TD Bank business account review: The only guide you need

TD Bank is one of the ten largest banks in the United States and is a subsidiary of the Toronto-Dominion Bank of Toronto, Canada. The US bank has its headquarters in New Jersey and has around 1,250 locations.¹ These are concentrated in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, the Carolinas, Florida, and the Metro DC area. The states it operates in include:²

• Connecticut
• District of Columbia
• Delaware
• Florida
• Maine
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• New Hampshire
• New Jersey
• New York
• North Carolina
• Pennsylvania
• Rhode Island
• South Carolina
• Virginia
• Vermont

There’s a wide variety of products on offer at the bank. These include several TD Bank small business account options, a range of credit cards, and personal loans. In each case, there’ll be specific eligibility criteria that you’ll need to fulfill. They’ll also all have their own set of features, as well as fees and charges that you may need to pay. In some cases, these could vary depending on your state. Because of that, it’s important to check what the setup is in your particular part of the country. The information you’ll need can be found on the TD Bank website, or you can go into a local branch if you prefer. By doing this, you’ll be able to work out whether a particular TD Bank product is right for your needs.

As you read through this article, you’ll find out everything you need to know about TD Bank’s business banking options, with a detailed look at its range of checking accounts. On top of that, we’ll explain about an alternative option, the Wise borderless business account. This is an option for handling multiple currencies simply that could be a good fit for your own company’s requirements.

TD Bank business checking accounts ³

Whether you’re a conventional company owner or an entrepreneur, you’re going to need to take care of your business’s everyday finances. It’s always best to do this, so that you can keep your business expenses separate from your personal accounts. That makes keeping accurate records much easier, and that means a whole lot less stress when tax time comes around. With that in mind, you’ll be pleased to discover that TD Bank has a range of checking accounts that are designed with small businesses in mind. The range includes:

• TD Business Simple Checking
• TD Business Convenience Checking Plus
• TD Business Premier Checking

We’ll get on to the details of which each of these accounts offers in just a moment. We’ll tell you about any eligibility requirements or restrictions, as well as the features you can get with each account. We’ll also let you know about the key costs you’ll want to know about.

If there’s no TD Bank location near you, or perhaps it’s inconvenient for some other reason, then you may find it handy to think about possible alternatives. One of these is the Wise Business borderless account — you’ll find quite a bit more detail about that later in this article.

TD Bank also offers some other business account options for more specialized needs. The range includes:

• Small Business Savings Accounts — for saving toward specific business goals and receiving interest on credit balances
• Small Business Money Market Accounts — allows higher sums to be deposited and can be linked with a checking account
• Interest on Lawyers Trust Accounts (IOLTA/IOLA) — for law firms, who can pool client funds and direct the interest toward state-approved public interest programs

If you think that any of these accounts may meet your own needs, then you can find all the information you’ll need by taking a look at TD Bank’s business website.

We’re going to concentrate on looking at checking accounts in this article. That’s because this is the kind of account that’s most commonly useful to small businesses and entrepreneurs. You’ll probably find that there are some differences between the terms and conditions of checking and specialty accounts. Fees and features are likely to vary across products, too. For all these reasons, it’s always best to take some time to think about your alternatives and research your options before you make a final decision.

How to choose the best bank account for your business

The first thing you’ll want to do is to take a look at the eligibility rules for the product you’re considering. You don’t want to waste time going through the application process for an account that isn’t available to you anyway. You’ll also want to check to see whether TD Bank offers services in your own state. Again, there’s not much point in picking an account that’s going to be inconvenient or doesn’t meet the particular needs of your company.

Your next move is to find out about the fees and limits that the account you’re looking at imposes. These can vary a lot between accounts, so this is a really important step. One of the most common fees is the monthly maintenance fee — you pay this just for having an account, though in some cases the bank will waive the fee if you keep your balance above a specified amount or fulfill certain other criteria. You’ll also want to check to see whether there are charges for things like making a lot of deposits, using ATMs outside the bank’s own network, or making international transactions.

