Civista Bank is a great choice if you run an organization that generates a low-to-moderate transaction volume. Its entry-level account has no monthly fee and offers 150 transactions per month. You can upgrade to a premium account if you need more transactions or an interest-earning account if you want to increase your savings.
All accounts come with a Business Debit Mastercard and allow you to issue employee cards for free. Additional benefits include access to digital banking and merchant services. The bank offers a full range of products, such as corporate checking, savings accounts, and lending products.
Pros
- No monthly fee for entry-level account
- Monthly cash processing allowance of $10,000 for all accounts
- Additional employee debit cards are free
Cons
- Branch visit required for account opening
- No branches outside of Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio
- No fee-free transactions for interest-earning account
Features
- Free Business Debit Mastercard
- Online and mobile banking
- Merchant services powered by Elavon
- Corporate checking, savings products, lending products, and credit cards also available
How Civista Bank Stacks Up With Its Competitors
When Civista Bank Is a Good Fit
- You want to bank without a monthly fee: There are no monthly Civista Bank business checking fees for entry-level accounts, nor are there minimum balance requirements.
- You have a low-to-moderate monthly transaction volume: Business Classic comes with a monthly allowance of 150 free transactions. You can upgrade to Business Vantage for 400 free transactions.
- You run a cash-reliant business: All Civista Bank business checking accounts offer monthly cash processing allowances of up to $10,000. This means you can deposit and withdraw up to $10,000 in cash for free per month.
When To Choose an Alternative
- You need a bank with wide geographic coverage: As a regional bank, Civista Bank operates exclusively in Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. The best bank for in-person banking is Chase since it runs branches in all 48 mainland states. Read our Chase business checking review for a summary of all three Chase business checking accounts.
- You want to earn interest on a fee-free account: The monthly Civista Bank business checking fee for an interest-earning account is $25. The best account for earning interest is Bluevine’s standard business checking account, which has no monthly fee and earns 2.0% annual percentage yield (APY) on balances of $250,000 and less. Refer to our review of Bluevine business checking for information on how to qualify for APY.
- You run a nonprofit organization: Civista Bank does not offer specialized nonprofit accounts. Our guide to the best banks for nonprofit organizations can help you find an alternative that suits your needs.
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.
Civista Bank Business Checking Overview
Civista Bank Business Checking Requirements
Applicants must visit a branch to open any type of Civista Bank business checking account. The bank’s website does not list the specific Civista Bank business checking requirements you need to submit. For easy reference, check out our guide on how to open a business bank account, which includes a downloadable list of documents banking applications typically request.
Civista Bank Business Checking Features
Business Debit Mastercard
Your account will come with a free Business Debit Mastercard, which is compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay. The card provides free access to Civista Bank ATMs.
You can issue additional employee cards at no additional charge and set spending limits per card.
Digital Banking
You can access banking services through the Civista Bank website and the mobile app. The following activities are available:
- View account balances, check images, and transactions
- Manage account access and activity permissions for multiple users
- Transfer funds between Civista Bank accounts and external bank accounts
- Pay bills and Civista Bank loans
- Order checks
- Deposit checks remotely (app only)
The app has 4.6 stars on the App Store[1] (based on nearly 600 reviews) and 4.5 stars on Google Play[2] (based on 500-plus reviews). The majority of users found the app consumer-friendly. However, a few customers who left negative reviews said they experienced difficulty logging in.
Merchant Services
Civista Bank provides merchant services solutions through Elavon. These include:
- In-person, online and mobile payment solutions
- Chip card/EMV terminals and tablet point-of-sale (POS) systems
- Solutions for secure and Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS)-compliant payments
- Loyalty and gift card programs
- Accept mobile wallets, including Apple Pay™ and Android Pay™
- Next-day business funding
Other Civista Bank Business Products
Civista Bank offers corporate checking, savings products, and lending products.
The Business Choice checking account is an analyzed corporate checking account that provides earnings credit on available balances. You can use earnings credit to offset monthly transaction fees. The account has a monthly fee of $25.
There are three types of savings products available:
- The Business Savings account earns variable-rate interest on balances of $100 and over. It has a minimum opening deposit requirement of $25, a monthly fee of $4, and a minimum balance requirement of $300 to waive fees.
- The Business Money Market account has a minimum balance requirement of $2,500 to open an account, earn interest, and waive the $12 monthly fee. It earns interest at a variable rate.
- Business Certificates of Deposit (CDs) earn interest at fixed rates. The minimum opening deposit requirement is $500 for regular CDs and $100,000 for Jumbo Certificates.
Civista Bank offers the following lending products:
- Term loans
- Lines of credit
- Equipment leasing
- Agricultural lending
You can get cash-back earning, low introductory rate, and rewards-earning credit cards. These cards are powered by Visa.
Civista Bank Business Checking Reviews From Users
There are only a few clients who gave a Civista Bank business checking review on user review platforms. The bank has a rating of 4.3 on WalletHub[3] (based on around 10 reviews) and 1 on DepositAccounts[4] (based on less than five reviews). We found it difficult to draw accurate conclusions about customer satisfaction due to the small sample size.
Only two users published written reviews within the last three years. In 2022, a reviewer said that the bank failed to stop a fraudulent transaction. In 2023, another customer said that the bank provided satisfactory checking services.
Bottom Line
With a monthly cash processing allowance of up to $10,000, Civista Bank is a great fit for cash-reliant businesses. Its Business Classic also makes a good entry-level account, since it offers 150 free transactions per month for no monthly fee. However, Business Interest offers no free transactions, making it unsuitable for organizations wanting affordable interest-earning accounts.
User review references:
[1]App Store
[2]Google Play
[3]WalletHub
[4]DepositAccounts