Exchange Bank 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.
Exchange Bank is a traditional bank in California with branches largely concentrated in Sonoma County, specifically Santa Rosa. It’s a great choice for sole proprietors and nonprofit organizations with low monthly transactions looking for waivable monthly fees and an option to earn interest.
It offers six business checking accounts:
- Sole Proprietor Checking has a waivable $10 monthly fee, up to 100 free monthly transactions, and a free cash deposit limit of $5,000.
- Business Checking has a waivable $15 monthly fee, up to 200 free monthly transactions, and a free cash deposit limit of $10,000.
- Business Advantage Checking has a waivable $25 monthly fee with 400 free monthly transactions and a free cash deposit limit of $20,000.
- Non-Profit Checking has a waivable $6 monthly fee, up to 100 free monthly transactions, and a free cash deposit limit of $10,000.
- Sole Proprietor Interest Checking and Non-Profit Interest Checking have a waivable $13 monthly fee, up to 150 free monthly transactions, and a free cash deposit limit of $10,000
These all come with a free debit card, online and mobile banking, and access to Merchant Services.
What We Like
- Waivable monthly fees
- Variety of business checking options, including interest-bearing accounts
- High free cash deposit limits
Drawbacks
- Branches limited to California
- No free business checking account
- No online account opening
Features
- Free debit card
- Online and mobile banking
- Connect to QuickBooks and Quicken
- Access to Merchant Services
- Integrates with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay
- Business overdraft services
How Exchange Bank Stacks Up With Its Competitors
Annual Percentage Yield (APY) | Cash Deposit Fee | ATM Fee | Minimum Opening Deposit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Sole Proprietor Business Checking | N/A | $5,000 monthly, then 18 cents per $100 | None at over 55,000 Allpoint ATMs; $1.50 for withdrawals at non-Exchange Bank ATMs | $100 |
 Silver Business Checking | N/A | $2,500 per statement cycle, then 30 cents per $100 per statement cycle | None at MoneyPass ATMs; operator fees may apply for non-U.S. Bank ATMs | $100 |
 Business Checking | N/A | $5,000 per month, then 2/100ths of a cent per $1 | None at City National Bank ATMs, $2.50 per withdrawal at non-CNB ATMs | Unlisted* |
*This information isn’t listed on the provider’s website, and we have been unable to obtain the information directly from the bank. This often means that the requirement varies by branch and/or location.
When Exchange Bank Is a Good Fit
- Sole proprietors with low monthly transaction volumes: With Sole Proprietor Checking, you get up to 100 free monthly transactions and up to $5,000 in free cash deposits each month.
- Businesses with moderate to higher monthly transaction volume: The Business Checking and Business Advantage Checking accounts offer higher free monthly transactions and cash deposit limits.
- Sole proprietors and nonprofits looking to earn interest on checking accounts: Sole Proprietor Interest Checking and Non-Profit Interest Checking accounts generate an increasing APY the higher the balances are.
- Businesses seeking overdraft protection: Exchange Bank offers three business overdraft services and two of which, Overdraft Line of Credit and the Business Overdraft Program, are available to Sole Proprietor checking account holders.
- Businesses receiving one or two wire transfers every month: With Business Advantage Checking, you get up to two incoming wires per month rebated at the end of the statement cycle.
When Exchange Bank Is Not a Good Fit
- Nonprofits looking for no monthly maintenance fees and higher free transactions: While Non-Profit Checking has a waivable monthly fee, there are other banks that don’t charge monthly fees at all, such as U.S. Bank. It also offers 1,800 free transactions annually (or around 150 per month). In contrast, Exchange Bank provides only 100 fee-free monthly transactions. For more information and additional alternatives, read our guide on the best banks for nonprofits.
- Business owners seeking a free checking account: Although Exchange Bank has waivable monthly fees, you can choose fully digital online banks and fintechs—such as Grasshopper Bank, Bluevine, Novo, and Mercury—to save on more fees. All these providers, and more, earned a spot in our roundup of the leading online business banks.
- Businesses that need in-person banking and located outside California: Exchange Bank’s brick-and-mortar branches are confined to California, mostly in Sonoma County. It’s best to consider Chase for its 48-state branch presence, and you can read our Chase business checking accounts review to discover which of the three suits you best.
Check out more options in our list of the best small business checking accounts.
Exchange Bank Business Checking Overview
Conditions To Waive Monthly Fees
Sole Proprietor Checking |
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Business Checking |
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Business Advantage Checking |
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Non-Profit Business Checking |
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*Combined accounts are related business checking, savings, money market, and time deposit accounts.
