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There are various thoughts and opinions when it comes to how people think of their banks.

Some people have been dealing with the same bank for many years and have always received the service that they had expected while others are never satisfied with the banks – plus there are many who would sit somewhere in between.

One huge influence is how much you are deemed worth by the bank.

Banks typically have a rating for their customers whereby those who have a certain level of business are treated differently to those who have very little business with them – that is they cannot earn the same amount of profit from a person (or business) that has little requirement for a bank.

Business to a bank may mean you have plenty of cash in the bank, you (or your business) transact consistency large amounts with the bank or that you owe the bank too much!

Banks are not often very good at selecting future potential with customers – they are very much reacting to the “now”.

It is the same in both good times and bad; in good times the banks will lend you as much as you want while when things are not going so well they will be calling in the loans and generally making things difficult for you.

At the moment banks do not like self-employed people and especially if your income is erratic or you have just started or recently established your business. Bankers also have industries they love and others they hate and this is often based on the banks recent experience within that industry.

To make your dealings with the bankers survive the good times and more challenging times (the bad times) you need to prepare yourself while things are “good”.

I have a few simple suggestions which will help you manage your banking relationships and while your bank may not always like these suggestions I do believe they make common sense and offer you better protection.

Always have a backstop – that is you should try and borrow a little more than you need or at least have a facility available to you. It is always easier to arrange this when things are going well rather than leaving it until you need the money when you risk the bank may say no.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket – banks will tell you that you should place all your business with the one bank and therefore they can treat you better and your banking relationship will be easier. On the face of it this may sound plausible but if things don’t go to plan the banks can easily take control of all your finances.

It is always recommended to have you banking spread between more than one bank – that is you may have your mortgage with one bank, your business with a separate bank and the investment property with another bank – you have control not the bank.

Don’t invest or arrange insurance through your bank – a bank will generally have one suite of banking products, one suite of investment products and one suite of insurance products.

They will then try to make your situation fit the bank's products. It is better to treat your bank as a supplier of banking products and select the bank that ahs the most suitable product at the time.

You should also treat investment and insurance providers the same – that is select them on what they can offer you rather than letting them try to convince you that their product will be okay for you.