ANNA’s business account promises to set you free from admin. We look at all its features and fees, to help you decide if your business should sign up for one.
If you’re a sole trader or run a small company then you might want to take note of ANNA Money which offers digital-only business accounts, including a pay-as-you-go option. Its accounts are managed entirely from an app, which could be handy if you like to bank on the go, and come with features to help with business admin, such as invoicing and expense management. ANNA Money is recommended as one of our best business accounts. In this guide we look at the pros and cons.
ANNA Money (also just known as ANNA) is an online business current account and digital assistant for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). It’s known for the cat noises its app makes when money leaves your account, reminding you to be careful with your spending. Feline sounds aside, ANNA stands for “Absolutely No-Nonsense Admin”.
“ANNA isn’t a bank, but it offers a business account with a debit card and an app that helps you manage your banking and invoices, doing a good chunk of the admin work for you,” says Finder’s banking publisher, Matthew Boyle. “It’s one of the growing number of online-only business banking apps and ANNA Money has been featured as one of our best business bank accounts for invoicing.”
How does ANNA work?
After signing up for ANNA through its quick online sign up process, you will receive your digital account. The features you’ll have access to include:
Business account and debit card. ANNA business accounts come with a Mastercard debit card. The business account does pretty much all you would expect from a traditional business current account, including offering direct debits (but not overdrafts).
App. ANNA’s app includes the usual services that come with a digital banking app, and has some handy features such as personalised spending reports.
Invoice service. ANNA can create invoices for you and even chase due payments (politely!). It also automatically matches payments and invoices, helping you keep your accounts in order.
Additional debit cards. These have individual spending controls. You can give them to other employees and manage your expenses more easily.
24/7 assistance. It combines an AI-based chatbot and in-app support offered by a UK-based customer service team. They aim to get back to you under 1 minute.
Cashback. ANNA offers 1% cashback on a range of business expenses.
Connect all your accounts. The ANNA app can also be connected to other business or personal bank accounts through Open Banking, so you can keep an eye on all your transactions and do your budgeting all in one place.
Integrate with Xero and Sage. ANNA accounts can be integrated with accounting software packages Xero and Sage, so all your business banking transactions will feed through to your accounting platform.
Submit your VAT return. You can connect your ANNA account to HMRC’s digital portal, then use ANNA’s tools to calculate your VAT and submit your return.
How much does ANNA cost?
ANNA has 3 pricing tiers that customers can choose from:
Pay As You Go. This plan has no monthly fee. Instead you just pay for what you use.
Business. You can choose between a monthly or an annual fee, but your first monthh is free. With this you can get a set number of free bank transfers, ATM withdrawals and international payment each month, plus a number of other features like personal payment links and cashback on purchases.
Big Business. Designed for larger businesses, this plan has a higher monthly fee but coomes with unlimited free bank transfers and ATM withdrawals, as well as unlimited free debit cards and other benefits.
ANNA also has an add-on option called + Taxes. You can add this to an existing plan for a small monthly fee and in return get free tax and bookkeeping tools.
How do I apply for an ANNA account?
ANNA promises that you can set up an account in 10 minutes and that the card will be on its way the same day. For a business account, it does seem pretty fast and stress-free to sign up to, and obviously you can do it online.
Eligible businesses include limited companies (you need to be the director to sign up) and non-limited businesses that are structured as a partnership or sole trader. You must be living in the UK.
You’ll need to enter your mobile number and email address in order to sign up. ANNA will also ask a few questions about your business. This will likely be asking you to share a link to show what your business does. If you don’t have this, you’ll need to provide documentation to prove what type of business you have.
If your business is just starting out and you’re not sure what banking features you will use, it could be worth giving ANNA’s pay-as-you-go account a whirl.”
What does the ANNA Money app look like?
Is ANNA right for my business?
ANNA is suitable for sole traders and SMEs that do the vast majority of their transactions in the UK. Since it charges foreign transaction fees and doesn’t offer international bank transfers, it isn’t a good solution if you need to travel often or trade overseas. The other thing to consider is that ANNA’s most innovative features are the support you get for invoices and expenses. If you have an efficient alternative in place, you probably don’t need ANNA.
In our independent 2024 customer satisfaction survey, 83% of ANNA’s users said they’d recommend the brand to a friend. Users cited great customer service and easy to use online banking. Here’s what some of those ANNA customers had to say:
“They are a super reliable bank and provide an easy to use app. The quality of service for such a low cost is almost unbeatable”
“The service is amazing”
On the Apple App Store, ANNA is rated 4.4 out of 5 based on over 900 reviews. On the Google Play Store, ANNA is rated 4.5 out of 5 based on over 1,300 reviews (April 2024).
Is ANNA safe?
