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  • New freelancer personal or business account

Hi,
I recently became a freelancer and starting a project, I'm considering to use bunq but I'm not sure which one the better fit is. I'll send invoice twice a month, most probably have 30-40 expense with debit or master card. I'll need a company (well, it's on my name) debit card + credit card and some virtual accounts to separate taxes etc. I'm using moneybird accounting.
I've checked business subscription, 9.99 is doable but this 2 prices looks crazy;
- Paying a direct debit; €0.10
- Sending and receiving payments and requests; €0.10
So I need to pay commission for each transaction??? Isn't it ridiculous, am I missing something? Why shouldn't I use personal membership? (ok moneybird integration is not a must)
I'm open to change my mind but couldn't convince myself yet.
Could someone comment?

    @sc-Magenta-Jaguar#97760 Hi SC,

    Yes, Business accounts come with additional charges. Typically business also have a way bigger volume in terms of transactions etc. 🙂 As a freelancer you can use either Personal or Business. For some services (like payment by Mollie) you will need an actual business account. So it kinda depends on the hobby vs professional usage I'd say. Things to consider could be the name visible towards others. A personal account will have your own name on it instead of the name of your business whereas your business account can carry that actual name. 🙂 The same with cards. You can only order cards with your business name on it with a business subscription. (A workaround would be to use the description field on your card for this) 😁

    Edit: a Premium (personal) account is not allowed anymore for Freelancers.

      @Sander#97761 Wait, I thought it’s not allowed to use a personal account for your freelancing business?
      The €10 a month would be doable for me but those ridiculous transactional costs made me choose N26 instead.

        @Sander#97815 Interesting, I might start using one of my personal accounts then as business account.

        Ridiculous in the sense that normal freelancers don’t have many more transactions that would justify additional fees over a private account. As a matter of fact I have less than IBMT personal accounts.

          I'm pretty sure it was forbidden to use personal (premium) accounts as a freelencer when they were introduced for some european countries. However, I can't find the together topic anymore.

            I asked about this in a private chat a while ago. They said that it is not allowed to use a normal consumer account for business. Not even as a ZZP’er/freelancer. But perhaps they changed their stance on this. I would ask it privately to be sure.

              @AnDue#97923 I've double-checked this internally now, and I must confirm that it is not allowed to use a Personal account as a freelancer. In the past this was "allowed" (or not strictly enforced), but it seems we have some outdated topics on Together. Apologies for misinforming you. I will ask bunq to update the topics as soon as possible. 🙂

                @Sander#98054 I see, thanks for the update

                  3 years later

                  Ik wil een B.V. oprichten en ik heb begrepen dat ik een zakelijk rekening moet openen. Weet iemand of ik Bunq mag gebruiken voor mijn B.V. als zakelijk rekening? zo je welke abonnement?

                    @New-Mustard-Bunny-1707967036#240059 General information about opening business accounts: https://together.bunq.com/d/46581 As you can see, the Besloten Vennootschap is indeed one of the accepted legal forms. There are different plans to choose from for businesses, you can find an overview on the website: https://www.bunq.com/benefits Get the one that has the features that you need for your business.

                      @Jakob-Y#240066
                      Heel erg bedankt voor je snelle reactie.
                      Ik ga per januari 2023 toetreden tot vakgroep als medisch specialist. Vandaar ben ik aan het oriënteren wat het best is om een zakelijke rekening te openen.
                      Binnenkort ga ik een B.V. oprichten bij de kamer van koophandel. Daarna kom ik bij Bunq terug voor een zakelijke rekening.

                        7 days later
                        5 months later

                        What I find frustrating about this is that not everyone who is eligible to open a personal account is eligible to open a "business" account as a freelancer. I live in Portugal, and have a bunq personal account. I also happen to be a freelancer with my activity opened with the tax authority - and I am paid once a month. There are no "business" transactions going on, other than simply receiving an income once a month. Apparently I am in violation of the bunq T&Cs by doing this, and have been warned that I need to open a business account. However, I apparently do not meet the requirements to open a bunq business account. I have tried, but my application was rejected. So I'm left with no choice really, but to find another bank. I'm afraid that the "one size fits all" blanket T&Cs that bunq have put together here don't really work in the real world. It's not a legal requirement in Portugal for freelancers to have a business account. At one point, I was advised that I needed to "register a company" so I can open a business account. I think I'm more comfortable to take advice from my accountant on this topic - and in my situation, registering a company makes zero sense, and nor does opening a business account. I am totally following the law in Portugal with everything I am doing. I think it's absurd for someone in this kind of situation be told they are in violation of T&Cs and to be instructed to open a business account - only to not meet the criteria for said account, and be offered no viable alternative. I don't have employees, I don't have an online business where I'm receiving frequent payments. I just have a single transaction per month for my income. Totally ridiculous.

