
Good bank account for a startup? - forgotmypasswd
Does anyone know a good bank to have a business account with? I have a some websites that pay for themselves with ad revenue, but they don't make a lot of money. Currently they are attached to my personal account, but I would prefer to have them in a separate account with my LLC's name on it.<p>I had a business account with Bank of America, but they charged me $13/month for having too low a balance.
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ramit
I spent a lot of time researching this and chose the HSBC Business Direct
account: [http://www.us.hsbc.com/1/2/3/business/checking/direct-
checki...](http://www.us.hsbc.com/1/2/3/business/checking/direct-checking)

For savings, ING has a new business savings account that I'm looking at:
[http://business.ingdirect.com/products/ofb_savings.asp?s=Sav...](http://business.ingdirect.com/products/ofb_savings.asp?s=Savings)

Hope it helps!

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dennismoulton
Wells Fargo is the best for merchant services (next day deposit) and also have
a great service stack for things like payroll. I had a company that used them
for both and they were great. We also had a savings account with a regional
bank (WCB). The small guys work harder for your business and will pay a better
% (even in liquid accounts) and you may need the relationship someday for a
line of credit.

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JustRick
I live in PA. I have a DE registered LLC.

You don't mention the number of transactions you do per month or your typical
account balance. These will determine which business checking product you
need.

I went with PNC Bank's Free Business Checking. <http://tr.im/pncbizcheck>

\- No monthly fee \- No minimum balance \- Max free transactions: 200/month \-
Max free cash deposit: $5,000/month

Here is why I chose PNC:

1: PNC Business Checking has RemoteDeposit: A scanner that you can use to scan
checks at home and deposit online yourself. (Optional: extra service fee of
$50/month)

2: The application over the phone was painless, took 5 minutes, then 15
minutes at my local PNC branch. Walked out with working bank account and
starter checks.

3: Good Merchant services for when you want to accept credit cards online

4: 800+ locations/branches (Eastern USA mainly)

So far (two months in) PNC gets 5/5 from me.

EDIT: added optional

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apollo
I'm in a similar situation and I just wanted to share the little hangup I ran
into:

I have a Delaware LLC and I live in California. When I tried applying for a
Wells Fargo account in California they said I need a Foreign Qualification,
which also means I would have to pay the California minimum franchise tax of
$800/year.

I'm sure there's an easy way around this but I just set it aside because it's
not a priority for me.

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staunch
IANAA: I think you owe that $800 to California if you're operating any
business inside California, regardless of whether it's registered in
California or not.

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apollo
If I'm running a website and I just happen to live in California, does that
count as operating a business in California?

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gojomo
Probably -- you're the owner and only employee, and you're in California.

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patio11
Getting hit with low balance fees and caring about $13 a month both suggest to
me that this is a color-of-the-bike-shed decision until you get bigger.

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forgotmypasswd
This is mostly a hobby business that I want to run lean without much plan for
growth. I'm looking for more efficient business accounts that better match my
uses.

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jacquesm
A hobby business is not a business, it's a hobby and hobbies cost money.

If you plan on this being a business you have to figure out first how much
turnover you have to make to make a go of it, and if $13 / month for a bank is
a make-or-break decision then I would suggest you look long and hard at
whether or not this is a feasible endeavor.

For sure it is possible that you'll be doing this expense out-of-pocket for a
while, but then you just put all these expenses against your future revenues.

A typical small business, including all overhead, such as administration, tax
filings, equipment and so on will cost you at least $200 / month, so if your
projected profits when this thing is up and running are lower than that you
really should reconsider your plans.

This is not meant to demoralize you, I just think that if you doubt about
spending $13/month that you have other issues than choosing the right bank.

I chose mine for reliability, easy access to international banking, the fact
that my balance is insured to a serious amount and so on, the 'costs per
transaction' and 'monthly fees' were the least of the considerations.

The recent crisis has born out the wisdom of that decision, by going with a
large but cooperative bank they were hit very little by the affairs that
caused their main competitor to now be mostly state property.

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ajg1977
As with most things in life bank fees like this are more often then not are
negotiable. Make an appointment with the branch manager or business specialist
at your BoA branch and voice your concerns about fees like these, and how they
would make it difficult for you to continue banking with them.

For anyone thinking of opening a separate account for business the first place
to start would be the bank you use for your checking/savings account. Not only
do you have an established relationship (if only in paper form) but the will
work harder to please you if there's a chance they'd lose your non-business
accounts too.

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forgotmypasswd
The whole thing was sketchy. They told me there wouldnt be fees, so when fees
showed up, I complained and they said they would remove them. When the fees
didnt go away, I asked to be refunded. They said they could only refund the
last 3 months of fees since they had "no record" past that, even though I had
the account for a year.

Anyway, I just didn't want to deal with them anymore so I closed the account.

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lsc
I use wells fargo but they hit you with similar things if your account is low.
There are things you can do to get around it if you want to spend some time
talking to the teller. (something about setting up a monthly automatic
transfer, etc...)

I'm not recommending wells fargo or anything, but I don't think it matters
that much. you are talking less than $20 a month in most cases, and with wells
fargo, and I believe most banks, that includes the ability to send checks from
a web interface, so I don't think it's that unreasonable.

~~~
sarvesh
I use Wells Fargo, Business Account. When I started the account I asked them
to waive the account minimum fee and that's the only way they were going to
get my business and they waived it. There have been times when I had a low
account balance and they didn't charge me anything. When you are opening the
account it pays to understands these charges and negotiate with them they
usually listen.

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reidman
Can't provide a good suggestion yet, but I'll try to make your pool of options
smaller: don't go with Chase.

I've been a personal customer for 7 years and a business customer for 3. A
little over a year ago I opened another business account for my startup. Last
month I went to them for a line of credit (or even a credit card), and even
though the branch manager attached a recommendation to my credit application,
it was still denied.

Perhaps this is the case with any large bank, but the bureaucracy is endlessly
frustrating. I'd go straight to a small-town credit union if we weren't
planning to move the business out of state in a few months, so instead I'm
negotiating with Wells Fargo.

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mikeryan
I slipped in before the change to Chase and got a free Wamu business checking
account. I use this account

[https://www.wamu.com/business/checking_account/free_checking...](https://www.wamu.com/business/checking_account/free_checking/default.asp)

No monthly fee or minimum balance, up to 250 checks per month.

Large bank and getting larger with Chase acquiring, I didn't see a similar
Chase plan so I think I should be grandfathered in as they move to Chase.

This is the closest I found to a "personal account for business"

Works great for me, sounds very similar to the PNC deal also mentioned.

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quellhorst
I use a local/regional bank. They charge no monthly fees even if you have a $0
balance. Most banks have fees on checking accounts for corporations. The bank
is Amegy Bank (only serves Texas).

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mburns
Find a regional credit union. They tend to give better customer service and
lots of free extras for the account.

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espadagroup
SunTrust Business Checking- No minimum, No monthly fee, I use them.

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falsestprophet
google "free small business checking"

Hopefully, there is a bank in your area among those results. If not, $156 a
year is a trivial expense: just forget it and focus on building your
businesses.

