Best Business Checking Accounts in

For businesses, opening a business checking account helps them align their financial and operational needs. Choosing the right business checking account with advanced and efficient features streamlined financial management with ultimate security and accessibility for any type or size of business. Choose the banking services that offer the best features and accomplish all your business requirements. Ensure hidden charges, minimum balance, and other fees before opening a business account. Therefore, selecting the right business checking account is important for effectively managing your cash flow, easing bookkeeping, financing, and tax-related activities, and growing your business.

Manage your best business checking accounts in the USA efficiently using the best tips, as follows. 

1. Choose the Right Account

• Search for the bank that provides the best offers and services including
• Higher transaction limits, broad ATM networks to withdraw cash, minimal balance requirements and fees, and advanced & safe online banking features.
• Assistance by the expert customer support team.

2. Keep Personal and Business Finances Separate

• Follow the fundamental principles of successful business by separating your business and personal account-related activities to streamline your financial process. 
• It maintains transparency and minimizes financial complexity.

3. Monitor Your Account Regularly

• To identify any illegal transactions, maintain cash flow and expense limits. 
• Monitoring cash flow and expense management regularly keeps your business account up to date.
• You can monitor all your banking information at your fingertips. 
• You can stay updated with the latest banking rules like positive pay to protect your account money from any unauthorized activity while issuing checks. 

4. Set up Card Control

• Stay updated with banking security features to prevent your business checking accounts from spam activities or frauds.
• You can set spend/online money transfer limits, set alerts for real-time notifications, and others.
• Change your ATM/mobile and banking password frequently and do not keep your personal information in your passwords to avoid being accessed by hackers.

1. Relay Bank

Relay Bank is an online banking platform that makes financial and money management easy, efficient, and streamlined. It is specially designed for small businesses in the USA to deliver feature-rich and advanced banking assistance necessary for their business growth. 

Features

• No fees or overdraft fees for your business account
• No minimum balance
• Get regular debit cards and facilitate you to create your virtual debit cards 
• Widespread ATM networks to withdraw cash Allpoint ATMs
• Facility to integrate your business account with Xero and QuickBooks Online
• Check deposit facilities using their app
• FDIC Insured [ up to $250K per depositor]

Pros 

• No minimum balance, overdraft fees, or monthly fee requirement
• Provision to set limits for debit cards of employees
• Multiple accounts facility
• Allow to integrate with third-party tools/system

Cons

• No physical branch to deposit cash as it becomes a completely digital bank
• It requires a week to clear checks
• No option for an interest-bearing account
• No lending products availability

Pricing

• Relay - $0/month – Without minimum balance, overdraft or account fees, 20 individual checking accounts, 
• Relay Pro - $ 30 for month/Business, all features of Relay, including free wire payments, faster ACH, account payable, and more.

2. Found

This online financial technology company assists small businesses in managing their business checking accounts effectively. If you are a sole proprietor, start-up, established business, or freelancer, Found offers several best features in a cost-efficient way for your business success.

Features 

• Its efficient Business Banking comprises reliability, security, and business-friendly services with no minimum balance, no account opening fees and quick account opening in just 5 minutes.
• FDIC Insured [upto $250K per depositor]
• Taxes features include automatic report generation of schedule C and expense audit report, payment and quarterly tax calculations In-app features.
• Bookkeeping features include free weekly/monthly business reports, tracking and categorizing expenses of your business easily to improve your deductions, and more.
• Send your professional business invoices and track them.

Pros

• No opening deposit/monthly service fees
• Easy and fast direct deposit
• Sorting money easily using a pocket system
• Flexible spending on card transactions allows overdraw using the primary balance.
• More services include bookkeeping, invoicing, tax help, and more for small businesses. 

Cons

• No physical branches and digital banking only.
• Interest earning is possible with only a paid plan
• Customer service times are limited
• Need to pay fees for cash deposit

Pricing

There are two optional paid services for customers

• Instant Withdrawals: 1.75% fee for instant transfers for transferring money from Found account to another external debit card.
• Found Plus: $19.99 monthly or $149.99 yearly, an optional paid service that offers access to advanced tools. 

