About refer200
refer200 is an independent UK publisher covering the Tide REFER200 partner referral offer, Tide business banking and the alternatives worth considering alongside it. This page explains who we are, how we are funded, how we test and who checks our work.
Sourced, not summarised
Every fee, bonus amount, allowance and eligibility rule comes from the provider's own published terms or a regulator's own pages. We do not repeat figures we have seen on other affiliate sites.
Tested, not assumed
We open the accounts we write about, complete the identity checks, use the apps, contact support and record how long each step took. Where we have not tested something ourselves, we say so.
Dated, not evergreen
Money pages carry a visible last-reviewed date and a named reviewer. If a figure has not been rechecked, the date tells you exactly how old it is.
Disclosed, not buried
Any page that can earn us a commission says so before the content starts. Commission never buys a verdict, a position in a table or a missing drawback.
Who publishes this site
refer200 is published by Five Thirty Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 12309500. Our registered office and filing history are public at Companies House. The site is a small, three-person operation: one editor who publishes and verifies, one reviews lead who does the hands-on testing, and one qualified accountant who fact-checks anything touching regulation, protection or tax. You can reach the whole team at contact@refer200.co.uk.
We are not Tide. We are not owned by, part of, or a representative of Tide, and we are not authorised or regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. We are a publisher describing a real product and a real commercial offer, and we say so on every page that carries a referral link.
Why this site exists
Search for the Tide referral code, the Tide promo code or how to use a Tide referral link and you will find a long tail of thin, undated affiliate pages: bonus amounts that expired months ago, fee tables copied from each other, and eligibility rules left out entirely because they make the offer look less generous.
That matters more than it sounds. Someone choosing a business account is choosing where their income lands, how they get paid, how they handle cash and which accounting software they will live with for years. A wrong figure is not a typo; it is a decision made on bad information. So we built refer200 to do a narrow job properly: keep the REFER200 partner code, its qualifying steps and Tide's actual pricing accurate, sourced against Tide's own pages, and rechecked on a schedule rather than left to rot. Where Tide is the wrong answer — heavy cash takings, a need for branch banking, or a business that needs a lender rather than an account — we say that too, and point to the provider that fits better.
What REFER200 actually is
REFER200 is a Tide partner referral code, not the standard customer refer-a-friend link. Partner codes carry a materially larger benefit than the everyday refer-a-friend route — currently up to £200 made up of £75 linked to card spending and £125 linked to the savings element, subject to Tide's own qualifying criteria. We restate those criteria in plain English on the pages that mention the offer, and we link to Tide's own offer terms so you can read the binding version rather than our summary of it. Offer terms last checked: 29 August 2026.
How we test accounts
Our reviews are not desk research dressed up as experience. Priya runs a fixed protocol on every provider we cover so that results are comparable rather than anecdotal:
- Apply as the business type the page is aimed at — sole trader, freelancer or new limited company — using real details.
- Time the application end to end, including document upload, identity verification and the wait for account approval.
- Record the sort code, account provider and safeguarding or FSCS position shown in the account documents.
- Run the same set of everyday tasks: a bank transfer, a Direct Debit set-up, a card payment, an invoice, a categorised expense and an accounting-software connection.
- Contact support through each available channel with the same question and log the response time and the quality of the answer.
- Check the published fee schedule line by line against what the account actually charged.
- Score the account against fixed criteria — pricing, onboarding, app, payments, cash handling, support and protection — so scores are comparable between providers.
Anything we could not test — a feature restricted to a plan we did not hold, or a limit we could not trigger — is described from the provider's documentation and labelled as such. We would rather publish a gap than imply an experience we did not have.
How we make money, in specifics
refer200 is a Tide referral partner. If you open a Tide business account through a link on this site, Tide may pay us a commission. That is the entirety of our commercial relationship with Tide, and it does not change your pricing, your account, your eligibility or the bonus you receive.
Who pays us?
Tide, and only when someone opens an account through a referral link on this site. There is no fee for you, and the account you receive is identical to one opened directly.
Are we paid to write positively?
No. We are not paid per word, per page or per positive mention, and nobody at Tide sees a page before it is published.
Do we accept sponsored content?
No paid placement, no paid links inserted into existing articles, and no guest posts written by providers.
Are we regulated?
No. refer200 is a publisher, not a bank, broker or adviser. We are not FCA-authorised and nothing here is financial advice.
