Good bank account for a startup?

I spent a lot of time researching this and chose the HSBC Business Direct account: <a href="http://www.us.hsbc.com/1/2/3/business/checking/direct-checking" rel="nofollow">http://www.us.hsbc.com/1/2/3/business/checking/direct-checki...</a><p>For savings, ING has a new business savings account that I'm looking at: <a href="http://business.ingdirect.com/products/ofb_savings.asp?s=Savings" rel="nofollow">http://business.ingdirect.com/products/ofb_savings.asp?s=Sav...</a><p>Hope it helps!

Wells Fargo is the best for merchant services (next day deposit) and also have a great service stack for things like payroll. I had a company that used them for both and they were great. We also had a savings account with a regional bank (WCB). The small guys work harder for your business and will pay a better % (even in liquid accounts) and you may need the relationship someday for a line of credit.

I live in PA. I have a DE registered LLC.<p>You don't mention the number of transactions you do per month or your typical account balance. These will determine which business checking product you need.<p>I went with PNC Bank's Free Business Checking. <a href="http://tr.im/pncbizcheck" rel="nofollow">http://tr.im/pncbizcheck</a><p>- No monthly fee - No minimum balance - Max free transactions: 200/month - Max free cash deposit: $5,000/month<p>Here is why I chose PNC:<p>1: PNC Business Checking has RemoteDeposit: A scanner that you can use to scan checks at home and deposit online yourself. (Optional: extra service fee of $50/month)<p>2: The application over the phone was painless, took 5 minutes, then 15 minutes at my local PNC branch. Walked out with working bank account and starter checks.<p>3: Good Merchant services for when you want to accept credit cards online<p>4: 800+ locations/branches (Eastern USA mainly)<p>So far (two months in) PNC gets 5/5 from me.<p>EDIT: added optional

I'm in a similar situation and I just wanted to share the little hangup I ran into:<p>I have a Delaware LLC and I live in California. When I tried applying for a Wells Fargo account in California they said I need a Foreign Qualification, which also means I would have to pay the California minimum franchise tax of $800/year.<p>I'm sure there's an easy way around this but I just set it aside because it's not a priority for me.

Getting hit with low balance fees and caring about $13 a month both suggest to me that this is a color-of-the-bike-shed decision until you get bigger.

As with most things in life bank fees like this are more often then not are negotiable. Make an appointment with the branch manager or business specialist at your BoA branch and voice your concerns about fees like these, and how they would make it difficult for you to continue banking with them.<p>For anyone thinking of opening a separate account for business the first place to start would be the bank you use for your checking/savings account. Not only do you have an established relationship (if only in paper form) but the will work harder to please you if there's a chance they'd lose your non-business accounts too.

I use wells fargo but they hit you with similar things if your account is low. There are things you can do to get around it if you want to spend some time talking to the teller. (something about setting up a monthly automatic transfer, etc...)<p>I'm not recommending wells fargo or anything, but I don't think it matters that much. you are talking less than $20 a month in most cases, and with wells fargo, and I believe most banks, that includes the ability to send checks from a web interface, so I don't think it's that unreasonable.

Can't provide a good suggestion yet, but I'll try to make your pool of options smaller: don't go with Chase.<p>I've been a personal customer for 7 years and a business customer for 3. A little over a year ago I opened another business account for my startup. Last month I went to them for a line of credit (or even a credit card), and even though the branch manager attached a recommendation to my credit application, it was still denied.<p>Perhaps this is the case with any large bank, but the bureaucracy is endlessly frustrating. I'd go straight to a small-town credit union if we weren't planning to move the business out of state in a few months, so instead I'm negotiating with Wells Fargo.

I slipped in before the change to Chase and got a free Wamu business checking account. I use this account<p><a href="https://www.wamu.com/business/checking_account/free_checking/default.asp" rel="nofollow">https://www.wamu.com/business/checking_account/free_checking...</a><p>No monthly fee or minimum balance, up to 250 checks per month.<p>Large bank and getting larger with Chase acquiring, I didn't see a similar Chase plan so I think I should be grandfathered in as they move to Chase.<p>This is the closest I found to a "personal account for business"<p>Works great for me, sounds very similar to the PNC deal also mentioned.

I use a local/regional bank. They charge no monthly fees even if you have a $0 balance. Most banks have fees on checking accounts for corporations. The bank is Amegy Bank (only serves Texas).

Find a regional credit union. They tend to give better customer service and lots of free extras for the account.

SunTrust Business Checking- No minimum, No monthly fee, I use them.

google "free small business checking"<p>Hopefully, there is a bank in your area among those results. If not, $156 a year is a trivial expense: just forget it and focus on building your businesses.