Park National Bank is a decent choice for businesses with low to moderate monthly transaction volumes. It offers two types of accounts for small businesses: an $8 noninterest-drawing account and a $10 interest-drawing account. Both offer unlimited fee-free electronic transactions and 150 free combined checks deposited, checks paid, and deposit tickets per month.
Your account will come with free access to a business Visa debit card, online banking, spending analysis solutions, merchant services, and automated clearing house (ACH) services. Other products include commercial checking, account analysis, nonprofit checking, shareholder services, savings products, lending products, business credit cards, and retirement solutions.
Pros
- $8 monthly fee for entry-level account
- Unlimited free electronic transactions
- Wide range of business services available
Cons
- Operates exclusively in Northern Kentucky, Ohio, North Carolina, and South Carolina
- Branch visit required to open an account
- $10 fee for interest-earning account
Features
- Free Business Visa debit card
- Online banking
- Spending analysis solutions through Elan Financial Services One Card Program
- Merchant Services via Elavon
- ACH services
- Remote deposit capture
- Account analysis, nonprofit checking, shareholder services, savings products, lending products, business credit cards, and retirement solutions
How Park National Bank Stacks Up With Its Competitors
When Park National Bank Is a Good Fit
- You want a bank with a low monthly fee: Monthly Park National Bank business checking fees cost $8 for entry-level accounts. You can waive it with an average balance of $1,000.
- You generate a low to moderate monthly paper transaction volume: With Business Checking and Interest Earning Business Checking, you get 150 free combined checks paid, checks deposited, and deposit tickets per month.
- You rely on electronic transactions: All Park National Bank business checking accounts offer unlimited fee-free electronic transactions.
When To Choose an Alternative
- You need a bank with wide geographic coverage: Park National Bank operates exclusively in Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and the Carolinas. If you need nationwide access to in-person banking, Chase would be a better choice. It has over 4,700 branches in all 48 mainland states. Read our Chase business checking review for more details.
- You want to earn interest on a fee-free account: Interest Earning Business Checking charges a monthly fee of $10. The best bank account for earning interest fee-free is Bluevine’s standard business checking account. It charges no monthly fee and pays 2.0% APY on balances of $250,000 or less. Refer to our review of Bluevine business checking for the list of criteria you need to meet to qualify for APY.
- You cannot maintain a minimum balance of $1,000: If you don’t want to pay monthly Park National Bank business checking fees or meet minimum average balance requirements, a good alternative would be U.S. Bank. Silver Business Checking charges no monthly fee while offering 125 free transactions per month. Our U.S. Bank business checking review can help you determine whether the account suits you.
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.
Park National Bank Business Checking Overview
Park National Bank Business Checking Requirements
You are required to visit a branch to open an account, though the specific Park National Bank business checking requirements are unavailable on the website. For a checklist of documents banks typically require, refer to our guide on how to open a business bank account.
Park National Bank Business Checking Features
Business Debit Card
All Park National Bank business checking accounts come with their own Business Visa Debit Card. The card works at all locations where Visa is accepted.
You can enroll in purchase alerts to get notifications about suspicious activity and prevent fraud. Alerts cover the following types of transactions:
- Online and telephone purchases
- Processing credits
- International purchases
- Transactions crossing a preselected purchase alert threshold
- Declined purchases
Digital Banking
You can access your account through the Park National Bank website or mobile app. With web banking, you can:
- View balances
- Transfer funds between company accounts
- Search and sort statement activity
- Make loan payments
- Place stop payments
- Draw funds from lines of credit
- Establish wire requests
- Export account activity to Windows applications
- View check images
- Make direct deposits and payments
The mobile app has a few additional features, including:
- Mobile Check Deposit: You can deposit physical checks by uploading photos into the app
- Financial Manager: This feature lets you track and categorize expenses, view spending reports, create budgets, and set financial goals
- Credit Sense: This feature lets you monitor your credit score.
