Chemung Canal Trust Company Business Checking Review 2023
Tricia has nearly two decades of experience in commercial and federal government lending. Her expertise is highlighted throughout small business loan content on Fit Small Business.
This article is part of a larger series on Business Banking.
If your business is looking for a regional bank that can accommodate all of your banking needs, Chemung Canal Trust Company is an excellent option. The company, which operates in New York and northern Pennsylvania, offers four checking products for businesses of different sizes and transaction volumes. It also has savings products, lending products, debit and credit cards, online and mobile banking, and special accounts for employee benefits.
What We Like
- 100 fee-free transactions for basic accounts
- Analyzed Checking available
- Access to special accounts for employee benefits
What's Missing
- No fee-free checking accounts
- No interest-earning accounts
- Steep wire transfer fees
Features
- Four types of business checking accounts for small businesses
- Rewards-earning business debit cards
- Online and mobile banking
How Chemung Canal Trust Company Stacks Up With Its Competitors
Annual Percentage Yield (APY) | Monthly Fee | Transaction Limit | Minimum Opening Deposit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Business Checking | None | $10 with e-statements; $15 without e-statements; waivable | 100, then 35 cents per transaction | $25 |
 Business Complete Banking | None | $15; waivable | 20, then 40 cents per transaction | None |
 Basic Business Checking | None | $15; waivable | Unlimited | $250 |
When Chemung Canal Trust Company Is a Good Fit
- You make 100 or fewer transactions per month: Chemung Canal’s lowest tier account, Business Checking, offers 100 fee-free transactions per month. Transactions are defined as checks paid and deposited, deposit tickets, and electronic transactions.
- You can maintain a monthly balance of $500: Although Chemung Canal’s Business Checking account charges a monthly maintenance fee of $10 for accounts with eStatements or $15 for accounts without eStatements, customers can waive fees easily by maintaining an average monthly balance of $500.
- You want to earn rewards on debit card purchases: As part of the uChoose Rewards Program, Chemung Canal business debit cards earn 1 reward point for every $2 spent on qualifying purchases.
- You want help administering employee benefits: Chemung Canal helps businesses set up health savings accounts (HSAs), individual retirement accounts (IRAs), and simplified employee pension IRAs (SEP-IRAs).
When Chemung Canal Trust Company Is Not a Good Fit
- You want nationwide access to in-person banking services: It operates exclusively in New York and northern Pennsylvania. Businesses wanting the freedom to bank in person from anywhere in the country should choose Chase, which has more than 4,700 branches across 48 states. Read our review of Chase Business Complete Banking for more information.
- You rely on wire transfers: It charges $15 for incoming wire transfers, $25 for outgoing domestic wire transfers, and $40 for outgoing international wire transfers. The best provider for affordable wire transfers is Relay, as its standard account charges $5 for outgoing domestic wires and $10 for outgoing international wire transfers. All wire transfers are free under the Relay Pro account. To learn more about its features, check out our Relay Business Checking review.
- You need unlimited fee-free transactions: All of its business checking accounts charge transaction fees, although Business Checking and Premier Business offer a limited number of free transactions. Capital One comes with unlimited fee-free transactions, and you can learn more about its business checking product through our Capital One Business Checking review.
- You want to earn interest on checking balances: None of its business checking accounts earn interest. Under Bluevine, accounts earn interest at a rate of 2.0% on qualifying balances up to $250,000. Read our Bluevine Business Checking review to see if it’s a good fit for your business.
If your small business meets one or more of these scenarios, check out our guide to the best small business checking accounts for additional recommendations.