Wire Fees – For using the wire functionality of Found, $15/outgoing wire transaction for wire submitting, and the amount of $15 will be returned in case of wire rejection or cancellation. No refund even if it is returned.

3. Counting Up

An efficient financial tool that combines a business account with bookkeeping, accounting, and integrated tax. For small-sized limited companies and sole traders, its feature-rich banking apps help to easily manage financial activities, including invoices, expenses, payments, and more. 

Features

• Bookkeeping and taxes are automated
• Real-time business details include unpaid invoices, tax estimates, and profit & loss reports, etc.
• Built-in accounting software
• Easy and quick to open an account in a few minutes
• Invoicing & billing, an efficient real-time profit and loss

Pros

• Easy and fast application process
• 2 months free trial period 
• User-friendly mobile app for trouble-free money management
• Contactless debit card
• Built-in accounting tools
• Professional invoices
• Various price plans for different types of businesses

Cons

• Support through a third party for international payments and no direct support
• Specific daily limits based on business type and monthly earnings 
• No direct support for international payments, only through a third-party
• Only a few automated features

Pricing 

• Subscription fees after 3 months trial period
• 1st tier - £ 3/month – total monthly deposits in £0- £750 
• 2nd tier - £ 9/month – total monthly deposits in £750- £7500 
• 1st tier - £ 18/month – total monthly deposits in £7500+ 

4. North One

It’s a renowned business banking platform in the USA that offers online business accounts with many useful integrated features to make business banking simple and more efficient. Its advanced online digital tools are useful for businesses to streamline their financial activities.

Features

• No hidden fees for monthly balance or transfer
• Wide ATM Network, easy transaction searching features
• Seamless integration with QuickBooks, Shopify, Expensify, Stripe, and many more. 
• Easy and user-friendly web banking and mobile app
• Integrating tools for bookkeeping and accounting 
• The connected banking platform integrates payments, cash flow, and budgeting.
• Offers industry-specific solutions & perks and caters to all sizes and stages of businesses

Pros

• No need for a minimum balance or monthly charges
• Access to more than 1,000,000 ATMs in the country & over 2,000,000 all around the world.
• Easy cash transfers
• Various digital banking tools like expense management, easy cash transfers, and sub-accounts (Envelopes)
• Plugins with many popular accounting and payment tools
• Live chat, phone scheduling, and email facilities for efficient customer support 

Cons

• No other hidden fees other than $10 per month.
• No annual percentage yield (APY) on the account balance
• Charges might be applicable by third-party ATM owners at their discretion

Pricing

• Monthly fees - $10 per month
• Wire fees - $15
• Overdraft fees - $ 0
• Nonsufficient fees - $0

If you are a startup or running a business, it becomes a good practice to open separate accounts for your business and personal as it offers various benefits, like streamlining the tax process, applying for loans/debit/credit cards for business, and several others.

You should get or apply for a business checking account if you are 

• A sole proprietor
• Partnership Company 
• LLC 
• Trust
• Spouse (both have ownership) sole proprietorship
• Corporation
• Trust
• Unincorporated organization or business association 

Some commonly used documents to open business checking accounts in the USA are as shown below: 

1. Taxpayer Identification number (TIN)

• Give any of the following documents as your TIN proof.
• Individual taxpayer identification number (for non-U.S. citizens)
• Social Security number [for a sole proprietor]
• Employer Identification Number (EIN) [for businesses having employees, corporations, or partnerships], available on the IRS website.

2. Personal Information

• Submit the documents to the bank for your personal information as mentioned under:
• Name, and contact information like address, mobile number, email address, and date of birth. 
• A government-issued photo ID 
• Passport, state-issued ID Card, or Driver’s License [For US citizens]
• Green card (Permanent resident card [For permanent resident, non-US citizens]
• Matricula Consular card or passport [For non-permanent resident, non-US citizens]

3. Business License

• Submit a current business license copy.

