Setting up your own business? Planning a new side hustle?
Choose either a FREE business current account for a freelancer or sole trader (or already created LTD company) or form a new LTD company for £14.99 (saving £35) and get the best deal.
Remember: By clicking the offer button you will auto-populate the promo code on our partner site but if you go direct or want to double check you are getting this exclusive offer – then please ensure Tide referral code field shows: SETTINGUP during the registration process
Frequently Asked Questions
You can find answers to most questions regarding the special offer on our partner site. But some of the most frequently asked are listed below.
The Offer includes:
- A £75 cashback reward*
- One year of free transfers to any UK accounts.
- £14.99 Ltd company formation (if requested during registration.
*The Offer is limited to one £75 cashback reward per applicant. To receive the reward, the applicant must complete £100 of Tide card transactions within 1 month”).
To be eligible to receive the SETTINGUP promotional offer (the “Offer”), applicants must first successfully open a sole trader or limited company business current account with Tide. The Offer is only valid for new accounts and applicants who haven’t previously opened an account with Tide.
To activate the Offer, the applicant must go to the partner site directly through the ‘links button’ above on this site or use the referral code: SETTINGUP. The applicant is required to either enter the referral code while applying for a Tide account via the Tide mobile app or the Tide website (https://web.tide.co/sign-up/) or simply let us Tide know through the in-app chat within 1 week of successfully opening the account (e.g. if an applicant successfully opens a new Tide account on Monday, the applicant will have until and including the following Monday to provide the referral code via the in-app chat).
The new account holder must spend £100 using their Tide account within one month of the account opening date in order to receive the £75 cash bonus
The reward will be paid into the applicant’s new Tide account. It can take up to 8 weeks from the date the applicant credits the account with the Minimum Balance for the reward to be validated and paid.
Tide reserve the right to modify these terms and conditions or withdraw this Offer at any time. This Offer cannot be used in conjunction with any other Tide offer or promotion.
To apply for an account with Tide, you will need to meet the eligibility criteria outlined below:
To apply for a registered business account, you’ll need to be registered with UK Companies House as a director of that company.
To apply for a sole trader account, you’ll need to be a UK based sole trader or freelancer.
For both account types, you’ll need to be aged 18 or above, have a valid UK phone number and address, and hold a compatible device registered to a UK App or Google Play store.
Tide are on a mission to help businesses owners spend less time on money admin, and want to enable as many small businesses as possible to do that. It’s a balancing act though, certain company types are more complex to onboard, so the scope of businesses they are currently able to offer accounts to is a little more focused than your average high street bank. More details can be found on the partner site.
Tide accept most most European National ID cards, international driving licences and passports to verify your identity.
No! To open a current account, Tide perform electronic checks (run by third-party services) to verify your identity and comply with UK anti-money laundering regulations. While these checks will not impact your credit score, they will appear on your credit report.
On-boarding timeframes vary depending on the types of applications we receive, but more than half of our new members this year opened their account in less than 10 minutes.
To be exact, 53% opened their accounts in under 10 minutes, 70% in under 60 minutes, and 81% within 48 hours. Even if your business is a bit more complex and Tide can’t complete your application right away, if you meet the eligibility requirements it’ll still be far quicker than most high street banks!
Saving their members time is at the core of what they do, so they’re always working to optimise and improve wait times.
Tide accounts come packed with smart and time-saving tools, letting you focus less on admin and more on your business.
That’s just the beginning! You can see more on their features page, and keep up to date with what’s coming next on they’re roadmap
Tide don’t charge monthly or annual fees for our current account.
You only pay for what you use:
Bank transfers (in or out) | 20p |
Payments between Tide accounts | Free |
Card transactions home and abroad | Free |
Cash withdrawals | £1 |
Cash deposits (through the Post Office) | £1 |
Cash deposits (through PayPoint) | 3% of the total transaction value |
Tide have integrations with Xero, QuickBooks, Sage, FreeAgent, Kashflow, Crunch and ClearBooks, with other integrations to follow in the future.
Find details on how to connect on their Accounting integrations page.
Yes! Tide pays the £50 registration fee to Companies House on your behalf saving you the £35
You’ll need these items:
Use the search tool on the partner site and they’ll instantly tell you if your company name is available.
You’ll need personal information such as your address, date of birth, and nationality.
You can choose your home address or your business address (if you have a separate trading address). You can also use a virtual business address if you have one.
Yes. The partner are an authorised formation agent of Companies House, and are securely integrated with them, so you can trust them to register your limited company.
Usually, it’s the same day – in fact, just 3-6 hours. If you submit outside of business hours, such as Friday evening, you might have to wait until Monday afternoon for proof of incorporation.
You’ll have yearly responsibilities such as your tax return and annual return plus ongoing tasks like keeping records of the company and keeping a register of PSC’s (People with significant control). Full details can be found on the gov.uk website.