American Express® Business Checking Review: Fee-Free Checking With Lots of Perks

American Express® National Bank (Member FDIC) may be famous for its credit cards, but the American Express® Business Checking (Member FDIC) is nothing to scoff at, either. The account has few fees, earns interest, and offers Amex's well-regarded customer service. See if this account is right for your small business in our American Express® Business Checking review.

This account has a lot of pros, but it's not without a few drawbacks to consider.

Top perks

No monthly maintenance fee: There is no monthly account fee or maintenance fee to keep your account open. You also don't need to maintain any kind of minimum balance just to keep your account open or avoid fees.

A competitive APY: Most business checking accounts don't even earn interest, so any APY is great. But this is a particular competitive APY (annual percentage yield) for a checking account. That said, it won't hold up against a high-yield savings account, so this isn't where you should keep any business savings.

Welcome offer: You can earn up to 30,000 Membership Rewards® points with qualifying activity. Specifically, you'll need to meet all three of these conditions to earn the welcome offer:

• Make a total of $5,000 or more in eligible deposits within 30 days
• Maintain an average daily balance of $5,000 for the next 60 days
• Make five or more qualifying transactions within 60 days of opening the account

Debit card purchase rewards: You can earn Membership Rewards® points on your debit card purchases. You can earn 1x point per $2 spent on your business debit card. While this is nice, it's far less than you can earn with pretty much any small business credit card. It's likely more lucrative to use credit cards when you can.

What could be improved

No physical bank branches: Amex's banking arm -- formally called American Express® National Bank -- is an online-only bank. This means there are no brick-and-mortar bank branches you can stop into to chat, get service, or even make a deposit.

No cash deposits: Another side-effect of the no branches thing is that you can't deposit cash directly into your account. If you need to deposit cash, you may need to move it from another bank account via ACH or wire transfer.

Can't transfer to/from personal Amex accounts: Of particular annoyance to certain reviewers (me, it's me) is the fact that you can't transfer money directly from a personal Amex bank account to an Amex business bank account. Plus, while you can use the same login information for both personal and business accounts, there are two separate mobile apps.

Fees

Amex doesn't have physical branches, but there are still many ways to manage your money.

Deposit options

The glaring lack is the option to make cash deposits in a branch. Here's how you can fund your account instead:

• Online transfer from another Amex business account (you can't link/transfer between a personal Amex bank account)
• ACH transfer from an external bank account
• Wire transfer from an external account
• Mobile check deposits through the Amex Business Blueprint mobile app
• Deposits from accepted credit card payments (terms and fees)

The last option -- accepting credit card payments -- is a separate service called American Express Payment Accept. It allows you to accept credit card payments from clients/customers. There are specific terms and fees for using this service.

Withdrawal options

While you can't visit a branch to withdraw money from a teller, you have plenty of ways to get your funds, including the option to pull out cash:

• Online transfer to another Amex business account (you can't link/transfer between a personal Amex bank account)
• ACH transfer to an external bank account
• Wire transfer to an external account (fees apply)
• Withdraw money from an ATM
• Make a debit card purchase

ATM withdrawals are free from the thousands of in-network MoneyPass® ATMs. Withdrawals from non-network ATMs may come with fees. There will be a foreign transaction fee for withdrawing money in a foreign currency/from a foreign ATM.

Small business owners who want a no-nonsense, no-fee checking account could find the American Express® Business Checking to be a great fit. It has no monthly fee, a competitive interest rate, rewards on debit card purchases, and Amex's great customer service. You do miss out on physical branches, however, so this could be a miss if you prefer in-person services.

• American Express® National Bank Review
• American Express® High Yield Savings Review (Member FDIC)
• American Express National Bank CD Review (Member FDIC)
• American Express Rewards Checking Review (Member FDIC)
• American Express Credit Card Reviews

Our checking account methodology

At The Motley Fool Ascent, we rate checking accounts on a five-star scale (1 = poor, 5 = best). We evaluate all checking accounts across four main criteria: brand and reputation, APY and rewards, fees and minimum requirements, and perks.

Our scores are weighted as:

• Brand and reputation: 40%
• APY and rewards: 30%
• Fees and minimums: 15%
• Other perks: 15%

Learn more about how The Motley Fool Ascent rates bank accounts.