The firewall between that income and what we publish is described in full in our editorial policy, including what happens when a commercial partner's product stops being the right recommendation.
Who writes and checks this site
Everything here carries a named author, and anything touching regulation, deposit protection, formation or tax also carries a named fact-checker. Nothing is published anonymously and nothing is published by an unattributed AI byline.
Tony Hargreaves
Editor and publisher, refer200
Manchester, UK · Founded refer200 in 2024
11 years writing about UK small-business finance and fintech
Tony runs refer200 through Five Thirty Ltd. He has spent eleven years writing about UK small-business finance, has opened and closed more than a dozen business current accounts in that time, and handles the offer verification on this site — every figure published here is checked against the provider's own terms before it goes live.
What they cover: Sets the editorial standard, signs off every published page, and owns the quarterly re-verification of the REFER200 offer terms and Tide's published pricing.
Areas of expertise
- Business current account pricing and fee structures
- Referral and switching incentives, and how their terms actually pay out
- Sole trader and limited company banking set-up
- Affiliate disclosure and UK advertising standards
Experience
- Eleven years reporting on UK small-business finance for trade and consumer titles
- Has personally opened, tested and closed more than a dozen UK business accounts since 2015
- Runs the site's source log: every figure is traced to a provider or regulator page before publication
Contact: tony@refer200.co.uk
Priya Raman
Reviews lead
London, UK · Joined refer200 in 2024
Former business banking onboarding analyst, 7 years in UK fintech
Priya spent four years on business banking onboarding teams before moving into consumer research. She runs our hands-on account testing: opening the account, timing the KYC flow, logging support response times and recording where the process actually breaks down.
What they cover: Owns hands-on testing: application timings, identity checks, app walkthroughs, support response times and the scoring behind our Tide review and comparison pages.
Areas of expertise
- Account opening and KYC/AML onboarding journeys
- Mobile banking app usability and accounting integrations
- Customer support benchmarking across chat, email and in-app channels
- Cash handling, Post Office and PayPoint deposit workflows
Experience
- Four years on business banking onboarding teams at UK fintechs
- Three years in consumer research and product testing
- Maintains our test protocol: same tasks, same order, timed, on every provider we review
Contact: priya@refer200.co.uk
Daniel Okoye
Compliance and regulation writer, fact-checker
Birmingham, UK · Joined refer200 in 2024
ACCA-qualified accountant advising UK micro-businesses
Daniel is an ACCA-qualified accountant who works with sole traders and owner-managed limited companies. He reviews everything we publish on regulatory status, FSCS protection, tax handling and company formation so that the detail is accurate rather than merely reassuring.
What they cover: Fact-checks every claim about regulatory status, safeguarding, FSCS eligibility, company formation and tax before it is published, and flags anything that reads as advice rather than information.
Areas of expertise
- E-money versus banking permissions, safeguarding and FSCS eligibility
- Limited company formation and Companies House filing requirements
- Making Tax Digital, VAT and bookkeeping for micro-businesses
- Consumer-facing financial promotions and what a publisher may and may not claim
Experience
- ACCA-qualified accountant working with sole traders and owner-managed limited companies
- Advises on account structure, record-keeping and year-end for micro-business clients
- Checks regulatory claims against the FCA Register and FSCS guidance, not marketing copy
Contact: daniel@refer200.co.uk
Who this site is written for
Freelancers and sole traders opening a first business account; founders registering a limited company and wanting the account set up at the same time; and small owner-run businesses reconsidering an account that has become expensive or awkward. If you run a business with significant daily cash takings, need multi-currency treasury, or are shopping primarily for lending, our comparison pages will point you elsewhere — that is what they are for.
What we do not do
- We do not give financial, tax or legal advice, and nothing here is a personal recommendation.
- We do not accept payment for a review verdict, a table position or a link inside existing content.
- We do not run analytics, advertising trackers or cookie-based profiling on this site.
- We do not publish a figure we cannot trace to a provider's own terms or a named regulator.
Correct us
If something here is wrong, out of date or unclear, email contact@refer200.co.uk with the page URL and what needs fixing. Verified factual errors are corrected as a priority and the page's reviewed date is updated. See our contact page for what we can and cannot help with — we cannot access your Tide account or resolve an application on your behalf — and our editorial policy for how corrections are logged.
Last updated: 29 August 2026. Offer terms last verified: 29 August 2026.