Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking Review 2019

The Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking account is designed for established businesses wanting to make as many as 500 monthly transactions. Owners can deposit up to $20,000 in cash each month, free of charge. You can avoid the $40 monthly fee by maintaining a $25,000 account balance or $40,000 in combined balances.

The best small business checking accounts for larger business offer more robust services than more basic checking accounts, but still make it possible to earn free checking. They cater to businesses that need to make hundreds of transactions per month and thousands of dollars in cash deposits. Wells Fargo’s mid-tier business checking account is ideal for businesses with higher account balances. It earns 4 out of 5 possible stars.

How We Evaluated Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking

The Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking account charges a higher monthly fee than the bank’s Simple Business Checking account, but Platinum offers more benefits for the price. We like that account holders can still earn free checking by keeping more money with the bank. This Wells Fargo business checking account offers similar benefits to the Chase Platinum Business Checking, although that account charges a significantly higher $95 monthly service fee.

We considered the following criteria when grading this small business checking account:

• Fees: How much you’ll be charged for monthly fees, transactions, and cash deposits and how those fees can be reduced or eliminated. Wells Fargo charges a $40 monthly fee, which the bank waives if you keep a $25,000 average daily balance or $40,000 in combined balances.
• Special features: Whether the account includes additional benefits that make banking easier. Wells Fargo charges no fees for stop payments, cashier’s checks, and two domestic wire transfers per month.
• Additional services: What kind of business services the bank offers in addition to a checking account. Wells Fargo also offers payroll, merchant, and treasury management services.
• Network: Where the bank offers its accounts and where its branches and ATM networks are located. Wells Fargo has more than 5,600 branches and 13,000 ATMs in 36 states. You can open an account online or at a branch. Wells Fargo has a larger network than Chase Bank, which offers its Chase Platinum Business Checking in 29 states.
• Rewards and interest: Whether the account offers rewards for checking account users or pays interest on its account. Wells Fargo pays interest on your full account balance.

The Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking account is a good choice for established businesses with significant monthly financial activity. This account, like other basic and mid-level Wells Fargo business checking accounts, is ideal if you have future growth plans. This is because Wells Fargo offers an array of accounts designed for different-sized businesses.

How We Evaluate Small Business Checking Accounts

When grading mid-level small business checking accounts like the Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking account, we weight fees the heaviest. Your goal should be to find a checking account that offers the proper mix of services at the right price for your business. This Wells Fargo account charges a reasonable monthly fee and includes extensive free features, like 500 monthly transactions.

We graded Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking using the following methodology:

Based on our 5-star rating system, where 20 points equals 1 star, the Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking falls just short of earning 4.5 stars. The account is an excellent choice for larger businesses that have significant transaction and cash deposit needs. Although its $40 monthly fee is lower than Chase’s, Wells Fargo charges a higher monthly fee than similar accounts at other banks.

This account is similar to the Bank of America Business Advantage Checking account, which allows 500 free transactions and up to $20,000 in cash deposits for free each month. That card charges a lower $29.95 monthly fee, and includes several ways to avoid the fee.

Who Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking Is Right For

The Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking account is best for established businesses with moderate monthly transaction and cash deposit needs. The account can prove a better value than the mid-level Wells Fargo Choice Business Checking account if you have to make more than 200 deposits per month. Wells Fargo also offers other accounts you can transition into as your firm grows.

Alternatives to Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking

You can find small business checking accounts that are cheaper or offer more modest features than Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking. Find an account that best suits the size of your business and the amount of transactions and cash deposits you need to make each month.

Chase Total Business Checking

Chase Total Business Checking is best for businesses that have a lower transaction volume than this Wells Fargo account. You can make up to 100 transactions for free each month. Plus, the bank charges reasonable fees and makes it relatively easy to avoid a monthly maintenance fee.

Capital One Spark Business Unlimited

Capital One Spark Business Unlimited is best for businesses that have a large monthly transaction volume or whose transaction needs vary from month to month. This account allows unlimited monthly transactions. You’ll pay a $35 monthly fee, which Capital One will waive if your prior 30- or 90-day account balance averages at least $25,000.

Bank of America Business Advantage Checking

Bank of America Business Advantage Checking is best for businesses that are sensitive to monthly fees. It charges a $29.95 monthly fee that Bank of America offers numerous ways to avoid. The bank will, for example, waive the fee if you maintain a combined average monthly balance of at least $35,000 in your accounts.

Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking Costs

Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking charges a $40 monthly fee, but you can avoid that fee by meeting account and combined balance minimums. U.S. Bank offers a Platinum Business Checking account that charges a lower $25 monthly fee, but offers no opportunities to earn free checking.

Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking requirements, costs, and fees include:

• Monthly fee: $40, waived if you maintain a $25,000 average daily balance or $40,000 in combined business account balances
• Transaction fee: First 500 transactions per month are free; 50 cents per transaction thereafter
• Cash deposit fee: First $20,000 in deposits per month are free; 30 cents per $100 deposited thereafter
• ATM fees: Free withdrawals at the 13,000 ATMs in the Wells Fargo network; first two cash withdrawals from an out-of-network ATM are free; $2.50 per withdrawal thereafter, plus ATM operator fees
• Overdraft fee: $35 per item
• Overdraft protection: $12.50 per month
• Domestic incoming wire transfers: First two incoming transfers per period are free; $15 each thereafter
• Domestic outgoing wire transfers: $30
• International incoming wire transfers: $16
• International outgoing wire transfers: $45
• Minimum opening deposit: $25

This Wells Fargo business checking account is one of the best small business checking accounts for established small businesses because it offers access to more free services. You’ll get up to 500 free transactions per month. Plus, you can still earn free checking.

If you need unlimited business transactions, consider an account like the Capital One Spark Business Unlimited Checking, which also allows five free domestic wire transfers per month and charges no fee for cash deposits. You’ll pay a $35 monthly fee, which the bank will waive with a $25,000 minimum 30- or 90-day average balance.

How to Avoid Paying a Monthly Fee on Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking

The Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking account charges a $40 monthly fee. You can avoid that fee by maintaining a $25,000 average account balance or $40,000 in combined balances. Wells Fargo counts combined balances in business checking, savings, and CD accounts.

Wells Fargo charges a higher monthly fee than you could get with the PNC Business Checking Plus account, which charges a $20 monthly fee. That account also offers a sign-up bonus, but has a lower $10,000 threshold for free cash deposits.

Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking Features

The Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking account, like other small business checking accounts this bank offers, comes with a number of standard features. You’ll get access to mobile banking and remote deposit capture free of charge. Most banks that offer small business checking accounts also offer these features.

This Wells Fargo small business checking account comes with the following features:

Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking Mobile Banking

Wells Fargo offers a mobile banking app for Android and Apple phones and tablets. The app allows you to pay bills, transfer funds, and deposit checks. Wells Fargo offers one feature not every bank with a mobile app offers: iPhone users also can sign on with Face ID.

The Wells Fargo mobile banking app includes the following features:

• Pay bills
• Transfer funds
• Deposit checks
• Send and receive money with Zelle, a money transferring service owned by a number of banks, including Wells Fargo
• View account balances and details
• Search transactions
• Activate or replace credit and debit cards
• Find ATMs using GPS
• Enable push notifications
• Use a mobile wallet
• View online statements and documents

Large banks that offer mobile apps all tend to offer similar features. Users give the Wells Fargo app 4.4 out of 5 stars on Google Play. The Bank of America mobile app earns 4.5 stars.

Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking Mobile Deposit

You can deposit your checks on the go into your Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking account using your banking app. Sign the back of your check, then enter the deposit amount in the app, take a picture of the front and back of the endorsed check, and submit your deposit. You’ll have access to your funds the next business day, unless Wells Fargo places a hold on the check.

The bank may hold the funds for the following reasons:

• You’ve made an especially large deposit
• You’ve frequently overdrafted your account
• A deposited check was returned unpaid
• There are indications a deposited check may not be paid

There are no fees to use mobile deposit. Amounts vary, but there are limits to how much money you can deposit at one time. For an additional fee, Wells Fargo allows you to use a certified desktop scanner to rapidly deposit multiple checks.

Many banks offer businesses mobile deposit services similar to Wells Fargo, while some offer additional features. Bank of America, for example, offers check scanners to businesses that deposit multiple checks per deposit, and also offers later deposit cutoff times than customers with personal accounts enjoy.

Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking Card Design Studio

You can personalize your Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking debit card using the bank’s Card Design Studio. You’ll be able to add your logo and business tagline to your card. We haven’t found any other banks that offer this service on small business checking accounts designed for new or established businesses.

What Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking Is Missing

The Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking account charges a higher monthly fee ($40) than similar accounts offered by other large banks. Bank of America charges $29.95 and Capital One charges $25 per month for accounts that offer similar levels of service. Businesses with significant bank deposits can avoid this fee, which is substantially lower than what Chase charges.

Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking Reviews

Although we couldn’t find online user reviews specific to the Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking account, business banking customers give this bank average marks. Users say the in-branch customer service is of the highest quality. But some users complain about long wait times to connect over the phone with customer service.

How to Open Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking

You can apply for a Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking online at Wells Fargo’s website. You’ll need to provide the bank with a business license or other business documents at the time of application, along with your Social Security number. There are different rules for partnerships and limited liability companies you can find on the required documents page. You’ll also need to fill out a form naming all beneficial owners.

How to Log In to Your Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking

You can log in to your Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking account by entering your credentials on the Wells Fargo website. You may contact customer support at 800-416-8658.

Other Wells Fargo Small Business Checking Accounts

Wells Fargo offers three other business checking accounts designed for businesses of varying sizes and monthly transaction volume. The bank offers ways to avoid monthly fees on two of the three other accounts, which also come with increasingly sophisticated services, like payroll services.