The majority of bank accounts limit you to a certain number of transactions each month before you have to pay a fee. You’ll commonly get a specified limit of free transactions, but after that you’ll likely have to pay for each and every one on top. While each individual fee may be small, they can add up very fast, and that goes double if you break the limit by a lot. This is another example of how taking some time on researching your options can save you a good deal in the long run.

Another place where costs can mount up is in currency exchange, and this is especially the case if your company has a lot of international business. Sure, one part of this is simply that exchange rates can go up and down — but that’s not the whole story. Think about what happens if you go to Google and look up the current exchange rate between US dollars and, say, euros. You’ll see a single number, and that’s the mid-market rate. Like it says in the name, this is the midway point between the buy and sell rates for that currency.

Sounds easy, doesn’t it? And it is… except that you probably won’t be able to use it with most banks. That’s because banks tend to add a markup to the rate. It’s not usually listed as a fee, but it’ll have the same effect on your balance sheet. Actually, some banks may even add a fee on top of the markup. If you don’t realize this is going on, you can get a really nasty surprise when you look at your accounts later on, and your profits can be hit as a result.

We’ve been saying that it’s always best to spend some time looking at your options, and this is just another reason why that’s the case. You may not want to limit yourself to looking at conventional bank accounts, either. One modern alternative is the Wise Business borderless account. This is a way of moving money across international borders, in multiple currencies, that takes the stress out of things.

You can open a Wise account for free, and you don’t have to get any minimum balance together, either. As soon as your account is set up, you’ll have local bank details for the US, Australia, New Zealand, the UK, and the euro zone. Using any of these major currencies, you’ll have the ability to receive funds without having to pay a fee. It’s also easy to send money overseas. You’ll get the mid-market rate we mentioned a moment ago, plus there’s just a single, upfront, low fee to pay.

You’ll probably want to know whether Wise could be right for your business. To help you decide whether it’s for you, we’ve put together a simple, at-a-glance table showing how Wise’s fees stack up against what you’ll pay with a TD Bank small business checking account. ⁵ ⁶ ⁷ ⁸

	TD Bank	Wise
Monthly maintenance fee	Between $10 and $30, depending on account type.	Free
Minimum average balance to waive monthly fee	Not available with Simple Checking; between $1,500 and $40,000 for other account types	Not applicable — no monthly fee
Minimum deposit to open account	Between $25 and $200, depending on account type	None

What do I need to open a business account with TD Bank? ⁹

If you want to open a TD Bank business checking account, you can do this in one of two ways. You can either start the process online, or pop into a local branch if that’s more convenient for you. Doing this will let you see the current requirements, and since these can sometimes change, it’s important to know the score before you continue. TD Bank business account requirements to open a new account mean you’ll need to show:

• Your legal business name and address
• Your Tax ID or Social Security Number, depending on the type of your business
• State-issued photo ID such as a drivers’ license, or a valid passport
• You’ll also need these details for any beneficial signers you want to include

On top of this, you may need the following, if they’re applicable to your business:

• Fictitious, assumed, DBA, or trade name certificate or registration
• Chapter and Bylaws of Association, or copy of the last meeting’s minutes with new elected officers

If you’re opening an account in person, you may need a few more documents. Again, check which are applicable to your specific circumstances before you go any further.

• Business registration document, such as Articles of Incorporation
• Board of Directors Resolution or Bylaws
• LLC Operating Agreement
• Partnership Banking Agreement

If you’re going the online route to open your account, you can upload PDF copies of documents or use photos taken on your phone. For in-person openings, you’ll need to bring along physical copies.

The bank may ask you some questions about yourself and your company, so be prepared for this. Exactly what these are will change according to the type of business you own, and things may also be different between states. Check your local situation before you get going.

