Can we talk checking accounts?

I have my business checking through Bank of America. No fees as long as you swipe your debit card through a POS system once a month, ie I go to staples and print a few flyers and use my business debit card or I buy a energy drink. You can still use your personal checking as a sole proprietor but come tax time it gets annoying going through all those transactions. Not to mention if you get set up with square or go payment, your personal name will come up on customers receipts, with a business checking your DBA will come up and looks much better.

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With BB&T if you have other personal accounts with them you should be able to get your business account for free.

I don't use BBT for my personal accounts, only business. Another issue I have with BBT is that the credit card due date seems to wander, sometimes it's due on the 16th, sometimes on the 25th. If I pay early then sometimes they still charge me a late fee, which they will remove, but it's annoying. They do not send email reminders that a payment is coming due and I haven't yet figured out how to set up an automatic payment, to me it feels they want you to miss payments.

I use a credit union through my wife for my personal account but cannot open a new account with them myself, also they have no mobile integration which comes in handy sometimes. After reading comments about Schwab on another forum, their customers seem to really like the checking.

Many small local banks offer free business checking. Mine is a d/b/a account and there are no fees. I refuse to use the big banks anymore.

Small businesses should use a local credit union.....Some of them have no fee accounts....

one disadvantage to using a personal checking account is that you have to make sure your customers write checks to your personal name, and not your business name.

gorilladiver said:

one disadvantage to using a personal checking account is that you have to make sure your customers write checks to your personal name, and not your business name.

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That is a good point.

Also if you are incorporated and you co-mingle your business transactions with your personal you risk losing your corporate protections.

I know at least some banks have an additional monthly service charge if you deposit by scanning

I appreciate the recommendations for small banks or credit unions but I visited those options initially and BBT was the better local choice.

There is one new bank since then, Fidelity Bank, but their monthly fees are higher.

Have you gone in and spoken to someone at BB&T to see what it would take to get free service? I have two business checking accounts with them, and they are both completely free, with free business credit card as well.

Don't know if they have any branches in your area, but I use Huntington. Love them. Free checking (personal and business), free ATM, 24 hour overdraft protection, free savings. And in my area, they are open 7 days a week! First time I've ever enjoyed going inside the bank. Even the employees are nice and treat me like a valued customer rather than a nuisance.

I recently set up a business checking account with my credit union. I too refuse to use the big banks anymore. setting up at the CU I had to get an TIN/EIN, which was free. I had to so this because my SS# was already tied to my personal account. I think it has something to do with homeland security. you may want to look at getting a TIN/EIN if you plan on keeping the.business funds seperate from your personal funds.