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Business Checking Account Comparison

This comparison will help you determine how much your business checking account activity will cost with a variety of banks in the Delaware Valley (Philadelphia) area. Each banks' checking product is outlined with the base fees accumulated to a final net amount. The Activity can be obtained from either your monthly business checking account statement summary area or by requesting an account analysis statement, for that month, from your bank officer. Don't be put off - get these numbers! Please remember the activity you provide should be based on your best guess of true business activity. You shouldn't provide the lowest or the highest months worth of activity since it will simply give a distorted view of your cost.

Also, don't enter erroneous numbers or letters in the boxes ie. -89 deposit tickets or text for numbers because it will give you zip for a comparison. This was hard enough to create without having to put a bunch of "what-ifs" for user entries. Additionally, I've found if you have too much activity ie over 1000 of an activity item or certain combinations of numbers will cause a floating point error and you might have Netscape close you off. I'll work on rounding the numbers soon and it should solve that problem. 'Nuff said on that.

Your Company Name
Statement Date
Month
Collected Balance
# of Deposit Tickets
# of Deposited Items
# Checks Paid
Your Monthly Fee
Banks Account Type Account Name Monthly
Fee		 Deposit
Ticket
Cost		 Deposit
Items
Cost		 Checks
Paid
Cost		 Total
Fees		 Earnings
Credit
(Not
Interest)		 Net
Fees
Mellon Bank
Mellon Bank's business checking offerings have changed and are now charging for activity overages. No more free rides and it could get expensive being in the wrong product.
First Union
First Union accounts changed, in October '98, to a 2 tiered earnings credit with the cut-off at $249,999. No more grandfathered accounts, fully homogenized.
P N C
PNC's earnings credit is set each month by committee. This is tough to monitor but we'll do our best!
Commerce Bank
Commerce has an analysis based business checking offering also but you must request each individual price by a "Request for Proposal". This is not exactly conducive to quick comparison bank shopping. This being said, if your activity is on the high side, don't count on a straight $25.00 charge only.
FIRSTRUST Bank
Firstrust's analysis accounts'earnings credit is set by a department. Generally tied to T-Bill rates.
Harleysville National Bank
Harleysville has 3 business checking offerings and gives 100% of the T-Bill rate as earnings credit for the analysis account.
Union National Bank
Union National has 2 offerings and gives 90% of the T-Bill rate as earnings credit.
Summit Bank
Summit has a Business Investor account that is an interest bearing (1%+/-) though the same fees as the Business Checking.
Beneficial Savings Bank
Beneficial has a unique Earnings Credit based on the T-Bill's "Average Yield" not the T-Bill Rate. Generally this allows for a generous fee offset.
Sovereign Bank
Sovereign's rate is a Committee Set Earnings Credit Rate.
Pennsylvania Business Bank
Pennsylvania Business Bank is a new player, small business accounts maintenence fee is waived with a borrowing relationship.

Notes about Comparisons:

More Banks in the Delaware Valley Region will follow. Count on it!

The words "N/V" in the various Bank fees categories mean that the activity you provided is above their maximum for that account thus causing the "NaN" in some of the total columns. No worries, just find another in the comparison of the same bank or another bank that can handle your activity needs. I've included the combination activity fees ie. total of 25 checks deposited or cashed in the Deposited Items category. (Everyone wants to deposit more anyway!). Also Checking with interest accounts are available for Sole Proprietors, Certain Non-Profits or Other Organizations. Most Banks have them and they are usually a minor mutation of one of their other products. The downside is they usually charge you full price for your activity because your receiving interest. You can ask about them but be sure to calculate what their "$" per thousand is on your balance. If they're paying "1% APY" what's the point?

To Banks: I've rounded the Treasury Bill Averages to, at times, 6 figures. For 5 week months (ie. July 1998) I've included those weeks in that months average. I also used the auction date as the month not the settlement date (you've got to be consistent somewhere!). I included any Business Checking with Interest accounts only if their pricing was different than their regular checking product.

Any problems you see or if you want to email me updated pricing to get on this list send it to >Send to marketing@bankwatcher.com


Print Notes:

Set the Page Set-up (look under "File" in Netscape and (I think) Internet Explorer) for "Beveled Lines", "Black Text" and "Black Lines" Also set your print options for "Landscape" or you'll cut the end of the page off.


This site and the banks on it utilize the 52 week Treasury Bill Rates to some degree or another
Here is The Historical Rates (Check out the years '91 to '94 ouch!)


52 Week Treasury Bill Averages from 1/90 - you determine the table you want. It's really sharp!
Federal Reserve Statistical Release (All the Current Rates; Bankers Aceptances, Commercial Paper Etc.)

Try the Links!

The Business Links Page!
CYA statement: General Statement: The publisher takes reasonable care to assure the accuracy of the information contained herein, but is not responsible for any error or omissions. This publication is not affiliated with any consumer group or banking organization. The firm, founded in 1997, is an independent banking research firm specializing in the business banking arena.