Exchange Bank Business Checking Requirements
You can visit an Exchange Bank branch to open a business checking account. The bank will collect information on all beneficial owners and control persons of legal entities, whether they have a personal relationship with the bank. Beneficial owners are individuals who own 25% or more of the equity interest of the Legal Entity, whereas the Control person is identified as a high-level official responsible for running the organization and someone who has access to a range of information dealing with the day-to-day company operations.
To open a business checking account, you’ll need to provide your name, address (personal or business), date of birth, Social Security number, or tax identification number (TIN). You also need to present acceptable identification, such as a driver’s license, state-issued identification card, passport, and alien identification card.
Click on your entity type to view the bank’s additional business checking requirements.
Sole Proprietorship
- Fictitious business name statement: Only required for a sole proprietorship with a name that doesn’t include the owner’s surname or has a name suggesting the existence of additional owners.
General Partnership
- Partnership agreement
- Fictitious business name statement (if applicable)
Limited Partnership
- Certificate of limited partnership (LP-1)
- Foreign limited partnership (LP-5)
Limited Liability Corporation (LLC)
- Articles of organization (LLC-1) and amendments (LLC-2)
- Operating agreement
- LLC statement of information (LLC-12)
If applicable:
- Addendum to LLC (GO0228)
- LLC application & certification for registration (LLC-5)
- Fictitious business name statement
Limited Liability Partnership (LLP)
- LLP partnership agreement
- LLP registration (LLP-1)
If applicable:
- Amendment to registration of LLP (LLP-2)
- Fictitious business name statement
Corporation (For-profit and Nonprofit)
- Articles of incorporation or (ARTS-GS)
- Corporate resolution
If applicable:
- 501 (c) (3)
- Certificate of status
- Fictitious business name statement
Before opening an account, see our guide on how to open a business bank account. It includes a free downloadable checklist of required documents.
Exchange Bank Business Checking Features
Exchange Bank’s business checking accounts offer a free debit card, interest for some checking products, and online and mobile banking.
Debit Mastercard & Fee-free Transactions at Allpoint ATMs
Exchange Bank provides a debit Mastercard that gives zero liability protection—so you won’t be held responsible for unauthorized transactions as long as you report the loss promptly. It can be used for automatic monthly bills payment with the funds directly deducted from your checking account. Business checking account holders can use their debit card at more than 55,000 Allpoint ATMs with no surcharges.
Interest-bearing Checking Accounts
Sole proprietors and nonprofit organizations seeking interest on their checking balances can open interest-earning checking accounts.
Business Checking Accounts | Minimum Balance to Open | Monthly Maintenance Fee | Account Balance | Interest Rate* | APY* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Non-Profit Interest Checking and Sole Proprietor Interest Checking | $500 | $13; waivable** | Less than $50,000 $50,000 to $99,999.99 $100,000 to $249,999.99 $250,000 to $499,999.99 $500,000 or greater | 0.06% 0.07% 0.10% 0.13% 0.15% | 0.06% 0.07% 0.10% 0.13% 0.15% |
*Interest rates and APYs may change at any time, at the bank’s discretion.
**Can be waived by maintaining a $5,000 average daily collected balance or maintaining a $10,000 average daily collected balance in combined accounts
Online & Mobile Banking
With Exchange Bank, you can perform online transactions in real time. You can also deposit checks using your mobile, review your cash flow through cash management reports, and manage your payments with online and mobile automated clearing house (ACH), wire, and BillPay.
Reviews for Exchange Bank’s mobile banking app are great on both the App Store and Google Play (4.4 out of 5 stars). Users find the app convenient, intuitive, and very secure to use. However, others said that they encountered Bill Pay issues and system glitches, which required restarting the app before it functioned properly.
Mobile Wallet
Exchange Bank provides a safe and easy way of paying with your debit or credit card using your mobile device. It integrates with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.
Business Overdraft Services
To prevent business owners from incurring overdraft fees, Exchange Bank offers overdraft protection options:
- Overdraft protection service: This moves funds automatically from your nominated business checking or savings or business money market account to prevent overdrafts in your business checking account. This covers daily debit card transactions, ATM transactions, checks, ACH transactions, electronically converted checks and electronic bill payments, and recurring debit card transactions. A $10 fee is collected once at the end of the day.
- Overdraft line of credit: This is available to Sole Proprietor checking products only and subject to credit approval after submitting an application. It also covers daily debit card transactions, ATM transactions, checks, ACH transactions, electronically converted checks and electronic bill payments, and recurring debit card transactions.
