank, took extra 3 days but WELL WORTH IT.
NOW MARCH 2nd , HAVE BEEN LOCKED OUT FOR 20 DAYS !!
I’ve banked with Tide for around 9 months now and I think they’re great. I had a bit of an issue whereby I opened a tide account, informed my clients and then switched from a sole trader to a limited company and Tide were unable to change my account from a sole trader to a limited company. I then had to open a new account and email clients another lot of bank details. ( this was 9 months ago so they might be able to do that sort of change now). Tide’s customer service is brilliant, You can’t ring them but you simply message them through the app. When you go to send a message, it advises up to 2 hours for a response providing your message is sent to them between 9:30 and 16:30 Monday to Friday, however, whenever I’ve sent them a support message, it’s been answered really quickly even outside of those hours. The only gripe I have with tide is how long payments sometimes take to process. My business is a printing business that relies on clients paying before set deadlines, if they don’t pay before that day’s deadline, their order gets processed the next day. I know faster payments can take up to two hours and maybe I was spoiled banking with Barclays (who tide uses to process their payments) who’s payments came through instantly but with Tide, I’ve sometimes seen it take well over an hour for a payment to show on my business account. I have no doubt that eventually, payments will get to the point where they are shown at the same speed as high street banks, it just took me a while to get used to and had to adjust my customers’ deadlines accordingly. The other great thing about Tide is that you can literally ask their support anything to do with your account or their processes and you will get an answer. A few months ago I asked them about giving colleagues access to the business account and whilst I was told they can’t do that at the moment, it is something they are working on. Colleagues can now have their own cards so I presume it’s only a matter of time before you can give colleagues access to the app. It’s quite refreshing to deal with a bank who answers the question you ask them! As for the not being able to pay in cash, many a time I’ve taken cash from a client, paid it into my high-street current account and then transferred it to my Tide account to tie up with my invoicing (don’t tell Barclays). Sorry for the long comment, and well done if you’ve got this far but in my honest opinion, Tide is the future of business banking – and I’m an ex-banker!
I tried to sign up 4 weeks ago but their system would not pick up the other director, instead it kept showing a resigned director from 6 months ago. I emailed them (as no messenger is available until you sign up) and they did not respond to 2 emails in 12 days. I then stupidly went ahead and signed up with wrong director hoping they could fix it later. I then spent 2 weeks waiting for someone from their sign up team to contact but kept getting told they were experiencing high volumes so there was a delay. I have now have given up and gone to Lloyds instead.
Who on earth designs a business model like this? Why wouldn’t you hire more staff to facilitate potential growth? This is the worst customer experience I have had for a long time from any industry. Their claims of a sort code in 5 mins are just disingenuous. I cannot see any benefits to their service whatsoever – 120 minute wait for contact by messenger is rubbish, I can ring Lloyds in a couple of minutes and don’t have to type my queries out. All of the high street banks have online signup (Lloyds took 20 mins) and more powerful apps to make banking easy.
Don’t be fooled by Tide, they are not a challenger bank, they are just a poorly orchestrated front end for a Barclays account.
I left a comment yesterday which was removed criticising my experience with tide.
It was an honest and measured post, I wonder why you moderated it??????
I take it this is a sponsored article!
Hi Jamie, your comment was not removed. We just hadn’t yet approved it. There are plenty of comments here that critise Tide. There are also others that are happy with it.
When we tested it. The only real hiccups were that the ID checks took a little longer than advertised and reciving faster payments seemed (and still is) a bit slow.
An important negative feature I don’t see mentioned in your article is the £100k cap on the balance in a Tide account. We had an awful experience this week where we received payments that would have taken us over this balance; Tide rejected the payments and returned to sender. They did not notify me, I heard this from the senders. Three days later and £15k is still in the ether. Tide customer service effectively absent, very difficult to get hold of and seemingly only able to say “it’ll turn up”.
This is true and was an oversight on our part. Will get the article updated. Customer service via the app can take some time, but has always provided an answer in my tests.
With the only means of contact a phone app how would I get bank statements for my accountant to do my tax returns?
This bank is a nightmare. First stole my money and refused to refund my money to my account. I did send a transfer trough transferwise which I’ve canceled so the money have been refunded into my account immediately. But tide don’t credit back my money I am writing in the secure channel tone of messages (this is the only way of contacting tide) and no body reply to my questions. I’ve been assured from transferwise that the money have been refunded and they supplied me with a copy of the refunded receipt. This is a faster payment transfer which is taking tide 3 days to transfer and still not in my account, there is lack of communication with this bank this is a joke. Run away from this bank they still your money and no respond from them . I am closing this account immediately and moving to a real bank.
I’m struggling to open an account with them. They want proof that I am a sole trader but my UTR does not satisfy them, nor the fact I am VAT registered nor the fact I’ve been trading for three months (surely if I’m not a limited company but I’m trading, then by definition I’m a sole trader?!) As far as I can ascertain HMRC won’t send any confirmation of registration as a sole trader.
