How to Open a Business Bank Account for Your LLC

Gather four documents before you touch a bank application. Missing even one will delay your approval or get you denied. Get them together first.

• Articles of Organization (stamped) from your state's Secretary of State office. This document proves your LLC exists. A draft or unsigned version will not work.
• EIN Confirmation Letter (Form CP 575) from the IRS. Applying online is free. The IRS issues the number right away. Our EIN application guide walks you through it.
• LLC Operating Agreement signed by all members. Most banks ask for it. Your state may not require one. Our operating agreement guide shows you how to write one.
• Government-issued photo ID for every member who signs. How many forms depends on the bank. Huntington asks LLC applicants for 2. A driver's license plus a passport is the usual pair. Chase names a single state-issued license or passport instead. Anyone holding 25% or more is identified separately, under the bank's beneficial ownership check.

Some banks go further and want ID from every member of a multi-member LLC. Ownership share does not matter to them.

You do not need a business license to open the account, unless your local rules require one for your trade. Revenue is not required either. Nor is a business plan.

If you are opening the account from outside the United States, the order matters more than the paperwork. Stripe will not open for a US company that has no US bank account. So the sequence runs LLC, EIN, bank, then Stripe. Our guide to Stripe unsupported countries walks that route. It also says who should skip it.

That list assumes a US person with a US address and a Social Security number. Most providers screen your country first. If you live outside the United States the documents are only half the problem, and our guide to a US business bank account for non residents sets out who accepts which countries.

The application itself takes 10 to 15 minutes at most online providers. You type in your LLC's legal name, EIN and business address, then your own name, Social Security number and date of birth. Then you upload the documents.

Mercury usually approves in 1 to 2 business days. Bluevine and Relay run to similar timelines. Chase can approve you the same day if you apply in a branch with everything in hand. A manual review takes 3 to 5 business days, and newer or multi-owner LLCs trigger one more often.

KYC and AML rules have tightened. Those stand for Know Your Customer and Anti-Money Laundering, the checks a bank runs before it lets you open an account. Banks now verify your identity, your LLC's registration and your business address more closely than they did five years ago. So use the exact legal name printed on your Articles of Organization in every field. Even LLC against L.L.C. can trigger a review.

Once you are approved, your routing number and account number arrive by email or appear in your dashboard. A physical debit card usually takes 7 to 10 business days. Mercury does not make you wait. You can create a virtual card and spend on the day you are approved.

A business bank account costs $0 to $95 per month, depending on the provider you choose. Most new LLCs pay nothing. See our detailed business bank account fees breakdown for the full comparison.

Mercury charges no monthly fees, no minimum balance, no overdraft fees, and no fees for domestic or international USD wire transfers. Bluevine's Standard plan is also free, and it pays 1.3% APY on balances up to $250,000 in months you spend $500 on the debit card or receive $2,500 in customer payments. A quiet month pays nothing. Treat the yield as a bonus rather than a reason to pick the account. Relay's Starter plan costs $0/month and includes up to 20 checking accounts.

Chase Business Complete Banking charges $15/month, and Chase waives it if you reach $2,000 by any one of three routes, a $2,000 minimum daily balance, $2,000 of Chase QuickAccept deposits, or $2,000 of Chase for Business credit card purchases. Chase Performance Business Checking runs $40/month, waived at a $35,000 combined average beginning day balance, and Platinum is $95/month, waived at a $100,000 average beginning day balance, or $50,000 if you link it to a Chase Private Client account. Few first year LLCs hold that.

The hidden cost most LLC owners miss is wire transfer fees, and Chase makes that one hard to price before you open. It publishes no single national figure. Its business fee schedule sits behind a ZIP code prompt because the pricing follows the branch where the account was opened, so the only honest instruction is to pull the schedule for your own ZIP first. At Mercury an outgoing domestic USD wire costs $0, so the comparison you are really making is between a known zero and a number you have to go and look up.

Your bank account is open. Now protect yourself and set up the financial infrastructure around it.

