If you’re looking for a Chime business account, you’re in luck. And although Chime itself doesn’t offer a business account, we have found the best Chime business alternatives that will not make you think about Chime again.
The following digital business accounts are relatively easy to open from your sofa. All you need is 10 minutes if you have your documents at hand. Trust me, it beats going to the bank to sit down with a clerk to open an account.
All of these banks have deposits insured with the FDIC and they all have a free version of an account. Some of them are more geared towards freelancers and SMEs, while others support even the biggest companies.
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1. Axos Bank business account
- Small business
- Commercial banking
- Commercial lending
- Business CDs
- Business savings accounts
Axos bank was previously known as BofI Federal Bank (until 2018) and Bank of Internet USA. It was founded all the way back in 2000 by Jerry Englert, the founder of Bank of Del Mar, and Gary Lewis Evans, president of La Jolla Bank at the time.
Axos offers a broad and ever-growing range of financial products and services, including checking, savings, CDs, money market, lending, and retirement.
This Chime business account alternative offers three different checking accounts. The Basic one is free but has a $1,000 initial deposit requirement, and the Business Interest Checking account has only a $100 initial deposit requirement but a $10 monthly fee that small businesses will love.
There’s also the Analyzed Checking account that’s geared towards commercial banking and offers a competitive earnings credit.
All three savings accounts – Business Money Market, Business Premium Savings, and Business Savings have up to 0.20% APY but have different initial deposit or average daily balance requirements.
The Axos Business CDs have flexible terms from 3 months to 5 years. They have high-interest rates of up to 0.20% APY with interest compounded daily.
To open an Axos business account, you’ll have to enter your name, date of birth, email, phone number, and social security number, which will allow them to verify your identity. They will ask for your business name, address, and Tax Identification Number (TIN).
When you apply for a Sole Proprietor account, Axos will ask you and any authorized signer for your legal name, residential address, date of birth, and SSN. You’ll also need to provide a photo ID.
All your Axos deposits are FDIC insured up to $250,000 per depositor.
2. Lili business account
- Made for freelancers
- No minimum deposits
- Tax tools
- Free MoneyPass ATMs
- Early payments
- Automatic savings
Freelancers constantly work toward achieving personal goals, business objectives, and client objectives. But dedicating meaningful time toward arranging their finances can be a struggle without a plan.
Lili is foremost a financial services provider that helps freelancers track expenses, budget for tax season, and successfully operate their business.
Lili offers helpful tax tools, has no account fees, but has mobile bank capabilities, a Visa debit card, early payment options, and automatic savings.
When we mention that there are no fees, we mean there are NO fees – no foreign transaction fees, no overdraft fees, and no ATM fees.
When you sign up for an account, you’ll get a business checking account and a black Visa debit card. There are simple yet effective charts and tables to track how much your business is earning and spending.
For businesses relying on checks or cash, there’s good news. You can deposit your check directly from the Lili app using your phone’s camera. And, you can quickly deposit some money at 90k+ retail locations across the US.
3. Mercury business account
- Built for startups
- No monthly fees
- No minimum deposits
- Free Allpoint ATM withdrawals
- Company analytics
- FDIC-insured
In April 2019, Immad Akhund, Max Tagher, and Jason Zhang, backed by lead investor Andreessen Horowitz, and a venture capital firm and partner bank Evolve Bank & Trust, created Mercury Bank as a new kind of digital bank platform, aimed at providing business accounts to tech companies and growing start-ups.
So, aspiring startups can get a full-stack bank account with no monthly fees but with API access, virtual cards, team management, and more.
E-commerce businesses can connect to any payment processor like PayPal, Shopify, Amazon, or Stripe.
To open a Mercury bank account, your company has to be formed and registered in the US. Still, you, the founder, can be located anywhere in the world.
The great thing is that Mercury doesn’t charge fees for anything but specific advanced features such as mass payments on API and treasury management. Everything else is free:
- no account minimums,
- overdraft fees,
- monthly fees,
- account opening fees,
- wire fees
What is Mercury Treasury? It’s an automated cash management account that allows you to put your extra cash into US Government securities and money market funds for improved yield and safety.
