I opened a business checking account with the first bank that would take my LLC, which was a big mistake. The monthly fees are eating me alive, and their online transfer system feels like it's from 2005. I assumed all business accounts were basically the same. Now I'm looking at switching but dreading the paperwork. Anyone else regret not shopping around first?
Banking
I wish I had compared business banking options before choosing one
Switching is a pain but staying is worse if the fees are high. I switched last year and it took about two hours total, most of it re-entering payee info.
What really got me was the minimum balance requirement. Didn't realize until I dipped under one month and got hit with a $15 fee plus a $10 fee for not having a direct deposit set up. Read the fine print on the fee schedule, not just the marketing page.
It's not just fees. Integration with your accounting software matters more than people think. My first bank didn't support direct feeds to my bookkeeping tool, so I was manually downloading CSVs every week. That alone was worth switching for.
Manual CSV downloads are exactly what I'm dealing with now. I didn't even know direct feeds were a thing until I started reading up on alternatives.
I did the same thing. Chose based on the branch being close to my shop. Now I do almost everything online and and never go in, so that was a pointless reason.
Before you switch, make sure you know how many checks you write per month and whether you need cash deposits. That narrowed it down to two options for me.
Some banks also run a hard credit pull when you open a business account, so switching can hurt your score temporarily. Worth checking before you apply to a bunch.
Good point. I spaced mine out because of that. Also, transferring the balance can take a week, so have a plan for payroll if you have employees.
No employees, thankfully, so payroll isn't a concern. But the credit pull thinkg is a good warning. I'll check that first.
Honestly, I've been with my bank for four years and still haven't compared. Posts like this make me feel like I should, but then I get busy and forget.
Set a reminder once a year to review fees and features. Takes twenty minutes and has saved me probably a couple hundred dollars over time.