Methodology: Business checking accounts

Business checking accounts help businesses separate their business funds from their personal funds. This separation can help when tax season comes around, make bookkeeping easier and keep the business expenses and spending more organized. With many banks, credit unions and fintechs offering various checking accounts, we crafted a methodology based on fees, transaction limits, wire transfers and more to help you find the most well-rounded account for your business.

Finder’s expert scores

Our rating scores serve as a preliminary guide, offering a snapshot of each account. Utilizing our unbiased methodology, we evaluate each account based on multiple factors and features that most business accounts typically offer. For more insight, check out our thorough reviews to learn the full benefits of the business account you’re considering.

Our ratings

We rate business accounts based on a one- to five-star rating system.

★★★★★ — Excellent

★★★★★ — Good

★★★★★ — Average

★★★★★ — Subpar

★★★★★ — Poor

How we rate business accounts

We analyze and evenly weigh business accounts against 13 factors, including monthly maintenance fees, opening deposits, overdraft fees, wire transfer fees and transaction limitations. We also award accounts that offer extra perks not normally offered, such as annual percentage yield (APY), without penalizing accounts that aren’t interest-bearing.

How we rate fees

Business accounts tend to cost a little more to maintain than many regular checking accounts, considering most offer extra business-related features, such as invoice creation, expense tracking, software integrations and so on.

Even though business accounts tend to come loaded with perks, we still reserve the highest ratings for accounts that don’t charge anything to maintain. We rate fees based on this scale:

We reserve excellent ratings for accounts that don’t charge anything to open or maintain. We rate fees based on this scale:

★★★★★ — $0/month

★★★★☆ — $1-$5/month

★★★☆☆ — $6-$10/month

★★☆☆☆ — $11-$29/month

★☆☆☆☆ — $30+/month

How we rate the difficulty in waiving a maintenance fee

Business accounts with monthly fees often offer ways to waive them, usually with a minimum balance requirement. We give the highest ratings to accounts that don’t charge a monthly fee, erasing the need to waive it. The next highest ratings are given to accounts with easy-to-meet balance requirements. Accounts that require multiple, difficult waiver requirements to rid the fee, such as a high daily minimum balance of $30,000 and a monthly transaction goal, receive a lower rating.

We rate fee waivers based on this scale:

★★★★★ — No fee

★★★★☆ — $1 to $4,000 balance

★★★☆☆ — $5,000 to $9,999 balance

★★☆☆☆ — $10,000 to $15,000 balance

★☆☆☆☆ — $15,001+ or comes with multiple difficult waiver requirements

How we rate cash deposit

If you’re running a business, there’s an excellent chance you’ll need to deposit cash — especially if you run a brick-and-mortar storefront. If you can’t deposit cash, that might not meet your business’s needs. This rating is cut and dry, awarding accounts that accept cash deposits the highest rating.

★★★★★ — Accepts cash deposits

★☆☆☆☆ — Doesn’t accept cash deposits

How we rate overdraft fees

No one likes overdraft fees or nonsufficent fund fees. We award the highest rating to business checking accounts that won’t charge overdraft fees at all or offer the ability to decline a transaction if you don’t have enough funds. A typical overdraft fee is around $30. With that in mind, we rate overdraft fees using this rating scale:

★★★★★ — $0

★★★★☆ — $1 to $29

★★★☆☆ — $30 to $35

★★☆☆☆ — $36 to $38

★☆☆☆☆ — $39+

How we rate opening deposits

We award the accounts with no opening deposit requirements with the highest rating and rate the rest of the accounts according to this rating scale:

★★★★★ — $0 to $49

★★★★☆ — $50 to $99

★★★☆☆ — $100 to $999

★★☆☆☆ — $1,000 to $1,999

★☆☆☆☆ — $2,000+

How we rate transaction limits

It’s not uncommon for business accounts to come with monthly transaction limits. And in most cases, if you go over that transaction limit threshold, the bank charges you per overage. We give the highest ratings to business accounts that have unlimited monthly transactions and the lowest ratings to those with stingy allowances based on this scale:

★★★★★ — Unlimited

★★★★☆ — 201 to 500+

★★★☆☆ — 101 to 200

★★☆☆☆ — 51 to 100

★☆☆☆☆ — 0 to 50

How we rate outgoing domestic wire transfer fees

Most checking accounts charge fees to send out domestic wires. However, some business checking accounts offer free domestic wire transfers, so we give the highest ratings to those that do. We rate the rest of the accounts according to this rating scale:

★★★★★ — $0

★★★★☆ — $1 to $9

★★★☆☆ — $10 to $25

★★☆☆☆ — $26 to $30

★☆☆☆☆ — $31+ or doesn’t accept wires

How we rate incoming domestic wire transfer fees

In most cases, business checking accounts don’t charge you anything to receive domestic wire transfers, or it’s less expensive to receive rather than send. Accounts that offer free incoming domestic wires get the highest rating, and we rate the fees using this scale:

★★★★★ — $0

★★★★☆ — $1 to $5

★★★☆☆ — $6 to $15

★★☆☆☆ — $15 to $19

★☆☆☆☆ — $20+ or doesn’t accept wires

How we rate outgoing international wire transfer fees

If you frequently send money internationally, wire transfer fees can add up. International wires can get expensive, and it’s often because the funds need to be converted. There are international-friendly business checking accounts that accept international wires at no charge, and we give those accounts the highest rating. Outgoing international wire fees are rated using this scale:

★★★★★ — $0

★★★★☆ — $1 to $35

★★★☆☆ — $36 to $45

★★☆☆☆ — $45 to $50

★☆☆☆☆ — $51+ or doesn’t accept wires

How we rate incoming international wire transfer fees

Similar to outgoing international wire transfer fees, receiving international funds can also be expensive due to conversions. Business checking accounts that let you send international wire transfers at no charge earn the highest rating, and we rate accounts that charge fees according to this scale:

★★★★★ — $0

★★★★☆ — $1 to $10

★★★☆☆ — $11 to $30

★★☆☆☆ — $31 to $44

★☆☆☆☆ — $45+ or doesn’t accept wires

How we rate APYs

Not many business checking accounts are interest-bearing, but those that do offer an APY earn bonus ratings to their overall score. Business checking accounts that don’t earn interest aren’t impacted by this category. APY ratings are scored using this scale:

★★★★★ — 1% and higher

★★★★☆ — 0.11% to 1%

★★★☆☆ — 0.04 to 0.10%

★★☆☆☆ — 0.01 to 0.03%

★☆☆☆☆ — N/A

How we rate APY requirements

Interest-bearing business checking accounts may have requirements to earn that APY, and we award the accounts with little to no requirements to get that interest rate. Accounts that require extremely high balance, investment or spending requirements, such as requiring customers to invest $1 million or more in investments, earn low ratings. Business checking accounts that don’t earn APY are not impacted by this rating.

We score APY requirements using this scale:

★★★★★ — No requirements

★★★★☆ — Minimal spending or receiving requirements or reasonable balance requirements

★★★☆☆ — N/A

★★☆☆☆ — N/A

★☆☆☆☆ — Difficult, such as a $1 million balance requirement.

How we rate features

Business checking accounts often come with extra features, such as invoice tracking, software integration for bookkeeping or the ability to create debit cards for employees. Accounts with at least four features that are outside of typical checking account perks earn the highest rating, and we rate features based on this scale:

★★★★★ — 4 or more

★★★★☆ — 3

★★★☆☆ — 2

★★☆☆☆ — 1

★☆☆☆☆ — No extra features outside of typical checking accounts