So, I searched and most threads are a year old or more, which can be an eternity in this space. I’m thinking of changing from a local bank to AMEX for my business checking account.

I’m a home inspector and 85%+ of my transactions are credit, the rest checks with maybe 4-5 a year out of 350 clients or so paying with cash. For the last 4 years or so, I’m with a local community bank and like the fact that at least my money is being used in the community. However, they are so antiquated. From the website, to the app, and the fact that for customer service you have to call a branch or go to a branch. I was willing to overlook it so far due to their work in the community, until…

I write myself a check each month for a draw and deposit it to my personal account, as I’ve done the last 8 years or so. I also pay one vendor with a check each month, the rest are through credit cards. Due to issues with Fidelity where my wife and I’s account is suddenly holding checks for weeks due to other people committing fraud, I’m looking into adding ACH, which supposedly does not get held by Fidelity. My current business bank says their process to enable ACH is for me to come into the branch, with a printed copy of a tax return, so they can send that underwriting. Like, I’m not asking for a loan, only to send my own money using a 40+ year old process.

I have a business savings account with Live Oak, but their checking pays no interest and while I’d probably avoid it due to the balances I carry, they technically charge a monthly fee.

I have an AMEX and a Chase business credit card now. Chase is right out due to all the complaints I see people having.

So, AMEX is out there paying a little interest, no monthly fee and free ACH. Seems like a no brainer to switch. I’ll just hold the cash like I do now(my software still tracks the payment for accounting and tax purposes) and can still deposit checks using an app, and never go into a branch, just like now. I can still get checks for the one I pay per month.

Does anyone that read this far see any issues?

Got an email offer for $350 for depositing at least $25,000 into the account and holding it there for like 2 or 3 months. Just want to know if they are a good savings account for the interim just to get the bonus or if they are a nightmare to deal with and not worth the effort. The money is just sitting in my Ally account so if I can get an extra $350 off of it, I figure why not

Apparently, there is a restriction on linking a personal account (either Rewards Checking or HYSA) with a Business Checking account. This is somewhat understandable, to discourage "commingling of funds", but with a single-member LLC set up as passthrough (not an S-corp), there are inevitably situations where you would want the ability to infrequently transfer funds:

• Capital Contributions (from personal to business, annually?)

• Distributions (from business to personal, quarterly?).

And I have made Capital Contributions into my American Express Business Checking account before, from an external personal account. But when I try to set up a transfer from an internal American Express personal checking or savings account, I get this lovely little message which I do not understand:

By selecting Submit, I authorize American Express to link the selected account. I certify it's a personal checking or savings account I own and am authorized to transfer funds out of. I certify the account is not a business, commercial, trust, or fiduciary account. Please see your Consumer Deposit Account Agreement and Rewards Checking Account Schedule for further information.

I also tried linking from the other direction, going into the business account and trying to link the personal account manually with routing and account number. It recognized the account as a personal account and stopped me from linking.

Could someone from American Express Banking please explain the rationale for this rule? While infrequent, there are certainly legitimate situations where a transfer between personal and business accounts should be allowed.

So is my only option to write a paper check from the personal account and use the app to deposit it into the business account? I thought things would be easier with all my accounts under American Express.

Would I be able to use Zelle to accomplish this? Also, apparently not, since business use is prohibited by the Amex Zelle user agreement.

I just wanna be able to perform Capital Contributions and Distributions transactions, is that so wrong? (to paraphrase Harvey Fierstien)

Am I in the wrong subreddit? Is there another one for American Express Banking?