Best Business Checking Accounts for an LLC

If you don’t open a business checking account for your LLC, you may lose this personal asset protection entirely, which would undermine the best reason to form an LLC to begin with. But how are you supposed to know which bank has the best offer for small business checking accounts?

In this article, we’ll discuss four of the best business checking accounts for an LLC. We spent countless hours scouring the internet to find the best offers from reputable banks, and we hope that our legwork can help you make an educated decision. Let’s get started!

4 Best Business Checking Accounts for an LLC

There are nearly 7,000 FDIC-insured commercial banks in the United States, which can make it incredibly difficult to determine which checking account is the right fit for your business. It’s even more difficult when you consider that, for the most part, many of these banks are offering nearly the exact same accounts.

Because there isn’t nearly as much difference between most business checking accounts as there is between business credit cards — which have varying levels of rewards, interest rates, cashback, etc. — it’s not always obvious when you’re looking at a truly great offer compared to just an acceptable one.

With this in mind, we believe that all of our readers should be able to find a good fit with one of the following four business checking accounts.

1. Axos Business Interest Checking

Do you operate a cashless business, such as a company that strictly operates online? If so, you may be interested in what Axos has to offer. Their Business Interest Checking account actually provides interest, with a rate currently set at 0.8% — a feature you simply won’t see if you use a brick-and-mortar legacy bank. Additionally, they’re currently offering a $200 welcome bonus to all new account holders who formed their businesses after June 2020, and a $100 bonus for all other businesses.

This account also has a reasonable $100 minimum opening deposit, and a $10 monthly fee that can be waived by maintaining a $5,000 balance. The Axos Business Interest Checking account also provides unlimited domestic ATM reimbursements, for those situations when you do find yourself needing cash. They’ll even throw in your first order of checks for free.

Of course, because Axos has no physical bank branches, this offer is only sensible for those of you who don’t transact any business in cash. However, for web-based businesses, Axos Business Interest Checking is an awfully intriguing option.

2. PNC Business Checking

PNC Business Checking is a solid choice for entrepreneurs who don’t need a high-volume business banking solution. Plus, at the time of this writing, PNC was offering a $200 signup bonus if you maintain an average balance of $5,000 for three months and make at least 20 debit card purchases in that time.

PNC only requires a minimum of $100 to open a new account, and their $10 monthly fee is quite low as well. You can get your monthly fee waived easily too, as you only have to maintain a $500 average monthly balance to get that fee down to $0.

PNC Business Checking customers also get 150 free transactions and $5,000 in no-fee cash deposits per month. While they don’t have any signup bonuses or extra features, PNC Business Checking provides everything you need to get your business bank account up and running with ease.

However, PNC Bank isn’t a truly national bank with widespread reach. They do have around 2,500 branches and 9,000 ATMs though, so if you operate a business in a location where PNC operates, they’re a solid contender for your business checking account.

3. U.S. Bank Silver Business Checking

If you operate a small business that doesn’t handle a particularly high volume of transactions, U.S. Bank’s Silver Business Checking is well worth looking into. With Silver Business Checking, there is no monthly fee whatsoever, and you receive 125 free transactions and 25 free cash deposits per month.

While there is no signup bonus for this account, we feel like the lack of fees and minimums make the U.S. Bank Silver Business Checking account a great option for businesses that don’t need a ton of advanced features.

The only drawback with U.S. Bank is that, like PNC Bank, they don’t have a major presence in every part of the country, but they do have more than 3,100 branches and nearly 5,000 ATMs.

4. TIAA Small Business Checking

Like Axos, TIAA Bank is an online-only bank, so you should not consider them if you generate any business in cash. Interestingly, TIAA is the only bank we’re aware of that has a special account just for sole proprietors and single-member LLCs: the TIAA Small Business Checking Account.

The selling point for this account is the fact that TIAA provides interest, which is a rarity for any business checking account. This rate is set at 0.1% as of this writing, but we’ve seen it as high as 0.55% in the past, so keep in mind that rates tend to vary quite a bit on these accounts.

The TIAA Small Business Checking account has a $1,500 minimum opening deposit, but it has zero monthly maintenance fees of any kind. They also offer ATM fee reimbursement. Overall, we still think Axos is a better option for online banking, but TIAA’s offer is admittedly inviting.

In Conclusion

Opening a business bank account is a vital step in the business formation process for any LLC. Without one, you will have a very difficult time demonstrating that your personal and business assets are truly separate, which could lead to a court piercing your corporate veil and allowing creditors to pursue your personal assets.

Thankfully, it isn’t too difficult or time-consuming to open a business bank account. You can even just walk down to your local bank branch and ask them to help you open an account. However, we think the options discussed in this guide are the best in the business. They all provide reasonable terms for business banking, and some of them even throw in some perks like interest or signup bonuses.

All told, the important thing to focus on is that you absolutely need to open a business checking account for your LLC. Where you choose to open that account is not of great importance, but we think you’ll find what you need with one of these four options.

We hope this article helped you choose the right business checking account for your LLC!