Chemung Canal Trust Company Business Checking Overview
Business Checking | Premier Business | Analyzed Business | Zero Balance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Best For | Small businesses with low account activity | Businesses with higher transactions | Businesses with higher transactions providing treasury management services | Businesses with a general operating account and separate accounts for payroll and others |
Required Opening Deposit | $25 | |||
Required Balance Minimum (AMB*) | $500 to waive monthly fee | $10,000 to waive monthly fee | None | |
Monthly Fee | $10 with e-statements; $15 without e-statements; waivable | $15 with eStatements; $20 without eStatements; waivable | $15 | $25 |
APY | None | |||
Transaction Limit Before Fees** | 100, then 35 cents per transaction | 300, then 25 cents per transaction | None; 15 cents per transaction | None |
Wire Transfer Fees | $15 for incoming; $25 for outgoing domestic; $40 for outgoing international | |||
Cash Deposits | None | None | 25 cents per $1,000 cash deposited | None |
Debit Card | Business Debit Card | |||
Business Payment Integrations | Clover | |||
Customer Service | Hotlines: (607) 737-3711 or (800) 836-3711 Mondays to Fridays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. | |||
Other Products | Savings, investment certificates, money market, credit card, and lending | |||
*AMB refers to average monthly balance.
**Transactions include checks paid and deposited, deposit tickets, and electronic transactions.
Chemung Canal Trust Company Business Checking Requirements
Chemung Canal applicants have the option to open their business checking account online. The website will request the following information:
- Email address
- Social Security number
- Date of birth
For a list of documents banks typically require from applicants, check out the checklist provided in our guide on how to open a business bank account.
Chemung Canal Trust Company Business Checking Features
Chemung Canal offers four types of business checking accounts for businesses of different sizes and transaction volumes. It also provides free digital banking and rewards-earning debit cards.
Scalable Business Checking
Chemung Canal’s regular checking accounts come in two tiers.
- Business Checking: Designed for businesses with low transaction volume, Business Checking offers 100 fee-free transactions and charges a 35-cent fee per transaction after the limit. The monthly maintenance fee is $10 with e-statements and $15 without e-statements, but account holders can waive the fee by maintaining the minimum monthly balance requirement of $500.
- Premier Business: Chemung Canal’s second-tier business checking account has a higher fee-free transaction limit of 300. The transaction fee after the limit is also lower, at 25 cents per item. The monthly fee for Premier Business isn’t much larger than Business Checking at $15 with e-statements or $20 without e-statements. However, waiving monthly fees is much harder with Premier Business, as it has a minimum monthly balance requirement of $10,000.
Analyzed Checking
Instead of maintaining a minimum balance, Analyzed Checking accounts let businesses offset the monthly fee of $15 by building their earnings allowance. The amount account holders receive in earnings allowance depends on their available average daily balance. However, unlike regular checking accounts, Analyzed Checking accounts offer no fee-free transactions and charge 15 cents per item and 25 cents per $1,000 cash deposited.
Zero Balance Accounts
Zero Balance accounts let businesses create separate subaccounts outside their general operating account. These subaccounts can be earmarked for different types of expenses, such as payroll and petty cash. The monthly maintenance fee for Zero Balance accounts is $25.
Digital Banking
Chemung Canal offers two digital banking options: an online Business Banker platform and a Chemung Canal business mobile app, available on iOS and Android. Digital banking lets businesses view account balances, transfer funds, schedule bill payments, deposit checks, and approve automated clearing house (ACH), wire, and positive pay transactions. Businesses can also add team members and employees as authorized users and customize their access levels.
Chemung Canal’s business mobile app has only one rating on the App Store (5 out of 5 stars) and six ratings on Google Play (4.7 out of 5 stars). One user stated that the app is easy to use.
Business Debit Cards
Business debit cards at Chemung Canal let account holders make withdrawals, deposits, transfers, and ATM transactions. They charge no annual fees and are protected from losses from unauthorized use. They can also be individualized with unique card numbers for each selected employee and customized with the business’s corporate image.
Chemung Canal cards are part of the uChoose Rewards Program. Purchases earn one reward point for every $2 spent. To obtain additional points, one can shop at participating online or in-store retailers through the uChoose Rewards website and redeem the points for several items.
