Need a good bank for my small business.

January 1, 2010 1:26 PM

I just started a business last week and am looking for a bank to open my business accounts. What should I look for? Any recommendations?

My partner and I just incorporated in Delaware, but serving New York City area.

So I am looking for a good bank or credit union in Manhattan. We need the following:
•Checking
•Line of credit
•Online Banking
•Physical Branch

Any suggestions?

posted by pakoothefakoo to Work & Money (6 answers total)

I don't know anything about Manhattan banks, but one criterion you might consider is the quality of a bank's online component. I put my business accounts at the credit union that I was using for my personal account, but its online banking is so primitive that it can't reliably export my account info in the basic format (Quicken) that my financial software uses. It also goes offline with disconcerting regularity. So beyond just looking at their site and, for example, seeing that they claim to export in the format you need, you might try to find someone who regularly uses the online component and find out from them if it's reliable.
posted by PatoPata at 2:36 PM on January 1, 2010

Above all else, stay local. In my experience running a small retail business, the local bank was courteous, approachable and above all else interested in the well-being of our business. And they were willing to bend over backwards to work with us: Extending multiple loans to two young people with so-so credit but a solid business plan, keeping us tabbed, personally, about other services they could provide free of charge, working with us dilllgently when someone hacked our Paypal and tried to wire two grand out of our account (they stopped it); hell, when we bounced a series of checks early on after not dropping a deposit properly, they waved all the fees (a few hundred dollars) as long as we promised not to do it again for a few months. Local banks do this because they want your business.
I contrast this with my friends who have done their commercial banking at the chains (you know which ones.) My friends always had the feeling that the chain could give two shits about their little business. And they were right. The chains have no impetus to care about anything small. Why should they? They have no investment in the community.
posted by joechip at 4:27 PM on January 1, 2010

Response by poster: joechip: That's a great advice, thanks. Now I wonder if there are any "local" banks left in Manhattan.
posted by pakoothefakoo at 6:27 PM on January 1, 2010

I'm on the opposite side of the country, so it's hard to say with certainty, but these guys seem to be a localized NY bank (I'll admit, they're getting harder to find.)
posted by joechip at 7:48 PM on January 1, 2010

My only advice is to try and get a bank that offers free checks. I have been shocked and amazed at the volume of checks my small business ends up writing (I can't even recall the last time I wrote a personal check). Also, seconding the stay local theme. Getting started is hard and you will more than likely overdraft at some point. It is nice to have a bank that values you as a person and will waive those fees.
posted by 2legit2quit at 12:48 AM on January 2, 2010

One business banking gotcha I've just been bitten by: A bank where you can only pay in cheques at a machine using a bank card. This means that employees who don't have a bank card can't pay in cheques.
posted by emilyw at 7:02 AM on January 2, 2010