Setting Up Your Consulting Practice

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Financial

Topic: Set Up a Business Checking Account

To keep business and personal funds separate, it’s best to set up a business checking account. You may find that an established bank often provides more business services than your local bank or credit union.

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Useful links

  • First Republic Bank has a reputation for providing superior, personalized service and is worth considering if you live in a market they serve (SF, LA, San Diego, NYC, Boston, West Palm Beach.)
  • Incfile.com provides a list of best Business Checking Accounts for Your LLC

Transcript

Set up your business checking account. This is pretty straightforward. You’ve certainly set up a personal checking account before. So now you want to set up a business checking account. Preconditions are, you need to have the name of your firm and you have to have your LLC formed. They’re going to want to look at your LLC formation paperwork. And your Employer Identification Number.

So you bring that paperwork with you. As you think about what bank you want to go to, if you’re banking with a small credit union, you may want to think about going to one of the larger national banks. As you get the bank for your business, larger national banks may have a more robust and developed online banking platform that is better suited for sending out ACH or Automated Clearing House electric payments to subcontractors or to sending pay international wire transfers. Or to receiving payments from abroad or from clients across the United States or different currencies.

So you may want to go to a larger institution with a more robust platform.

Of course, there are some advantages to having your business checking in the same financial institution as your personal checking. In some banks, they’ll let you do instantaneous transfers from one account to another, which is useful when you want to pay yourself and then pay some bills. So, go out and set up a business checking account