                          @dansm77#269242 There are no "business" transactions going on, other than simply receiving an income once a month.

                          Either there is none, or there is some. In your case, you have business transactions. Maybe not many, but the case is pretty clear-cut.

                          However, I apparently do not meet the requirements to open a bunq business account. I have tried, but my application was rejected.

                          Yes, that might very well be the case.

                          So I'm left with no choice really, but to find another bank.

                          Yes. As of today, bunq does not cater to all kinds of businesses. Only to certain types.

                          don't really work in the real world. It's not a legal requirement in Portugal for freelancers to have a business account.

                          The bunq T&C is indeed not born out of Portuguese law. These requirements are set by bunq. Not being able to meet them does not mean that someone is doing anything illegal or something that is not allowed. It simply means that you cannot have a bank account at bunq, which is one single specific bank in Europe.

                          I think I'm more comfortable to take advice from my accountant on this topic

                          I would do the same.

                          I think it's absurd for someone in this kind of situation be told they are in violation of T&Cs

                          Again, the T&C of bunq are one thing. And laws are another thing. Nobody said anything about you not following the law.

                          and be offered no viable alternative

                          bunq is also just a business. They are a comparably small bank, and have to focus their efforts. Their legal teams are not of the size of the big European banks, and therefore they have decided to limit their scope to a reasonable subset of businesses. Of course, it'd be great if your business would also fall within that scope, as you seem like you really want to be a customer with your business at bunq. But, it seems like in its current form, it does not. That doesn't mean that anything is wrong with your business, it just means that currently, you are not able to have bunq as your banking partner.

                            but the case is pretty clear-cut.

                            Agreed. I'm not denying that this is clearly stated in your T&Cs. I've just been unaware of this until now.

                            The bunq T&C is indeed not born out of Portuguese law

                            Indeed. This is not the point I was making.

                            not of the size of the big European banks

                            I'm not sure I agree with this narrative as a rationale for not allowing freelancers (that don't work through an entity) to use a personal account.

                            as you seem like you really want to be a customer

                            It's extremely inconvenient to now have to find an alternative solution - which I'd rather not have to do.

                            That doesn't mean that anything is wrong with your business

                            Of course there isn't - I know there is nothing wrong with what I'm doing.

                            I understand what you are saying, and of course you need to represent bunq from your perspective. My message mainly came out frustration around being instructed to apply for a business account, due to evidently violating T&Cs. I then tried to do the "right thing", only to have my application for a business account rejected.

                            From everything you have said, I'm still not really seeing the rationale for not allowing a freelancer to be paid into a personal account once per month. Looking at an earlier post on this thread, it looks like you actually used to allow this with a "premium" personal account, but now no longer do. So this is actually something you have supported in the past with personal banking, albeit at a higher fee.

                            I generally like the bunq platform. It has some great features I've not seen from other neobanks. I'm just disappointed with the fact that freelancers in my situation are not, in my view, being fairly represented by your T&Cs. I feel like this is more about the higher monthly fee that business accounts incur than anything else.

                              It's extremely inconvenient to now have to find an alternative solution

                              It turns out that it's not inconvenient. Revolut offer exactly what I need with "Revolut Pro" - which is specifically for freelancers in my situation. It looks like their offering has improved a lot since I last looked at them. I'll be making the move across.

                                @dansm77#269799 Thanks for offering your opinion. Just one thing I want to really make clear here: This is a community forum. I do not work for or at bunq. I'm just a user like you are. That being said, I do try to keep up with all things bunq and would claim to have some more insight than the average user owing to that.

                                I do not think that the bunq business accounts are suited for every type of business and I do not use them myself. I'm happy with the personal account, though. But that's a decision that everyone has to make for themselves.

                                  @Jakob-Y#269889 No worries. Also thanks for your opinion. I had not realised you didn't represent bunq - as your messages suggested that you might.

                                  At the end of the day, it is what it is. I've now found a solution that works for me. It is a shame that bunq are not currently supporting freelancers like myself - but that is their decision to make as a business. They may want to change this in the future if they want to keep up with the competition - but that remains to be seen.

                                  Cheers.

                                    @dansm77#269903 Revolut is a much bigger bank than bunq at the moment. I guess bunq isn't able or willing to offer the same amount of services as Revolut, because that isn't sustainable for bunq at this point. Maybe this'll change in the future while they grow.

                                    By the way, bunq employees have a bunq profile image here on Together, and a "Employee" or "Guide" tag attached to their profile.