Tide are a nightmare, the worst bank I have ever banked with.
There is no inbound customer service phone number, you are forced to message people via an app on a mobile pone an d wait until it suits them to reply. When they do reply they fob you off with feeble excuses and when you ask them to have a manager phone you they try to avoid this and continue chatting to no avail by way of any satisfactory resolution. The conversation is like talking with a robot which says the same thing over and over and you are into a revolving door conversation getting nowhere fast.
You email them and no reply at all sometimes. Then more robotic dialogue occurs and you get nowhere there.
I tried to make a payment to a mortgage company via the phone app and it asked me to log into my account on the app to approve the payment, which on this occasion I did at 11.30 am on 31st October 2019, it was a nightmare trying to find out how you approved the payment and as if that wasn’t challenging enough for a non-tech person like me nearing pension age, I received a message at 3.15 pm the same afternoon asking me to log into the phone app to approve the same payment, it was the last day I could have paid the mortgage so not wanting to incur late payment charges from the mortgage company, I logged in in a panic fearing that the payment would be too late in the day and approved the payment again, To my horror my account had been debited twice for £880 to the mortgage company leaving me unable to pay the phone and internet bill to keep my phone on which I need to run my business. I tried messaging Tide and emailing them I was getting no reply so tried to look for a phone number for them – none was to be found.
Finally this foreign man sounding like a robot, saying that he could not help to claw back the money as it had already left my account twice and he advised I contact the mortgage company which I had to do against medical advice since abuse from them in the past caused me a heart attack last year. They told me that that it was too late in the day to send a payment back and that it would be done the next day (Friday 1st November 2019).
I got up to find that the money had not come back to my Tide account so spend all day trying to sort this out with the mortgage company who assured me that it had been sent back. Then it transpired that the account number they had sent it back to was not mine. I asked for the account number and sort code of the account it was sent back to and then went back to more useless dialogue with Tide via the app on my phone until finally at 5 pm someone calling himself a manager called me from Tide and confirmed that the account number that the money had been paid back to was their holding account and he refused to pay me back the 2nd payment of £880 refunded by my mortgage company until I had proof from the mortgage company that they sent it, so I was left with no way to stay in business threats of my phone being disconnected over the weekend and my power being cut off, as I am just out of hospital after Cancer and against medical advice back at work trying to earn enough money to keep the power and phone on and pay bills and my mortgage, I told Tide this and that I had no money for food without that money being given back to me immediately, but the arrogant man I spoke to calling himself Stefan was not budging and like a parrot kept repeating his insistence that unless I prove that my mortgage company sent the payment he will to pay me back what is mine.
My advice is steer clear of this tacky despicable lot of con men, who have no respect for their customers, and are downright rude and arrogant and bank elsewhere, you cannot trust Tide and I will never bank with them again they are diabolical and not fit for purpose. The fault was in their app and they refused to resolve this satisfactorily so I am writing this to warn people not to bank with Tide unless you want to risk the same abuse and disrespect.
I heard that they are part of Mastercard and Barclays bank and Barclays are a disgrace and also cannot be trusted, they ripped me off for thousands of pounds some years ago and had I known that Tide was part of them I would never have banked with them.
Tide’s web site at the time of writing this review states that they have partnered with Irwin Mitchel Solicitors to offer a legal help line but no phone number for this line is on their site and so I phoned Irwin Mitchel and they were disgusted and going to raise this concern with them. Tide will drag Irwin Mitchell down with them.
Tide is the worst bank to bank with. Don’t fall into the trap I did please.
Ive been with tide for a little over two months without any problems, A++++
Wow. Sitting here trying to work out if I’ve been jibbed or not.
Payment sent from client for over £5k. It’s not arrived.
I contacted Tide Support via their app. I’ve been advised to progress my concern, I needed to prove the payment was made with a screengrab from the client’s bank account. Luckily the client was understanding and mortified that I haven’t been paid.
Tide has escalated this to their ‘Finance Partner’ for investigation. Woah. Finance partner? So I’m not banking directly with Tide?
I asked what the SLA for a response:
I’m afraid that I cannot provide you with an exact time-frame in regards to our payments team response. I will tag this as an urgent case and push it as fast as possible for you!
Ok. If I reply on another business or partner for support – I create an SLA – A service level agreement, where we all know who needs to do what and when by.
Once I receive this payment – I’m closing the account.
The Tide marketing campaign which is spanning Europe is not going to be worth anything if you keep losing people’s money and providing inadequate service.
Update: I’ve had no news in 4 hours – only, we’re looking into this.
I asked who I complained to, or as it’s a third part ho has my funds, do I complain about them via FSA…
Their response:
Tide’s financial services are provided by Prepaid Solutions (PPS), an FCA regulated company that operates with an e-money license. Our member’s funds are in a ring-fenced safeguarding account that is fully protected against risk and reinvestment. As a result it does not require FSCS protection.
So if you’re reading this thinking of opening a TIDE account – DON’T. They aren’t bothered about customer service, or transparency OR TRUST. DON’T open a TIDE account.
