Which bank or virtual account to choose for a company? | Small business accounts | Discussion forum

Hi Bobby,

As far as I am aware, Tangerine (previously ING DIRECT Canada) is the only "virtual bank" offering high-interest savings accounts with no monthly fees for business accounts (i.e., corporations, sole proprietorships, partnerships, etc.). So, I'd recommend them. Downsides are: (a) they currently don't support ChequeIn deposits on their business accounts and (b) you have to fund the account either from your personal account or "linked" external bank account for your business.

As far as chequing accounts for businesses go, I'd probably go with either the RBC Small Business eAccount which is now the only business chequing account with no monthly fee, unlimited self-serve electronic transactions (excluding cheques written) and no minimum balance requirements. Downsides: if you need to write the occasional cheque, it's $1.50 per transaction and "deposit content fees" are $0.20 per cheque deposited regardless of channel and roughly $2.00 per $1000 cash deposited per month when you use ATM/night depository service channels.

If you do less than 30 debit/credit transactions per month and want a "deposit content" package included, CIBC's Everyday Business Operating Account for a flat $20 per month is among the cheapest "all-in"-type plans (unless you're in B.C., in which case I'd go with either Envision Financial or Valley First's Unlimited Chequing For Business which includes all transactions and no "deposit content" fees for the same price per month).

Other decent "minimal use"/self-serve transactional accounts include Scotiabank's Account Plan for Business (option 2 is slightly cheaper and roughly comparable to the above CIBC account - 25 transactions for $19.95/mo. and option 1 allows 15 transactions with a "deposit content" package for $12/mo.). Plus, Scotiabank is ranked #1 (tied with BMO) for small business banking. If you can keep a minimum $6000 in the account, you'll pay no monthly fees and earn 1 free transaction for every $1100 you keep in the account - it's Scotiabank's Basic Banking Account for Business.

BMO's plans are even cheaper than Scotiabank's (read the fine print). Look here: http://www.bmo.com/home/small-.....nt-account

With HSBC's complete withdrawal from the small business banking market late last year, it is no longer the leader as the Business Direct account is no longer sold. So, I'd still go with the RBC eAccount and companion savings account for my business (if I had one).

Cheers,
Doug

Is there anything for you at the Caisses Populaires? Just a thought.

I think a big piece of your problem is that you are in QC, and there are a lot of institutions that don't provide service there. i think this is because of the language issue.
If you were in Ontario, some of the credit unions offer business accounts, which made me think of the CPs. As recently as last year, and perhaps still, a friend of mine was getting interest (low, but significant for a chq'ing acct) on his small business chequing acct at an Ontario CU as well as a reasonable rate on his small business saving acct.