I've used Cater Allen for business banking for about 18 months and now I'm closing the account and switching to a different provider. I would advise against using them because their service just isn't what it needs to be.

From the beginning, CA have been difficult to work with. It took months to set up the banking feed into my accounting software, which led to lots of manual and unnecessary work for me.

I had high hopes and held on for the new banking website. Unfortunately, it's a mess. The login procedure is time consuming and difficult. You might think that's a necessary evil because of security, but unfortunately, they're not following best security practice. The user journeys are poorly thought out, which is why people in reviews are complaining that they can't find anything. Then there's the problem with functionality just not working. Since last week I tried to cancel a standing order online several times. In the end, I had to give up on the website and call them to get it sorted.

CA's big thing is that they don't charge banking fees. That sounds good on the face of it, but that saving is massively outweighed by the amount of time you spend dealing with problems. There are also other no-fee options out there.

There have been improvements. Recently, they've been able to do same day banking transfers online. Unfortunately, they're a few years behind the curve on this and while I wish them the best and hope that they can up their game, progress is too slow. With the serious mistakes that they've made with the new website, it looks like it'll be years before they're worth considering as a business bank.

It's a shame, but there are much better, more functional and more secure banking options available.