I have banked with Wells Fargo for many years so when I decided it might be time to open an account for my blog income, naturally I checked to see what was available.
Part of this decision to look into opening a business checking account came about because I have started to use QuickBooks Pro
I was at the bank one Friday about a month ago, and asked the teller making my deposit if she could tell me what the monthly charge was for a business checking account. She explained they have the same plan for businesses as they do for personal checking accounts. No monthly fee as long as you have an automatic transfer going from your checking to your savings each month. This transfer needs to be at least $100. Once the monthly transfer is complete you may transfer the money from your savings back to the checking the next day, you are not required to leave it in savings. This is a tactic by the bank to encourage savings from their customers according to the teller.
I am familiar with this process as I have a personal checking account that works the same way, only the mandatory transfer amount is $75 as opposed to $100 for business accounts.
You have to open a business checking and business savings, and you must deposit $100 into each account. I did have enough money to open these accounts from my business income, without having to take money from my personal accounts. This is important when you are tracking your income in Quickbooks. Otherwise Quickbooks sees this money as income, when it might have come from your personal checking.
Your debit card can be set up to include your business name and your first and last name. In the state of Arizona it is not required to register for a tradename (business name) but it is an accepted business practice. Basically once you begin your business, you are official. However, it is a good idea to get your tradename as it establishes officially that you are using that business name. It costs $10 to register a tradename in Arizona, and it is good to check to make sure that your business name is unique. It would be annoying to order business cards, checks, and other things in your business name, only to find that someone else owns it and is using it already.
I declined to order business checks through the bank because I can save money ordering them myself. This checking account also allows free Billpay, so I probably will not use checks very often. I do want to have them for the paper trail when writing an owner's draw check to myself. I could do that with BillPay, but it takes a few days for the check to come in the mail to me. I could also just pull the cash from the bank, but as I said I would like to have a paper trail.
Do you bank with Wells Fargo? Are you happy with the service you receive there?
I use Wells Trade and part of that bargain was opening a checking account with Wells Fargo.
No issues so far. They are easy to get hold of over the phone but really slow if email is your preferred way of communication.
Beware of changes to terms and conditions which happens atleast once a year and always read. They may tack in a charge or two.
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
February 25th, 2011 at 6:06 pm
@MoneyCone, I have never tried emailing with Wells Fargo. Thanks for the heads up on that. I’ll watch for the terms and conditions to change, although the current accounts have similar terms and have not changed. That is probably just good advice for opening any new account. Thank you for visiting and commenting!
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I have a no-fee checking account from a local bank. All I needed to do was sign up for e-statements. No minimums on anything, no mandatory deposits or transfers, etc.
A local CU where I have another account wasted my time by telling me they had a no-fee option when I called, but when I arrived, told me this was only for DBA business (I have an LLC). This would have been understand had I not fully explained the situation over the phone (such as asking if a printout from the secretary of state’s web site constituted sufficient proof of existence for the LLC.
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This is a great topic. I have never tried to get a business checking from WF but have a personal checking account there.
I prefer to use credit unions, and have just continued to use personal accounts because my business is in my name.
I never considered that using Quickbooks might be easier with a dedicated business account. I will definitely look into this further.
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Mrs. Accountability Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 8:21 am
@Donna J WWAHHMpreneur, I’ve always preferred to use credit unions, too. Until recently. The one my husband signed up with charges $7 a month if you don’t keep more than a certain amount (somewhere over a thousand if I remember correctly), and the credit union where I have my personal account they have started to charge $3 a month for checking accounts. Times are changing, at least with the CUs I’m familiar with.
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Kosmo Reply:
February 28th, 2011 at 8:00 pm
@Donna J WWAHHMpreneur, “I never considered that using Quickbooks might be easier with a dedicated business account.”
It’s much easier to keep business expenses separate if you have a dedicated business account. No worries about accidentally classifying a personal expenses as business or vice versa – EVERYTHING in that account is business related.
I’ve never had a real preference for bank vs. CU, but I’ve always banked in small banks.
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I used to have Wells Fargo for my personal accounts, and I used them for my first home purchase … and they were awful on all counts about everything — mistakes, lack of resolution, etc. I will never use them for anything ever again.
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i recenlty reopened my account with wells fargo and had to use my moms debit card for the initital 100.00 deposit on 6202012 and wellsfargo claimed that they had processed and finished all my account stuff on the 26th. so recently recevied my partial month of statment with my account services etc. but havent seen the opening deposit posted yet.. can you tell me if any of u had that experience.
thanks
derrick
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