The app has a rating of 4.7 on the App Store[1] (based on more than 9,200 reviews) and 4.3 on Google Play[2] (based on 1,000-plus reviews). While many users found the app easy to use, several complained that they had difficulty logging in or using the mobile check deposit function.
Telebanking
You can call (800) 762-2616 to conduct banking transactions over the phone. Telebanking supports the following activities:
- Transferring funds between accounts
- Checking account balances
- Verifying check clearing
- Making loan payments
- Making account information inquiries
One Card Program
The One Card Program is a web-based solution that helps you manage and track how your business spends money. It includes the following services:
- Scheduled and interactive reporting
- Cost allocation
- Expense analysis
- Account system integration for all transaction data
Merchant Services
Park National Bank partners with Elavon to offer payment processing solutions. These include:
- PC and terminal-based business point-of-sale (POS) solutions
- Purchasing/corporate cards
- Wireless payment processing
- Fleet cards
- Internet/e-commerce
- Dynamic currency conversion
- Debit/electronic benefit transfer (EBT)
- Reporting solutions
ACH
ACH lets you transfer funds electronically without the need for checks. You can use ACH for the following:
- Direct deposit of payroll
- Electronic payment of federal/state taxes
- Direct payments
- Electronic federal tax payments system (EFTPS)
- Government payments
- Collection of payments or dues
Remote Deposit
If you have an authorized check scanner, you can register for remote deposit for the ability to scan checks and deposit them from any location.
Other Park National Bank Business Products
Park National Bank offers specialized checking accounts, public funds services, shareholder services, savings products, lending products, credit cards, and business retirement plans.
There are specialized checking accounts available for corporations and nonprofits:
- Commercial Checking charges a nonwaivable $10 monthly fee. You can offset transaction fees with earnings credit.
- Commercial Checking Plus has a $20 monthly fee. It lets you offset your monthly maintenance fee and your transaction fees with earnings credit.
- Non-Profit Checking costs $5 per month, waivable with a minimum balance of $250. You get 150 free transactions per month.
Park National Bank offers the following services to public funds entities:
- Account analysis
- Account reconcilement
- ACH
- Business online banking
- Business bill payment
- Check imaging
- Controlled disbursement
- IntraFi Network Deposits
- Investments
- Lockbox
- Positive pay
- Remote deposit
- Sweep arrangement
Park National Bank offers an interest-earning savings account. It comes with free access to online and mobile banking.
The following types of lending products are available:
- Commercial loans
- Commercial leasing
- Small Business Administration (SBA) loans
- Federal and state government loan programs
- Agricultural loans
- Equipment financing
- Lines of credit
- Aircraft financing
Park National Bank offers cash back, rewards-earning, and low introductory rate credit cards. All cards come with zero fraud liability and free online expense reporting tools. You can issue additional employee cards for free.
You can partner with Park National Bank to offer retirement plans to your employees. Available plans include:
- 401(k)
- Savings Incentive Match PLan for Employees Individual Retirement Account (SIMPLE IRA)
- Simplified Employee Pensions (SEP)
Park National Bank Business Checking Reviews From Users
Only a few clients have written a Park National Bank business checking review on user review platforms. Although the bank earned a rating of 3.0 on WalletHub[3] (based on 60-plus reviews), most reviews instead discussed the bank’s car loans.
The two reviews that focused on business checking said that the bank was ineffective at handling fraud. In one review, a customer complained that the bank allowed a fraudulent transaction to clear despite them having reported it first. Another customer claimed that the bank charged overdraft fees over a transaction they did not make.
Bottom Line
Choose Park National Bank if you rely on electronic transactions and generate a low-to-moderate number of teller transactions per month. With a monthly fee of $8 and a minimum average balance requirement of $1,000 to waive fees, the entry-level business checking account is a great fit for businesses looking for affordable banking.
[1]App Store
[2]Google Play
[3]WalletHub