ANNA isn’t a bank, so it doesn’t have a banking licence or benefit from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) deposit protection of up to £85,000. However, ANNA is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and the company that issues the debit card, Wirecard Card Solutions, has an electronic money licence. This means that customer money has to be kept separate from company money and can never be used to pay the company’s debts. The Mastercard debit card is protected by a PIN and you can block the card in the app if it gets lost or stolen.
Pros and cons of ANNA
Pros
Pay As You Go version with core admin features available, so you can try out ANNA for your business.
Quick and easy set up, especially for a business account.
Easy to use app with useful money management features.
Invoice and expense services integrated in the app.
24/7 in-app support that aims to respond under 1 minute.
You can connect accounts held with other providers to the ANNA app through Open Banking.
Integration with accounting software Xero and Sage.
Pay-as-you-go option means you only pay for the features you use.
You can calculate your VAT return and submit it to HMRC.
Pay cash into your account by visiting a local PayPoint store.
Some customers can access ANNA Credit which is a loan provided by SteadyPay.
Cons
You may still need a traditional bank account for some of your business’ financial needs.
No overdrafts available.
No FSCS protection.
You can’t pay in cheques.
Customer service information for ANNA
Email support
Telephone support
In-app or live chat
Contact form
Branch support
Our verdict
While there are other business accounts available, ANNA’s strongest selling point is that it really integrates banking with expense management and invoicing (and even accounting, to a degree). Few business account providers offer the same services and account types at ANNA’s price, which makes it very competitive.
All in all, ANNA looks like a good choice for a tech-savvy business owner who’s looking to do all their admin and banking from the same app. However, keep in mind that there are better options out there if you do much of your business abroad.
ANNA does an identity check when you apply, to verify your details, and this can involve a “soft” check of your credit file at a credit reference agency, but this doesn’t affect your credit rating. ANNA doesn’t do a hard credit check as it’s not offering credit. Learn more about business accounts for people with bad credit.
No, you can’t. ANNA comes with a debit card and it doesn’t offer an overdraft. But ANNA has partnered with a loan company called SteadyPay to offer credit to certain customers.
Finder scores, in blue, are based on our expert analysis. We also show reviews from users, where we've received more than 10, with a score in yellow. We gather more reviews from customers every year in Finder's customer satisfaction survey.
We show offers we can track - that's not every product on the market...yet. Unless we've said otherwise, products are in no particular order. The terms "best", "top", "cheap" (and variations of these) aren't ratings, though we always explain what's great about a product when we highlight it. This is subject to our terms of use. When you make major financial decisions, consider getting independent financial advice. Always consider your own circumstances when you compare products so you get what's right for you. Most of the data in Finder's comparison tables has the source: Moneyfacts Group PLC. In other cases, Finder has sourced data directly from providers.
Valentina Cipriani was a writer at Finder UK. She wrote news, features and guides about banking and credit cards, helping people to improve their financial lives. She holds an MA in International Journalism. See full bio
Challenger Countingup draws accounting and business banking together in one account. Our review looks at how it works and what it costs.
2 Responses
StephenFebruary 26, 2019
How do you deposit money to Anna?
Finder
JoshuaMarch 3, 2019Finder
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for getting in touch with Finder. I hope all is well with you. :)
Upon checking, you can’t actually deposit money to ANNA, but rather, ANNA is more of an app that helps you handle your business transactions. For this reason, you would still need a traditional bank account when using ANNA.
I hope this helps. Should you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to reach us out again.
Have a wonderful day!
Cheers,
Joshua
Feedback
How likely would you be to recommend Finder to a friend or colleague?
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Very UnlikelyExtremely Likely
Required
Thank you for your feedback.
Our goal is to create the best possible product, and your thoughts, ideas and suggestions play a major role in helping us identify opportunities to improve.
Advertiser Disclosure
finder.com is an independent comparison platform and information service that aims to provide you with the tools you need to make better decisions. While we are independent, the offers that appear on this site are from companies from which finder.com receives compensation. We may receive compensation from our partners for placement of their products or services. We may also receive compensation if you click on certain links posted on our site. While compensation arrangements may affect the order, position or placement of product information, it doesn't influence our assessment of those products. Please don't interpret the order in which products appear on our Site as any endorsement or recommendation from us. finder.com compares a wide range of products, providers and services but we don't provide information on all available products, providers or services. Please appreciate that there may be other options available to you than the products, providers or services covered by our service.
We update our data regularly, but information can change between updates. Confirm details with the provider you're interested in before making a decision.
How do you deposit money to Anna?
Hi Stephen,
Thanks for getting in touch with Finder. I hope all is well with you. :)
Upon checking, you can’t actually deposit money to ANNA, but rather, ANNA is more of an app that helps you handle your business transactions. For this reason, you would still need a traditional bank account when using ANNA.
I hope this helps. Should you have further questions, please don’t hesitate to reach us out again.
Have a wonderful day!
Cheers,
Joshua