Business Services
Chemung Canal provides remote deposit capture, fraud protection through Positive Pay and automated clearing house (ACH) debit review, direct deposit, direct debit, lockbox service, and landlord/tenant lease security service.
Other Chemung Canal Trust Company Business Products
NOW Accounts
The NOW account is an interest-drawing checking account designed to give municipalities and not-for-profit organizations check-writing privileges. It earns interest at a rate of 0.02% and charges a monthly service fee of $10 to accounts that fail to meet the average daily balance minimum of $1,000. The minimum opening deposit is also $1,000.
Savings Products
Chemung Canal has a basic savings account, investment certificates, and two types of money market accounts:
- Variable-rate savings: This account, which has a minimum opening deposit of $25, lets businesses earn a variable interest rate on excess funds. There’s a monthly fee for accounts with balances that fall below $250.
- Investment certificates: Chemung Canal offers short- and long-term investment certificates for a minimum opening deposit of $1,000. There’s a $35 penalty fee for early withdrawals.
- Insured money market account: For a minimum deposit of $1,000, businesses can access an APY of 0.02% for balances of $1,000 to $24,999.99 and 0.3% for balances of $25,000 and higher. Account holders can make up to six checks per month fee-free. Each additional check after the limit costs $3.
- Prestige Business insured money market account: For a minimum deposit of $2,500, this account earns interest at a rate of 0.05% for balances of $1,000 to $24,999.99 and 0.10 % for balances of $25,000 and higher. As with the insured money market account, this offers six fee-free checks per month and charges $3 for each additional check after the limit.
Lending Products
Chemung Canal offers term loans, lines of credit, overdraft lines of credit, commercial equity lines of credit, and mortgages. Payments are deducted from the borrower’s Chemung Canal checking or savings account automatically:
- Term loans: Business owners planning to invest in office equipment, computer systems, vehicles, or machinery can apply for a term loan. Interest rates for Chemung Canal term loans are fixed. The maximum length for a term loan is seven years.
- Line of credit: For immediate funds for working capital or financing accounts receivable or inventory turnover, a line of credit can be considered. The Chemung Canal business line of credit has a variable interest rate that changes daily. There’s a three-year renewal period and no out-of-debt period.
- Overdraft line of credit: This type of line of credit provides $1,000 to $10,000 worth of overdraft protection for a three-year term.
- Commercial equity line of credit: The Chemung Canal commercial equity line of credit can be used to finance commercial or multi-family properties. It has a variable interest rate that’s adjusted daily. Borrowers must make monthly payments based on a 15-year amortization.
- Mortgage: A type of loan that can be used to purchase, construct, expand, or renovate commercial and multi-family properties. The interest rate is fixed for the first five years and becomes adjustable every five years thereafter. The maximum term is 20 years.
Before applying for a loan, check out our guide on how to get a small business loan to help you through the process.
Business Credit Card
Chemung Canal offers business credit cards that come with expense tracking through monthly statements, spending limit customization, 24/7 VIP customer service, and fraud protection.
Employee Benefits
Through Chemung Canal, businesses can offer their employees a number of benefits, including HSAs, IRAs, and SEP-IRAs. It also provides payroll direct deposit, which lets employers directly deposit payroll funds into employee accounts at any financial institution in the United States.
Chemung Canal Trust Company Business Checking User Reviews
Chemung Canal Trust Company has a 2.8 out of 5 rating on WalletHub1. It only has a few reviews, with feedback centered on outstanding customer service experiences. All the reviews are at least two years old—and none focused on the bank’s business checking product.
Bottom Line
The product offerings of Chemung Canal—which include business checking accounts, savings accounts, lending products, and credit cards—are complete enough to accommodate the needs of the average small business. However, all of its business checking accounts charge fees for monthly maintenance and day-to-day transactions. As a regional bank, its physical presence is limited to New York and select towns in northern Pennsylvania.
User review reference:
1WalletHub
