Looking for lowest cost business checking account in California

February 27, 2018 9:55 PM

Hello, I'm an independent contractor with an S corporation and am looking for a very basic business checking account. I have listed some requirements inside.

So the setup is I will be the sole employee of my corporation. I get paid by checks written to my corporation, and then this is deposited into business account, which then I am given a paycheck. Therefore I have very basic requirements:

1. at most two check deposits per month. no cash deposits.
- I see that some places do not offer mobile check deposit, so that would be useful to have
2. the ability to make 1-2 direct deposits per month (I believe these are ACH deposits?). additionally, each direct deposit would be matched with a deposit into a 401k
3. currently I do not have any bills to pay each month, but even then it would be very few (eg business credit card bill, business car lease, etc)
4. the ability to write to myself 1-2 times per month a disbursement from the business account
5. overall goal is to minimize fees

I live in the Los Angeles/Orange County area. I found a list of banking options here (https://www.nerdwallet.com/blog/banking/find-free-business-checking-account/#California), but they seem to be scarce on the actual fees. Aside from myself calling each individual branch to find out, I'm asking here to see if anyone knows from their experience which would be a good fit for me. I'll also add Spark Business Checking as another option. It seems pretty appropriate with the exception that they do not have mobile deposits. Thank you.

posted by eliluong to Work & Money (4 answers total)

That’s a tall order. I don’t know of any banks I interviewed that do mobile deposit for business accounts.

I ended up at a local brand for Saturday hours. By keeping a min of $1500 in the account, they charge me no fees. When I have trouble getting to the bank, I mail in my deposit. They do mobile for consumers grade personal accounts only.
posted by tilde at 3:24 AM on February 28, 2018

Best answer: I use Spark Business and deposit checks on my mobile. Just confirmed that nothing has changed.
posted by icaicaer at 5:15 AM on February 28, 2018

We have a similar business structure to you in CA - but with 2 people. We use:

Chase Business
- for business checking
- Mobile deposits up to 10k (I think?)
- I've experienced great customer service
- No fees for how we use it
- Great biz credit card thru them

Plus Gusto
- Cost $ but worth it b/c they handle:
- payroll
- tax compliance
- easy 401k setup and deposits - through Guideline - love
posted by Uncle Glendinning at 7:51 AM on February 28, 2018

Response by poster: I opted for Spark Business because it had no minimum balance requirement. I asked the rep regarding mobile deposit and they said it can be done through the website on mobile. At least until they transition their mobile app to a new platform. Plus I was able to get in touch with a rep in less than a minute any time I have called them. The one drawback is they may reject the first initial mobile deposit if the check is a large quantity, then you either have to mail it to them or visit their branch, which there are only a few.
posted by eliluong at 10:19 PM on March 3, 2018