- Business Overdraft Program: This is for Sole Proprietor checking products only and considered as a discretionary service. It can be costly, and your account needs to be eligible to be assigned a Business Overdraft Program limit. Check Exchange Bank’s Business Overdraft Program Disclosure for complete details of the terms and conditions.
Merchant Services
Small business owners can accept safe and secure payments through credit cards and digital wallets. Exchange Bank offers different types of Clover products designed to suit your business needs—from a countertop point-of-sale system (Clover Station) to a compact terminal (Clover Mini). You can also accept payments on the go with Clover Mobile and connect via Bluetooth to accept cards using a mobile device or tablet with Clover Go.
You can learn more about the user-friendly solution through our review of Clover POS.
Other Exchange Bank Business Products
Exchange Bank has a wide range of business products and services for small businesses. It includes business savings, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, credit cards, and loans.
Other Business Checking Accounts
- State Bar Checking and State Bar Comparable Rate Account are interest-earning checking accounts available to California Attorneys and law firms that receive and disburse client funds.
- Analysis Checking is suitable for businesses with high transaction activity or using cash management services.
- Public Funds Interest Checking is available to government agencies wanting to earn interest from a checking account.
Business Savings
For a minimum $500 opening deposit, you can earn interest from a Business Savings account. The $5 monthly fee can be waived if you maintain a daily balance of at least $500 or a combined average daily balance of at least $750 in your savings and linked checking account per month. Currently, all balances earn 0.06% interest.
Business Money Market
For a minimum $1,000 opening deposit, you can earn interest from a Business Money Market account. You need to maintain an average daily balance of $3,000 to waive the $12 monthly fee. This product earns tiered interest rates, starting at 0.20% for balances less than $10,000 and up to 0.75% for balances of $1,000,000 or higher.
Business Certificate of Deposit
For a minimum $1,000 opening deposit, you can earn tiered interest rates, with terms ranging from three months to five years and above. For three-month certificate of deposit (CD) terms, the interest is 1.50% for balances ranging from $1,000 to $99,999.99. The highest interest rate of 4.0% is offered by 18-month to 23-month CDs.
Exchange Bank also provides a Flex CD-Business with a 15-month term. This is open to renewals only, and the current interest rate is 2.99% for balances less than $100,000. For rate information on higher balances, please refer to the Exchange Bank’s rate schedule for business accounts.
Those with new funds (outside of the current deposits with the bank) can also take advantage of the Business CD Promotion, with terms from three months to eleven months and offered interest reaching 4.25%.
Business Credit Cards
Business owners who currently have a deposit account with Exchange Bank can apply for the Exchange Bank Visa Business Cash Preferred Card. It rewards your business with unlimited cash back and has no annual fee. It features zero fraud liability and an auto rental collision damage waiver—you can learn more about how it can benefit your business by reading our Exchange Bank Visa Business Cash Preferred Card review.
For more rewards and no point limits, you can apply for the Exchange Bank Smart Business Rewards Card. You may also be interested in the Exchange Bank Business Real Rewards Card, which offers 1.5 points monthly for every $1 spent on eligible purchases.
Business Loans
Business owners can seek financing through business term loans, business lines of credit, Small Business Administration (SBA) loans, vineyard, winery, and agricultural loans; and commercial real estate (CRE) and construction loans.
Exchange Bank User Reviews
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Excellent customer service at two branches | Customer service line keeps ringing |
| No record of checks deposited using the app | |
| Encountered online issues after tech system updates | |
Exchange Bank has few reviews, and most were written years ago. It has a 3 out of 5 rating on WalletHub1 and a 1.5 out of 5 rating on Yelp2. Some customers expressed that they experience good customer service with Coddingtown and the downtown branch. They have no complaints after banking with Exchange Bank for over two decades and said that the staff is professional and responsive.
However, other clients stated that the bank doesn’t return phone calls or send an email reply when they need assistance. The customer service line also just keeps ringing. Some claimed that they made check deposits on the app, but upon review, no records were found, leading them to distrust the institution. Others mentioned that they experienced difficulty when new online services were implemented and it took the bank weeks to fix the issue.
Bottom Line
Exchange Bank is a great option if you need the services of a traditional bank and your business is located in Sonoma County, California. It provides sole proprietors with low transaction activities a basic account—Sole Proprietor Checking—which has an option to earn interest. As your business volume increases, you can shift to the higher-tier Business Checking and Business Advantage Checking accounts, which come with more free monthly transactions and greater free cash deposit limits.