• Connect accounting software immediately. Link your new account to QuickBooks, Xero, or FreshBooks so transactions sync automatically. See our how to set up accounting guide for step-by-step instructions.
• Set up payroll if you have employees. Providers like Gusto connect directly to Mercury, Bluevine, and Chase. Our payroll setup guide walks you through the process. Do it before your first payday.
• Get business insurance. General liability insurance costs $500 to $1,500/year for most small businesses and protects your LLC. See our best business insurance picks.
• Stop using your personal account for business expenses. From today, every business purchase, vendor payment and client deposit should flow through this account. It protects your liability shield. It also makes tax time far simpler.
• Consider a business savings account. If you expect to hold more than $10,000 in cash, open a business savings account at the same institution. Bluevine pays 1.3% APY on Standard checking balances up to $250,000 in months you spend $500 on the debit card or take in $2,500 of customer payments.

What You Need by Business Type

Everything above assumes an LLC. Banks ask for a different pile of paper for each structure. We read 2 published requirement lists on 21 August 2026, one from Chase and one from Huntington Bank. The pattern behind them is the same. You prove who you are, you prove the business exists, and you hand over a tax ID. Which document does the proving is the only thing that changes. Both banks close with the same warning, so ask yours before you drive over.

Sole proprietorship

There is no formation document, because nothing was ever filed. Your Social Security number usually stands in for an EIN. Chase says a sole proprietorship with no employees typically does not need one, and the IRS test agrees. Add a DBA or assumed name certificate if you trade under anything other than your own name. One catch is worth knowing early. Huntington makes sole proprietors open in a branch, with 2 forms of photo ID, rather than online.

General partnership

An EIN is not optional here. The IRS makes a partnership an automatic EIN case, whether or not it has employees. Our EIN application guide covers the free route. Huntington asks for one photo ID per general partner, the partnership agreement, and the EIN assignment letter. A government issued business license can stand in when no written agreement exists. Chase asks for an agreement naming every partner and the business. Huntington also wants at least 2 partners in the room.

Corporation

A corporation always needs an EIN too. Same IRS rule, no exceptions for size. Huntington asks for the registration of incorporation filed with your state, one photo ID for each authorized signer, and the EIN assignment letter. At least 2 officers have to be present. A DBA certificate joins the pile if you trade under a second name. More signers means a slower opening than an LLC, so start collecting IDs early.

The 25 percent rule that catches all four

Banks have to identify anyone holding 25% or more of a business, whatever the structure. Huntington hands those owners a separate beneficial ownership certification form to sign. This is the bank's own compliance step. It sits on top of the document list above, so a four person LLC where everyone holds a quarter means 4 certifications, not one.

These are the most expensive mistakes LLC owners make when opening their first business bank account. Every one of them has real dollar consequences.

• Commingling personal and business funds. Using your personal checking account for business transactions puts your LLC's liability protection at risk. If a court determines you treated the LLC's money as your own, it can "pierce the corporate veil" and hold you personally liable for business debts. That is an unlimited financial exposure.
• Paying for an EIN. The IRS provides EINs for $0 at IRS.gov. Third-party sites charge $50 to $200 for the same 5-minute process. This is money thrown away.
• Skipping the operating agreement. Even for single-member LLCs, most banks require an operating agreement during account setup. If you show up without one, your application gets rejected and you lose a trip to the branch (or a week of back-and-forth with an online provider).
• Choosing a bank based on proximity alone. A Chase Business Complete account you never waive costs $180/year in monthly fees alone, before a single wire, against $0 at Mercury, Bluevine or Relay. Compare total cost, not convenience.
• Ignoring FDIC coverage limits. Standard FDIC insurance covers $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category. Your LLC sits in the corporation, partnership and unincorporated association category, which the FDIC insures separately from the personal accounts you hold at the same bank, so the two limits do not eat each other. Above $250,000 the excess is uninsured unless your provider spreads deposits across partner banks (Mercury covers up to $5M; Bluevine and Relay cover up to $3M).
• Not connecting accounting software on day one. Every week you delay syncing your bank account to accounting software is a week of transactions you will have to categorize by hand later. That work is not free. At tax time it costs you $100 to $300 in extra bookkeeper hours.

If the address is the thing holding you up, our comparison of virtual address services compared shows which providers banks actually accept and which field to put the address in.