4. Assumed Name Certificate

• Businesses with a supposed business name for those who are “doing business as (DBA) with their secretary of state, need to provide an assumed name certificate. 
• Include DBA in your account to make cash checks in your business name.

5. Business Organization Documents

• To form your legal business entity like a partnership, proprietor, or other, you need to submit business documents such as agreement of partnership, or operating, articles of organization.   

6. Estimate of Monthly Credit Card Sales

• If you are planning to make credit card payments, give an estimated amount limit detail to your bank for it.

1. Choose a Bank

• Selecting the bank for opening the best business checking accounts in USA needs to consider the requirement of minimum balance, rates of interest, monthly or any hidden fees, mobile application with easy interface and safe features, online banking, nearby ATM locations, etc. 
• Check for limitless transactions or cash deposit facilities without any extra fees.  
• Find the services offered by the bank like credit cards and lines of credit, business loans, business advisory services, and others. 
• Do they provide financial tools to integrate with your business accounting system software?

2. Decide Who Needs Access to the Account

• You can give your account access [with certain limits] to your employees, accountants, or partners who manage your account bookkeeping or other financial activities. 
• With certain limits, you can give authority to them like pay bills, sign checks, cash withdrawals, or other transactions in your business accounts. 

3. Gather the Required Documents

• To open business checking accounts in the USA, you should keep some essential documents [the business owner and others who access your account] handy with you. Many times, 
• You need to keep documents handy as sometimes the bank demands them in case they find any suspicious activity or as a part of bank procedure.

4. Complete an Application

• Fill in an online application or visit your nearby bank branch to open online business checking accounts. 

5. Make Any Required Opening Deposit

• Keep your bank account number ready in case you need to transfer money, deposit checks or cash, or open a deposit.

1. Low or No Monthly Fees

Choose the bank based on the type and size of your business having low or no monthly fees. It helps you to lower your operating costs and many other benefits, especially for small businesses. Ensure with banks for a fee waiver by maintaining a minimum balance.

2. Minimum Balance Requirements

Different banks have their regulations for maintaining minimum balances. 

Select the bank demanding minimum balance requirements when choosing the best business checking accounts, as it becomes difficult for small and medium-sized businesses to maintain a higher minimum balance which affects their cash flow and disturbs financial strength.

3. Online Banking and Mobile App Access

Online and mobile banking access is vital in today’s fast-growing digital era. Ensure with your bank the availability of secure and feature-rich mobile apps and online banking services. These features allow you to make payments, fund transfers, receive payments or other online financial activities like check transactions, view balances, and bank statements, and ease your business process. Based on one survey 96 % Americans prefer digital banking experience.  

4. Overdraft Protection

Overdraft protection prevents your check or transaction from getting declined, in case your business checking accounts compromises insufficient funds. It helps your business process run smoothly without any interruption, automatically transfers money into your account, and approves your given payment or check.

5. ATM Access

The wide network of ATMs near your business, residential, or your convenient places helps you to withdraw cash as and when required. Also, ensure the physical location of your bank branch that helps you to visit the bank personally in case of any dispute or need for customer support services. 

6. Online Bill Payment

Scheduling online bill payments for your business-like electricity bill, internet or phone bills, or any other monthly bills helps you save time and effort to personally visit the place and make payment. Even making online bill payments at the last moment, you can overdue charges. 

7. Account Management Tools and Reporting

When you open a business checking account, you need to check whether your bank provides tools and reporting features for efficiently managing your business account.Businesses require customized reports, transaction history, mini statements or weekly/monthly/yearly bank statements, and other important information for all activities to identify your business's financial strengths.

8. Reward Programs

Some banks occasionally announce reward programs to attract customers like travel rewards, festival offers, cashback, special discounts on some services, and more. Such features can benefit your online business checking accounts if they meet the criteria for reward programs that add value to your business. 

9. Fraud Protection

Ensure with your bank about the best security features in their online and mobile banking, like two-factor authentication, instant transaction alerts through email and mobile, and advanced verification while using credit/debit card or online tools. Also, ensure the bank policy regarding online fraud and how they assist customers to protect their money from hackers or frauds.

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