Opening Bank Accounts
This overview applicable to the US frames the steps and information required to open a bank account. The first step is to determine your banking needs. Common services include deposit accounts, checking accounts, time deposits, a variety of loan products, electronic payments such as ACH and wire transfers, lock box services, credit card processing and more. Once the needs are assesses its time to shop banks for these services and understand their fees.
Would your business want to have accounts payable, payroll and incoming customer payments all go into one account? There are situations where it may make sense to have multiple accounts.
Opening a bank account requires documentation. These include personal and business identification documents such drivers licenses for owners, social security numbers, business registration documents such as the registration documents, partnership agreements, Articles of Incorporation, Operating Agreement, EIN, business address and some bills with that address, etc. to establish your business’s existence, a business plan and financial statements.
Once you have these documents, you may need to schedule a visit to the bank to complete the application and provide required documentation, sign required agreements before making an initial deposit. Then with the account open, you may want to order checks, debit and credit cards and activate online banking.
The bank will want to who are all the business owners to comply with various banking regulations.
Be prepared with a clear view on services and types of accounts required to make this a smooth process.