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

Review Updated
Brittney Myers
By: Brittney Myers
Brittney Myers
Brittney Myers
Writer

Brittney started her writing career in the world of science, putting her physics degree to good use. Her journey into finance started with building her personal credit, but soon grew into a borderline obsession with credit cards and travel rewards. For the last 7 years, she has enjoyed the ability to share her expertise with readers, as well as the opportunity to interview companies and individuals making an impact on our financial lives. She wholly believe most problems can be solved with the right research -- and a good spreadsheet -- and she specializes in translating complex financial topics into actionable advice to help educate and empower readers.

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Our Banking Expert

Nathan Alderman
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Nathan Alderman has worked with The Motley Fool since 2005, making errors his arch-enemies in a variety of roles including a six-year stint as the dedicated fact-checker for The Motley Fool's premium newsletter services. As The Ascent's Compliance Lead, he makes sure that all the site's information is accurate and up to date, which ensures we always steer readers right and keeps various financial partners happy. A graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Nathan spends his spare time volunteering for civic causes, writing and podcasting for fun, adoring his wife, and wrangling his two very large young children.

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Many or all of the products here are from our partners that compensate us. It’s how we make money. But our editorial integrity ensures our experts’ opinions aren’t influenced by compensation. Terms may apply to offers listed on this page. APY = Annual Percentage Yield. APYs are subject to change at any time without notice.

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.

Ratings Methodology
Rates as of Jul 11, 2024

American Express® Business Checking

Member FDIC.
Rating image, 4.00 out of 5 stars.
4.00/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Rating image, 4.00 out of 5 stars.
4.00/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
APY
1.30% Rate info Circle with letter I in it. APY = annual percentage yield
Min. To Earn APY
$0
  • Competitive APY
  • No account fee
  • Earn rewards on purchases
  • New account bonus with qualifying activity
  • Online-only account
  • Foreign transaction fees
  • No cash deposits
  • Can't link to personal Amex account

Amex is, well, Amex. The bank and card issuer is known for some of the best customer service around. American Express offers an online-only business checking account with a very competitive APY (annual percentage yield) and the ability to earn Membership Rewards® points on debit card purchases.

Alternate business checking options to consider

Here are some of our top picks for other business checking accounts that offer a good mix of features and customer support.

Rates as of Jul 11, 2024
Offer
 
 
 
Account
Rating
Rating image, 4.00 out of 5 stars.
4.00/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Rating image, 4.00 out of 5 stars.
4.00/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Rating image, 4.00 out of 5 stars.
4.00/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
 = Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
APY up to 4.25% Rate info Circle with letter I in it. Bluevine Premier customers will earn 4.25% APY; Premier subscriptions cost $95 per month. Bluevine Standard customers will earn 2.0% interest on total balances up to and including $250,000 only if they spend $500 or more on their debit card or receive $2,500 or more in customer payments each month. No interest earned on balances over $250,000. 0% 0%
Min. to earn APY $0 — N/A
Next Steps
Open Account for Bluevine Business Checking
Open Account for Axos Basic Business Checking
Open Account for U.S. Bank Silver Business Checking

* Axos Basic Business Checking

To be eligible to earn all or a portion of the cash incentive as part of the promotional offer "NEW400," an application for a Basic Business Checking account or a Business Interest Checking account must be submitted between 09/30/2023 at 12:00 am PT and 12/31/2023 at 11:59 pm PT. Axos Bank reserves the right to limit each primary account holder or business title to one (1) checking account promotional offer per year. Axos Bank or Axos Bank for Nationwide checking customers or Businesses that have held an Axos Bank or UFB or Axos Bank for Nationwide checking or savings account in the past 12 months under the same title are not eligible for this offer. Promotional terms and conditions are subject to change or removal without notice. Incentive may be taxable and reported on IRS Form 1099-MISC. Consult your tax advisor. After initial requirements above are met, the amount of incentive earned will depend on meeting the additional requirements outlined below:

Small Business Checking bonus up to $400: You must be approved for your new Basic Business Checking or Business Interest Checking account and fund it within 30 days of account opening. An incentive of up to $400 can be earned during the first five (5) statement cycles. A statement cycle is a calendar month consisting of at least one day your account was open during that month. You can earn a maximum of four (4) payouts during the five (5) statement cycles, and the incentive will be deposited into the qualifying account within 10 business days following the end of the statement cycle in which the balance requirement was met.

  • $75 will be earned for each statement cycle, up to $300 when you meet three requirements: 1) the average daily balance in your Basic Business Checking account or Business Interest Checking Account is between $25,000 and $49,999.99, 2) you have completed ten (10) point-of-sale transactions per month using your Small Business Checking Visa® Debit Card for signature-based purchases with a minimum of $3 per transaction, 3) You must also have bill pay set up and connected to your Basic Business Checking account or Business Interest Checking account. The bill pay transaction minimum is $10.
  • $100 will be earned for each statement cycle, up to $400 when you meet three requirements : 1) the average daily balance in your Basic Business Checking account or Business Interest Checking Account is greater than $50,000, 2) you have completed ten (10) point-of-sale transactions per month using your Small Business Checking Visa® Debit Card for signature-based purchases with a minimum of $3 per transaction, 3) You must also have bill pay set up and connected to your Basic Business Checking account or Business Interest Checking account. The bill pay transaction minimum is $10.

Your Small Business Checking account must remain open and in good standing at the time the incentive is paid to be eligible. Furthermore, your Small Business Checking account must remain open for 150 days, or an early closure fee of up to $400 may apply.

Full 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

Fees Monthly Maintenance ATM Withdrawal Overdraft Stop Payment Insufficient Funds
American Express® Business Checking $0 $0 at MoneyPass® ATMs $0 $0 $0
Data source: American Express.

How to access your money

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.

American Express® Business Checking is right for you if:

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.

Keep reading about American Express® National Bank:

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.

FAQs

  • No, American Express® Business Checking isn't compatible with Zelle. This is typical of business bank accounts.

  • No, there is no minimum income or revenue requirement to open an American Express® Business Checking account. There is also no minimum deposit to open an account, although there may be a deposit requirement to earn a welcome bonus.

  • Yes, you can integrate your American Express® Business Checking account with your QuickBooks accounting software. You can also connect your Amex business credit cards.