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MelissaG

MelissaG

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Location
Louisiana, USA
I've decided I need a new bank account for my business. I do currently have my personal account with one bank and my business account with another. The thing is the business account is with an online bank and it's a serious pain to deposit actual cash into it. I need to deposit it into chase, then transfer it to aspiration and that can take up to a week.

So I've been looking at possibilities. Then the question arises, should I go for a business bank account or for a personal bank account. I have no employees, and all merchant services are done through square, sumup, or paypal. All they do is transfer those funds into the account weekly.

I tried a local credit union and they have become a serious pita. It's not worth the effort this is taking. I asked them to open the account, apparently they have tried to call according to them but I have never received a message on my phone. They say they have emailed but I have never received an email. They say they sent my account info in snail mail but I have never received mail from them before today. I tried to contact them because of the snail mail. It said I could set up my online account but didn't provide the account number. And I was told it had been closed already.

So now I need options. What banks do you suggest and do you think it should be a personal account or a business account? Keeping them separate from my own is easy.
 
Is there a local or regional bank with a physical office nearby, where you can go in and set it all up in person? They're usually better about customer service than the mega banks. You may even find one that offers free business accounts.
 
Do you have another Credit Union you can go to? I did what TheGecko suggested. Business Accounts can be expensive with charges in my past experience with some business accounts at banks. I just used a separate personal not business account for my little soap business with a Credit Union.
 
cmzaha said:
Do you have another Credit Union you can go to? I did what TheGecko suggested. Business Accounts can be expensive with charges in my past experience with some business accounts at banks. I just used a separate personal not business account for my little soap business with a Credit Union.
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Trying to find one in my area that doesn't have horrid reviews. It's been surprisingly difficult. Now I'm trying to decide if I should go with capital one 360 or take a chance with the credit union. 360 has no fees and no minimum deposit but a low interest rate. It has the advantage of being available anywhere. The credit union requires a $100 deposit and I must keep a minimum in the account for it to stay open. But the interest is wayyyyyyyyy higher. I'm a bit gun shy now after the last credit union debacle.
 
MelissaG said:
Trying to find one in my area that doesn't have horrid reviews. It's been surprisingly difficult. Now I'm trying to decide if I should go with capital one 360 or take a chance with the credit union. 360 has no fees and no minimum deposit but a low interest rate. It has the advantage of being available anywhere. The credit union requires a $100 deposit and I must keep a minimum in the account for it to stay open. But the interest is wayyyyyyyyy higher. I'm a bit gun shy now after the last credit union debacle.
Click to expand...
It's hard to try again after such a bad experience. Maybe one more go at it? We have been members of several different credit unions. One was fantastic; the other was not terrible but not great. Both were financially worth it, but I wasn't disappointed to leave the not-great one when we moved out of the area.
 
I recently opened a personal separate account that I use for business, for now, with the same bank I have my personal banking (non business related). I used to have something similar with a credit union, but their technology was not on the same level as my regular personal banking, so if I accepted Zelle I had to do external bank transfers, and come tax time, I didn’t have the ability to see cashed check images or image deposits. I finally got tired of all the extra work and just opened that new account this year actually. So far I like it. I report my extra income as an schedule with my personal taxes, so I have not needed to have a business type bank account yet,
 
TheGecko said:
So am I. I went into the CU, opened an account, got my account information...including a dozen checks, a debit card and online access in less than an hour.
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At least I'm not the only confused one lol.

AliOop said:
It's hard to try again after such a bad experience. Maybe one more go at it? We have been members of several different credit unions. One was fantastic; the other was not terrible but not great. Both were financially worth it, but I wasn't disappointed to leave the not-great one when we moved out of the area.
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I'll give it a try with all the convincing you've all done. :) I'll have to wait though. This season hasn't been as successful as last year so... money.
 
MelissaG said:
At least I'm not the only confused one lol.


I'll give it a try with all the convincing you've all done. :) I'll have to wait though. This season hasn't been as successful as last year so... money.
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Nice thing about credit unions is that you don't need a lot of money to open one. I have a checking and savings...no cost other than I have to keep $5.00 in the savings account and that is easy since you can't go below $5.00.

Here is what I did: I googled "Best Credit Unions in Oregon" and then clicked on a bunch of different websites that ranked them and noted who made the top five and who were in my area and/or convenient. There were three that kept popping up and then I checked the reviews...the good and the bad and took both with a grain of salt. I then selected one and Bob's your uncle. I was in and out in under and hour.
 
I know that with bank of america you can have more than one checking acct. I had two, one was my regular acct, and I opened the second personal acct that I intended to use for soaping, but they closed it because I never used it. So check with your current bank and see if you can have more than one checking acct.
 
I went to my bank and they helped me figure out which was best for me. It ended up being a personal checking account with a dba. I don't remember the amount off hand but if I was to make more than x dollars a year it would be switched to a business account.
 
MelissaG said:
I've decided I need a new bank account for my business. I do currently have my personal account with one bank and my business account with another. The thing is the business account is with an online bank and it's a serious pain to deposit actual cash into it. I need to deposit it into chase, then transfer it to aspiration and that can take up to a week.

So I've been looking at possibilities. Then the question arises, should I go for a business bank account or for a personal bank account. I have no employees, and all merchant services are done through square, sumup, or paypal. All they do is transfer those funds into the account weekly.

I tried a local credit union and they have become a serious pita. It's not worth the effort this is taking. I asked them to open the account, apparently they have tried to call according to them but I have never received a message on my phone. They say they have emailed but I have never received an email. They say they sent my account info in snail mail but I have never received mail from them before today. I tried to contact them because of the snail mail. It said I could set up my online account but didn't provide the account number. And I was told it had been closed already.

So now I need options. What banks do you suggest and do you think it should be a personal account or a business account? Keeping them separate from my own is easy.
Click to expand...
I have both my personal and business accounts at our local bank. I am not charged for either account. I am required to keep at least $100 in each to insure I do not incur any service charges. I love our banker and the clerks who work in the bank are just terrific. I have had zero problems with either account. I have no employees and am beyond pleased. I use very few checks so when I need some, I just go down and they print off a dozen for me. It is a win/win. I maintain a healthy balance in each account. I am happy/they are happy. It would take quite a lot for me to even consider one of the big banks as, based on recent bail outs, I do not see any benefit a all in doing so. I will stick with our Commerce Bank account.
 
Ok, now I'm getting frustrated. So far I've supplied them with my drivers license, a bill in my name to prove my address, my social security card, and now they are asking me for my permanent resident card when I've been a US citizen since Aug 2018. This is seriously getting to be more work than it's worth to get a credit union account. If I had gone with capital one, the account would have been set up on Monday.
 
AliOop said:
Whew, glad you found something that worked for you. Sounds like the CUs around you are just not worth it!
Click to expand...
Yeah what a total pain. It took me five minutes to open the account at capital one since I already have a credit card through them. I should have just done that in the first place.
 

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