What's the best place to open a small business bank account in the United States?
August 22, 2011 8:15 AM   Subscribe

What's the best place to open a small business bank account in the United States?

This would be for a single-person business, so for relatively small amounts of money (ie, not for a big software company and not for a start-up that just got a $2mil investment check). Thanks!
posted by chasing to Work & Money (11 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
i just opened mine at the same bank i already had our personal accounts. that way it was easy to transfer money from my work account (where all payments are deposited and all work-related expenses are drawn from) to my personal account.

i know that's not what you're asking really, but you don't explain what you mean by "best."

also, business accounts often have much larger minimum balances and crap like that, so i just have a regular old checking account for my business.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 8:18 AM on August 22, 2011


A bank close to home, with low fees. Maybe the bank you already use.
posted by COD at 8:31 AM on August 22, 2011


Response by poster: Sorry -- to clarify, I mean what's the best company to do my banking with for a small business. Because of the way I'm set up, I can't co-mingle funds with a personal account.

Everyone seems to poop on Bank of America. When I tweeted this question someone from TD Bank responded to me on Twitter -- not quite sure what to make of that. A friend recommended HSBC.

Any recommendations from Team AskMefi?
posted by chasing at 8:31 AM on August 22, 2011


Response by poster: Oh, and one other point of clarification:

My main personal bank is a small credit union in Texas. I live/work in NYC. So they're not really appropriate for this, I don't think. Hence needing to find a totally new bank.
posted by chasing at 8:33 AM on August 22, 2011


Response by poster: (Or maybe I should just use my small Texas credit union. I've always been happy with how they treat me as far as my personal account goes.)
posted by chasing at 8:36 AM on August 22, 2011


Response by poster: @odinsdream --- Yeah, I misread what @misanthropicsarah wrote, there.
posted by chasing at 8:38 AM on August 22, 2011


If you have a personal account with HSBC or Chase, they provide a free business account if you have certain amounts in average minimum deposit with your combined personal accounts. It doesn't co-mingle your funds, but it is easier to deal with one financial advisor for all of your banking.

I wouldn't go to Bank of America, I have never had good experiences with them.
posted by Yellow at 8:50 AM on August 22, 2011


I use Associated Bank and am happy. They have a free business account with enough features provided there is $1000 minimum or a certain level of activity. I wanted to use a credit union but I couldn't find one with good business services.
posted by michaelh at 9:22 AM on August 22, 2011


Find a local credit union (in NY, not Texas) close to where you live/work. A lot of times you'll often find that they have what's called "shared banking" where, for the few times you'll actually need to go into a physical office, you can deposit funds at other affiliated credit unions in the area. FWIW, we run all of our small business' banking needs (including financing, debit cards, checking/savings, small change for cash drawers), through our local credit union. Credit unions have lots of money right now and are generally far less strict/stingy/tight than even local community banks when it comes to business matters. There have been a few posts on AskME in the last year about this.

Credit union is your friend.
posted by webhund at 9:35 AM on August 22, 2011


A local bank or credit union. They are going to be way nicer to deal with than any of the national banks.
posted by magnetsphere at 9:39 AM on August 22, 2011


Response by poster: @webhund:

Why local? Just for convenience? My TX credit union has shared banking branches in NYC.
posted by chasing at 9:39 AM on August 22, 2011


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