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Coconut review
We take a closer look at the current account aimed at freelancers and the self-employed as well as small business owners.
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What's in this review?
What is Coconut?
Coconut Bank is a fresh face in the financial technology market, hoping to make money management easier. Coconut is all about providing a useful and innovative tool for tracking business finances.
Coconut aims to make your business finances easier and through doing so “free you up to do more of the work you love”. It does this by relieving you of some of the stress that comes with your tax returns and expenses – estimating the tax you’ll owe, documenting paid or unpaid invoices and tracking expenses.
Alongside these features Coconut works as a business current account, giving you control over the money you earn through your trade.
How does Coconut work?
Apart from the card you are sent in the post after you register, Coconut Bank works through an app on your phone.
Rather than relying on bells and whistles, Coconut delivers an app which works to make things as simple as possible for the user. Displaying your earnings front-and-centre, Coconut encourages you to explore the app from there.
Along with the introductory screen Coconut Bank provides a number of features including:
- Taxes: See your earnings and the estimated amount of tax you will be required to pay at the end of the financial year.
- Payments: Keep a record of your paid and unpaid invoices and how much they’re worth.
- Activity: A record of your spending. Not only a way to keep an eye on where your money’s going, but also necessary when tax returns are due
- Card: Activate and deactivate your card from here.
- More: Get a rundown of the FAQs, change your tariff and get more out of your Coconut account.
Coconut’s fees and key features
Coconut Bank offers a free or pay-monthly account:
“Start”
- No monthly fee.
- Automated bookkeeping.
- Receipt capture.
- Fee for cash withdrawals.
- Tax estimation.
- Limited number of invoices.
- Commission charge on non-sterling tranactions.
“Grow”
- £5 monthly fee.
- Automated bookkeeping.
- Receipt capture.
- Fee for cash withdrawals.
- Tax estimation.
- Unlimited invoices.
- No charge on non-sterling tranactions.
Is Coconut safe?
Security is high on Coconut’s priority list, and Coconut works hard to make itself as safe as possible. Your account is kept behind a two-step authentication process and your password is encrypted using industry standard encryption.
Coconut Bank regularly scans for threats and backs up data to make sure it’s always safe.
Pros and cons of Coconut
- Open an account quickly and easily.
- Card sent to you upon registration.
- A record of your spending helps you save money. Additionally this feature is a great help when you declare your income at the end of the financial year.
- The tax page helps calculate how much tax you will owe at the end of the financial year.
- Safe and secure.
- Paid account offers many useful features to help your business grow.
- Registered with the FCA.
- Monthly subscription fee for premium facilities.
- Fee on cash withdrawals.
- No credit facility.
- You’ll still need a traditional bank account for most of your financial needs.
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Updated April 4th, 2020
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