The three other business checking accounts Wells Fargo offers are:

• Simple Business Checking: This account is best for home-based or smaller businesses that need to make 50 or fewer transactions each month. You can avoid the $10 monthly service fee by keeping a $500 average daily balance in your account.
• Business Choice Checking: This account is best for new and growing businesses that make up to 200 transactions per month and $7,500 in cash deposits. You can avoid the $14 service fee in multiple ways, including making at least 10 business debit card purchases during a month.
• Analyzed Business Checking: This account is best for businesses with high transaction volume and more complicated banking needs. The account comes with advanced treasury management services. Maintenance and transaction fees vary.

Wells Fargo offers business checking accounts for firms of various sizes. It’s range of accounts is similar to what other big banks offer, like Chase and Bank of America.

Services Available in Addition to a Wells Fargo Business Checking Account

Outside of the Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking account, the bank offers additional services for a fee to business owners with one of the bank’s small business checking accounts. These include payroll services, merchant services, and treasury management services. You may be interested in these Wells Fargo services when you don’t want to shop for them on your own.

Wells Fargo offers additional services to checking account customers, such as:

Wells Fargo Merchant Services

You can process credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, and electronic check transactions with a Wells Fargo merchant account. Users will see their funds appear in their Wells Fargo business checking account as soon as the next day. Once Wells Fargo approves your application for merchant services, the bank will ship payment terminals to you via overnight delivery.

Fees charged by this account include:

• Interchange fees: Wells Fargo charges these directly to you customers’ credit card company every time they swipe their credit card at your business.
• Service fees: You’ll pay this fee to Wells Fargo for the bank’s authorizing, processing, and settling of credit card transactions.

You’ll pay these fees monthly via an automatic deduction from your business checking or savings account. Most big banks offer merchant accounts and charge similar fees. You can also shop for merchant services elsewhere. Consider the bank-provided service if the fees are competitive.

Wells Fargo Payroll Management

Wells Fargo, like many big banks, offers payroll management services through ADP. Authorize direct deposit and mobile payments to your employees, get tax compliance assistance, and set up time and attendance tracking. ADP also offers background checks, hiring and staffing aid, and human resources business advisers. Chase and Bank of America offer similar payroll management services through ADP.

You can shop for payroll management services outside of Wells Fargo as well, including ADP Advanced Payroll Services. Consider the bank’s service if it offers competitive pricing and you want to keep all of your cash management business in one place.

Wells Fargo Treasury Management Services

Wells Fargo offers treasury management services like lockbox, cash vault, and invoice management services. Through treasury management services, the bank can help you manage expenses and automate your accounts payable process. Its receivables products can help you more efficiently and safely process payments.

Wells Fargo treasury management services include:

Wells Fargo Lockbox Services

Wells Fargo operates a large network of lockbox sites for its business checking account customers. If you subscribe to this service, you can direct payments to a bank-operated mailing address, where the bank opens the mail and deposits funds into your account. This service can help you speed up your collections process by automating the posting of your receivables.

Wells Fargo Commercial Cards

The Wells Fargo WellsOne Commercial Card is a single card you can distribute to employees for purchasing, travel and entertainment, account payable invoices, and fleet expenditures. This card can help you improve working capital and streamline reimbursements. You can authorize ACH direct deposits to your employees’ bank accounts through the CEO Portal.

Wells Fargo Cash Vault Services

If your business relies heavily on cash transactions, this is a good service to investigate. Wells Fargo offers armored car service to carry cash to and from the bank’s cash vault network. You’ll receive same-day credit for deposits received by the cash vault site deadline. Wells Fargo has 102 vaults located in 43 states.

These treasury management services are similar to what other big banks offer their business checking account customers, but may be more comprehensive than what smaller banks offer. You may want these services if you make regular cash deposits or operate a large enough business that corporate credit cards make more sense than small business cards.

Wells Fargo Small Business Checking Account Network

Wells Fargo operates in most U.S. states and has more branches than either Chase or Bank of America. You do not need to live in a state where Wells Fargo operates in order to qualify for a Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking account. In addition to branches, the bank operates more than 13,000 ATMs nationwide.

Wells Fargo’s branch network includes:

• States with branches: 36
• Number of branches: 5,635
• Number of ATMs: More than 13,000

Wells Fargo operates one of the largest branch networks in the country. Compare it with Chase Bank, which operates nearly 4,900 branches and 16,000 ATMs in 29 states. Chase also offers banking services to businesses located in states in which there is no Chase branch.

Other Wells Fargo Banking Products for Small Businesses

In addition to small business checking accounts, Wells Fargo offers a number of other banking products that may be valuable to small businesses, including SBA loans and small business credit cards.

Other Wells Fargo banking products for small businesses are:

• SBA loans: Wells Fargo is the top SBA lender in the country and is among our picks for the best SBA lenders. Wells Fargo SBA loans are offered nationwide. To apply for a loan, you’ll need to visit a branch and talk with a business banker.
• Small business credit cards: Wells Fargo also offers several small business credit cards that offer rewards or a chance to build business and personal credit.

Bottom Line

The Wells Fargo Platinum Business Checking account is best for established businesses that make hundreds of bank transactions per month. We gave it 4 out of 5 possible stars because this account offers plenty of features, but keeps fees in check. We also like the huge branch network Wells Fargo provides, which could make this bank more convenient than other choices.