As you can see, Mercury is geared towards tech companies, so it might not be the best fit for some other businesses, especially ones that frequently deal with physical cash.
If there are no fees, how does Mercury make money then? Mercury (and most other digital banks) make money when your debit cards are used. When you make a transaction, a small interchange fee is applied.
The best thing is that you do not pay it, but it’s paid by merchants that accept the cards. Mercury also makes a percentage of return on Treasury deposits.
4. Revolut business account
- Multi-currency accounts
- Free international and local payments
- Spend in over 150 currencies at the interbank exchange rate
- Issue cards to employees
- Accept payments on your website
- Access on the web or via the app
- Loans and overdrafts
- Integrates with accounting tools
Revolut for business was launched in 2017 in a bid to slash banking expenses for companies, sole traders, and freelancers. With Revolut, businesses can hold accounts in 30+ currencies enabling them to send and receive international payments seamlessly.
Revolut Business is available for the following types of businesses:
- Private limited company (LTD)
- Public limited partnership (PLC)
- Limited liability partnership (LLP)
- Partnerships
- Sole traders & freelancers
Revolut has not one, not two, but seven different tiers of business accounts. Four are for companies and three for freelancers.
Accounts for companies range from $0-$149/m and for freelancers from $0-$39.99/m. Within your account, you can create as many accounts as you need, i.e., for each team member, client, or office.
This wouldn’t mean anything if you didn’t have total control over transfers and payments. Set limits and create your own rules for the team.
Depending on the plan, you and your team members can withdraw cash from ATMs all over the world with no hidden fees.
Suppose you have trouble keeping up with expenses. In that case, you or your team members can forward your digital receipts via email or submit paper receipts on the go in-app. Never forget to input information with automated reminders.
If you have business software that you’re using, there’s a good chance that Revolut is supporting it and making it easy to interconnect. The following software is supported:
- Xero
- Zapier
- Slack
- QuickBooks
- FreeAgent
You can join more than 500,000 businesses with Revolut’s business account in around 10 minutes if you have all the paperwork at hand. Not only can you have multiple Revolut Business accounts, but you can merge them under one login as well while still keeping your businesses separate.
5. Payoneer
- Good choice for SMEs and freelancers
- Free prepaid Mastercard
- Connects to a wide range of marketplaces
- Flexible withdrawal options
- No account fees if used fairly regularly
Payoneer is one of the best-known online payment providers in the world. It has partnered with the most prominent marketplaces like Amazon, Airbnb, Fiverr, Upwork, etc.
The company was founded all the way back in 2005 in New York. And this year, the fintech startup plans to go public via a $3.3 billion merger with SPAC owned by former Bancorp CEO Betsy Cohen.
Payoneer isn’t just available in the United States, it’s available worldwide and supports withdrawals to local bank accounts. It’s mainly geared towards freelancers, digital marketers, online sellers, and vacation rental hosts. They can use it to withdraw locally or make business payments and VAT payments directly from their Payoneer balance.
You can accept payments via credit card, ACH bank debit, and local bank transfer in EUR, USD, GBP, and other currencies.
Freelancers can connect to all the major marketplaces like Fiverr, PeoplePerHour, and Upwork, among others, to receive payments for their hard work.
Online sellers that sell their products on Amazon, Lazada, Wish, or eBay, for example, benefit from getting paid into one account but in multiple currencies if needed.
Content creators, publishers, affiliate marketers, and other digital marketers can receive their payments from affiliate networks and digital marketing platforms.
And for vacation rental hosts, Payoneer has partnered with Tripadvisor, Airbnb, Booking.com, Home Away, and many others, so they can quickly get paid to rent their space.
With the Payoneer Mastercard, you can spend your balance directly without withdrawing to your bank account first.
The Bottom Line
As you can see, there’s plenty of good alternatives to the Chime business account. Even if you’re an existing Chime user, don’t get discouraged at the lack of a Chime business account.
The digital banks that we mentioned above are all good alternatives to Chime, and some of them like Axos and Revolut even offer a personal bank account.