Purely awful experience. Customer support is almost non-existant. 2 weeks down the line and I can’t get access to my money
Pros: Easy to set up
Cons: Entirely dysfunctional team and here’s why:
1. Extremely badly managed company. If you’re not careful, you and your money will be stuck here. The only card we use on this account stopped working and it’s been weeks. I’ve messaged them over 10 times, with 2 responses back (weeks later) and no resolution yet to what’s a simple case of checking their email and reactivating the card. Thankfully I chose only to keep a minimal balance in this account.
2. There’s literally no one to speak to. The automated response will promise contact in ‘hours’, in reality this will be days, and in one of my cases, weeks!
3. It looks like they will delay your account’s cancellation when you request it. I’ll update this review in a few weeks on this point.
4. They know completely well how shambolic their service level is. Responses that are late by days and weeks often sound arrogant, let alone apologetic or even sincere. They read your messages but just choose to ignore them. Considering these are simple requests to get basic account functionalities working, I wonder how they treat other customers who may have more serious problems accessing their accounts.
5. The ‘easy to setup’ card is a trap. We wasted time, money, energy, and most of all reputation with suppliers who couldn’t be paid on time because of their faulty service.
Just Google “tide froze my account” and see how these people operate.
Well, I have 2 separateTide business accounts so feel it’s fair for them to get 2 negative reviews.
In response to their BS on the previous review:
“Rest assured that account pauses happen only to ensure the safety of our members’ accounts. We don’t take chances with security and we are always following industry regulations in regard to this. It would be our pleasure to look into this and forward your feedback to the relevant team.“
This is just the same cut and paste response they say every-time a question is asked.
They have paused 2 business accounts. ONE FULL MONTH AGO. I employ people. I pay wages. I invoice people. I receive money. Now how much fun is it to run a business without a bank account? How easy is it to get people to pay invoices to a new account? How much fun is it to try and pay wages when you can’t access your money? Think we all know the answers don’t we?
How can it take a company this big over a month to “review” something. They haven’t even been able to tell me what they are “reviewing.” They can’t even have someone have a conversation with me. They have been given my contact number and details in their below request and guess what? No-one has rang.
God knows why this company does this? I own seven companies. My business banking with HSBC for 4 years. No issues. Starling bank? No issues. Monzo? No issues. Tide? Let’s freeze it for no reason. Let’s not bother prioritising a frozen account so the business can carry on operating, let’s just send a copy and paste text reply through the app.
What tickles me the most is that their “complaints department” is looking into this, and uses the same cut and paste response as the general chat.
Just go to one of the other banks. It’s much easier and you won’t be subject to some none-sense as this company must not give two poops about it’s clients, otherwise I wouldn’t be in the same place 1 month later…. With no explanation as to why in the first place.
*** UPDATE ***
They have suddenly opened my account!!! Funniest thing is the £75 compensation – yes this IS going further. Next best part is that they have even lied on their letter to me!!
“We advised you to attempt to resolve this dispute directly with your customer and requested that you supply us with proof that the dispute is resolved and any other information you might have that would aid our investigations. Preferably, please aim to do this within 5 business days.“. NO THEY DIDNT!!!! Considering Michael Fleming Complaints Handler has “reviewed” my case and all of the messages sent by tide, he has clearly missed the section WHERE THEY DIDNT TELL ME WHAT THE DISPUTE WAS DESPITE ME ASKING over 10 times what the dispute was:
“ We have placed a temporary pause on your account. During this time, you will not be able to send or receive payments from, or into your Tide Account or use your card.
We appreciate that this may cause some concerns however, our Compliance Team is currently reviewing your account. We will be in touch via email as soon as there is any further update. Please be aware, this may take up to 30 business days.
UK financial regulation requires us to verify information from time to time to ensure we remain compliant and our members’ accounts are safe.
If you have any questions, please let us know, we are here to help.
Thanks in advance for your cooperation.
Kind Regards,”
And then EVERY TIME I asked what was happening and for some information I got this cut and paste reply – I received this exact reply Sept 12th (twice), Sept 13th, Sept 14th, Sept 15th (twice), Sept 17th, Sept 18th, Sept 19th, Sept 20th, Sept 22nd, Sept 24th (I gave up after this and decided to bank elsewhere).
“ Hi Darren,
Unfortunately at this time I have no update to give you.
As soon as I have one, you will be contacted through the app.
UK financial regulation requires us to verify information from time to time to ensure we remain compliant and our members’ accounts are safe.
Our Compliance Team is currently reviewing your account.
Unfortunately we do not have the availability to call out at this time.
All communication needs to take place via the App or email.
Apologies this is not what you were hoping to hear.
Kind regards,”
Their “Complaints team” contacted me on Sept 17th – no reply from them until October 4th!!!
AVOID THIS COMPANY!!!!!!
It is advertised as a business account but it should state that only on person can have access or bank card which is no use for partners or larger companies.
We also had big problems with customer service, took 2 weeks to receive any proper contact.