A beginner’s guide to choose the best Bank for an Online Business.
How do you select the best bank for your online business account?
Simple; you should be able to do all your Banking activities from your Computer, or Mobile, from any part of the world. That is it!
With this in mind, let us proceed with our discussions.
It is important to realize that all banks today have their online portals and mobile apps. Nevertheless, they are still NOT equal.
How cool is their mobile app? Is it easy to navigate and directly get to the service you want, or is it just a maze of links and you have to find your way through it.
The best online business banks offer hundreds of features with your bank account. Digital bill payments, Mobile deposits, Transaction alerts through text messages, Zero monthly fees etc. But which of these really work?
Above all, your chosen Bank should be able to fulfill your banking needs in the early days of your business start up, and scale up to your needs when you become a multi-million dollar enterprise.
The top 5 best online banks for your business.
The market is replete with banks, and it is tough to choose one. But, all things considered, here are 5 banks that I recommend (in alphabetic order).
- Aeldra – The online bank for Indians living outside of the U.S.
- Chase – A bank offering personalized banking services for businesses of all sizes.
- Mercury – Banking built for eCommerce & small businesses.
- Novo – Powerfully simple banking for freelancers and solo-preneurs
- Radius – Best online business checking account.
Let us discuss what each bank has to offer and which one is good for you.
#1 Aeldra – Best online bank for Indians living outside of the U.S.
Aeldra offers a U.S. Bank account with a Mastercard Global Debit Card for Indians. To be eligible, you either need a SSN or an Indian passport.
Aeldra is everything you can expect from an Online Bank Account. In addition, it offers:
• Zero Monthly Fee or Account Maintenance Fee.
• No Minimum Balance Requirement or Penalty.
• Free Bank-to-Bank Transfers.
• Real-time Peer-to-Peer Transfers using AeldraPay, are free.
• The interest rate on deposits is highest in the industry.
Freelancers or Single Owner Businesses too can open an Aeldra Bank Account.
Aeldra is absolutely legal and compliant with Government of India regulations. Specifically, all transfers from India to Aeldra are subject to the guidelines of the RBI’s Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS).
In addition, Aeldra’s Know-your-customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) policies and procedures are consistent with U.S. Government regulations.
#2 Chase – The best bank for personalized banking needs.
Chase offers a wide variety of business accounts for small, mid-size and large businesses.
You can apply online for a Chase Business Complete Checking Account if you are a privately held business. This means that if your business is one of the following:
- Sole Proprietorship
- Corporation
- Limited Liability Company, or a
- Partnership
AND is managed by a single member, or manager, you are eligible to apply online for a Chase Business Complete Checking Account.
Opening an account in Chase is significantly simple and user friendly. Their online application process surely keeps guiding you at every step.
Here then is a quick overview of the benefits with a Chase Business Complete Bank Account:
- No monthly fee if you maintain a minimum daily balance of $2,000. Else, a fee of $15 is levied per month. There are more ways to waive off this fee here.
- You are automatically authorized to accept card payments through the Chase Mobile App & Quick Accept. There are no hidden fees or monthly contracts. You only pay a fee per transaction.
- Same day deposits at no extra cost. As a result, you get to use your money the very same day.
- Use the Chase Mobile App to accept payments, issue refunds and track disputes.
- Multiple ways to send and receive funds – Wire Transfers, Chase Quick Deposit and Chase Online Bill Pay
- Chase even offers credit to make major purchases for your business.
#3 Mercury – The best bank for eCommerce and tech companies.
Mercury offers bank accounts that help tech companies scale. Thus, in technical parlance, their bank accounts are full-stack.
Here are some features of a Standard Mercury Bank Account:
- $0 minimum balance and free account opening
- No transaction charges
- API access. This eventually means that you can set up your own codes (computer programs) to automate payments, admin dashboards and reconciliations.
- Virtual Cards
- Automated cash management: Mercury puts your extra cash in US government securities and market funds, so that your idle money earns for you.
The best part about a Mercury Bank Account is that it is purely online. And non-US residents can apply too. Which means that you can open your Mercury Bank account from your laptop without needing to visit the U.S.
Since Mercury provides banking that is built for eCommerce, they understand their specific needs.
- A Mercury account can be seamlessly linked to most U.S. payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, Shopify, Amazon and many more
- Your eCommerce business is not bound by borders. With Mercury, you can send payments globally.
- To enhance security, you can create virtual debit cards instantly. Your true debit card details remain completely hidden.
So, if you have a company formed and registered in U.S., apply now to open a Mercury Bank Account for your online business.
#4 Novo – Best online bank for freelancers and solo-preneurs.
Novo Bank supports U.S. based businesses, whether you are a U.S. citizen or an international founder. Isn’t this wonderful!
Here is a screenshot of the features that a Novo Bank Checking Account offers.
And here is another screenshot of the fee charged by Novo Bank vis-a-vis other banks.
Some of their customers have offered rave reviews like:
- “(Novo Bank) Support have always answered me within a matter of hours, sometimes even minutes”
- “Being able to handle my small business finances from the comfort of home through my phone has been great! Their app is also user friendly to the point where they make banking fun!”
- “Best bank for entrepreneurs and startups”
Seamless integration with business tools
Novo Bank account integrates seamlessly with your other business tools and applications like
- Shopify
- Slack
- Xero
- Stripe
- Zapier
Apply online for your Novo Bank Account here.
Resources for entrepreneurs
Novo Bank offers insights from other business founders that are extremely useful to new business owners. It is just another way of saying that Novo wants your business to grow.
#5 Radius – Best online business checking account.
Radius Bank offers 4 types of Checking Accounts:
- Tailored Checking,
- Relationship Checking,
- Account Analysis Checking, and
- Interest Checking
The Tailored Business Checking Bank account is ideal for growing businesses. Since the other three are built for large to massive organizations, we shall focus on the Tailored Checking Account here.
Radius Mobile
Their mobile app is a full service bank at your fingertips. It offers some unique features that are useful for an entrepreneur on the move:
- Create and send professional digital invoices
- Real-time transaction history
- Pay bills, transfer funds, and send wires
- Mobile check deposits
- Accept card, ACH, and lockbox payments
- Generate reports and reconcile transactions for accounting
Besides, there are some benefits offered by Radius Bank for which we just love banking with them.
Unlimited Transactions
While other banks impose a limit on the number of free transactions you can make on your bank account, Radius offers UNLIMITED free transactions.
There are no charges, no fees and absolutely no penalties.
Online Account Opening
What’s more is that the account opening process is completely online. Radius claims that you could open a Tailored Checking Account online within 10 minutes. Isn’t that amazing!
You will be asked a few basic questions and if you are not involved in any of these businesses:
- Marijuana-related business,
- Internet gambling,
- A “Money Services Business”,
- Owner of a private ATM;
then you are set to start off your application for account opening.
Cash Backs
Radius comes with 1+% cash back on online and signature based credit transactions made on the Radius Debit Card.
In addition, Radius has one more benefit that is just out of the blue!
Free ATMs Worldwide
The key words here are Free and Worldwide. You may have never come across a Bank that offers worldwide ATM transactions at a zero fee.
By and large, most Banks come with free transactions within the home country. However, international transactions on ATMs are usually charged a service fee, but surprisingly, Radius offers both for free.
The denouement
Finally, everyone is entitled to an opinion. However, I personally feel that THE best online bank for startups and new businesses is Novo!
In either case, whether you agree or disagree, please do leave your feedback below so that other readers can benefit from your experience.