new business checking

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Topic Author
Sublime8700
Posts: 298
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 2:27 pm

new business checking

Post by Sublime8700 »

I have to move my business account from Smith Barney because since they merged with Morgan Stanley and they no longer support QuickBooks (pretty bone headed). So, where would you suggest that I go? I don’t really need anything except a checking account (no credit card, no brokerage account) but rewards and a (relatively) good interest rate would be nice.
Topic Author
Sublime8700
Posts: 298
Joined: Tue Dec 01, 2009 2:27 pm

Re: new business checking

Post by Sublime8700 »

I should add that the approx. 1st deposit would be between $75,000 and $100,000 and the approx. normal balance would be $20,000
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Tortoise Banker
Posts: 173
Joined: Wed Oct 07, 2009 1:00 am

Re: new business checking

Post by Tortoise Banker »

LLC, Sole Prop, Corporation? I know there are regulations restricting banks to pay interest on deposit accounts to some business formations. The bank I work for only pays interest on checking accounts to Sole proprietorship, non-profit organizations and "qualified" unincorporated organizations.

Also, there is a trend in the industry in charging fees for deposit accounts. I think instead of generating an interest rate being a priority, you should look to minimize fees.

Our company offers a variety of free checking account options for businesses based on volume. In other words, if you have less than 50 checks written and/or deposits made a month, the account is free. Otherwise $0.50 cents each transaction thereafter.

If you go over 50 checks written and/or deposits made, we have free accounts that have minimum balance requirements.

Hope that helps.
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bertilak
Posts: 10726
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:23 pm
Location: East of the Pecos, West of the Mississippi

Re: new business checking

Post by bertilak »

I recently opened a business checking account at a local credit union. Credit Unions generally have the lowest fees since, much like Vanguard, they have no stockholders to answer to.

You can shop around for QB support and fee structure. Mine supports download in QB format, but does not (I think) support what QB calls Direct Connect. I still need to explore this a bit more since I am not sure I followed the Direct Connect set-up process correctly, but it turns out I don't really care that much. I think it just means I need to initiate the download from the CU end instead of the QB end and that works quite well. Do the download and the browser automatically passes it off to QB which opens right to the screen where you can accept the DL'd transactions. No muss, no fuss!

One thing I found nice about the local credit unions in my area is that they all cooperate. Once you have an account in any of them you can do in-person banking at any of them. (For example you may not want to mail large checks.)
May neither drought nor rain nor blizzard disturb the joy juice in your gizzard. -- Squire Omar Barker (aka S.O.B.), the Cowboy Poet
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magellan
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Joined: Fri Mar 09, 2007 3:12 pm

Re: new business checking

Post by magellan »

One thing I've read is that you definitely don't want to try to use a personal account for business purposes.

A while back I was doing some googling on business checking accounts and I stumbled onto some cases where people claimed interest payments were clawed back because the bank claimed they used their personal account for business purposes and were in violation of the account agreement and banking regs for an interest paying checking account. I'm not sure if this is common, but it's something to be aware of.

Jim
LifeIsGood
Posts: 1243
Joined: Mon Feb 11, 2008 7:43 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: new business checking

Post by LifeIsGood »

I would look for a local, small community bank. When I was in business, I repeatedly received poor indifferent service from the mega-banks. A small bank will get to know you and your needs. They are much easier to work with if you have a problem.
sscritic
Posts: 21853
Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:36 am

Re: new business checking

Post by sscritic »

magellan wrote: A while back I was doing some googling on business checking accounts and I stumbled onto some cases where people claimed interest payments were clawed back because the bank claimed they used their personal account for business purposes and were in violation of the account agreement and banking regs for an interest paying checking account.
The banking regs changed last year as far as which accounts could pay interest.
July 21, 2011

Starting today, your bank will be able to pay you interest on your corporate checking account for the first time since the Great Depression.
That’s thanks to a provision in Dodd-Frank that repealed Regulation Q.
http://www.inc.com/news/articles/201107 ... ounts.html
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