TD Bank business account fees ⁵

Most conventional bank accounts charge a monthly maintenance fee, and TD Bank’s checking accounts are no different. When you pay this fee, it covers you for a certain number of transactions each month. You may also get other bonuses, depending on the account type you pick. Once again, look carefully to see how each account differs, as some features may have limits that exceeding will cost you extra. The flip side of that is that, with some account types, if you keep a high enough balance in your account, the monthly fee may be waived.

We’ll take a closer look at each account’s features and fees in a minute. Before we get to that, though, here’s a table to let you see some key details at a glance.

Fee or limit type	TD Bank business account costs
Minimum deposit to open	$25 to $200, depending on account type
Monthly maintenance fee	$10 to $30, depending on account type. Possible to waive with some accounts.
Included monthly cash deposits	$5,000 to $30,000, depending on account type
Included monthly transactions	200 to 500, depending on account type
Minimum balance to waive monthly fee	Not available with TD Business Simple Checking$1,500 with TD Business Convenience Checking Plus$40,000 with TD Business Premier Checking

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Breakdown of TD Bank business accounts

Next, we’ll take a more in-depth look at the different business checking accounts that TD Bank offers.

TD Business Simple Checking ¹⁰

This account is aimed at businesses with relatively low levels of turnover and straightforward business needs. It doesn’t need a high deposit to open the account, and the monthly fee is lower than for the other two checking accounts we cover here. You’ll also get a TD Bank Visa debit card and 24/7 online banking, as is the case for all these accounts. On the downside, the Simple Checking account has a fairly low level of included transactions and deposits, and there’s no way to avoid the monthly maintenance fee, the only exception for the latter being non-profits.

Fee or limit type	TD Business Simple Checking
Minimum deposit to open	$25
Monthly maintenance fee	$10
Included monthly cash deposits	$5,000; beyond this, you’ll pay $0.20 per $100 of deposits
Included monthly transactions	200; each transaction over this limit costs $0.75
Minimum balance to waive monthly fee	Waiver not available, except for non-profits

TD Business Convenience Checking Plus ⁷

This account is designed for businesses which have a moderate level of transaction activity. It offers some extra features over Simple Checking, such as the ability to waive the monthly maintenance fee if you keep your balance high enough. It may also offer rewards if you link your account with a personal checking account — details may change, so be sure to check the latest details. You will pay quite a bit more each month for these extra features, though, and the minimum starting balance is also higher.

Fee or limit type	TD Business Convenience Checking Plus
Minimum deposit to open	$100
Monthly maintenance fee	$25
Included monthly cash deposits	$10,000; beyond this, you’ll pay $0.20 per $100 of deposits
Included monthly transactions	500; each transaction over this limit costs $0.50
Minimum balance to waive monthly fee	$1,500; balance can combine TD Business Convenience Checking Plus accounts and one personal checking account

TD Business Premier Checking ⁸

This account is aimed at businesses that need to deal with greater levels of turnover. It offers much higher limits on deposits each month before an additional fee is charged, and there’s a lower per-item fee if you go over the included transaction limit. You’ll also get your first three monthly maintenance fees waived automatically. This account also waives the fee for using non-TD ATMs, though the ATM company itself may still charge its own fee. In return for these extra features, you’ll pay the highest monthly fee of the three checking accounts, and the minimum opening deposit is also quite a bit higher than for the other two.

Fee or limit type	TD Business Premier Checking
Minimum deposit to open	$200
Monthly maintenance fee	$30
Included monthly cash deposits	$30,000; beyond this, you’ll pay $0.20 per $100 of deposits
Included monthly transactions	500; each transaction over this limit costs $0.35
Minimum balance to waive monthly fee for first three months	$40,000 in combined business accounts and one personal checking account Fee is also waived if you have at least one of the following: Active TD Merchant Solutions Active TD Digital Express TD Bank Small Business Loan or Line of Credit

An alternative to TD Bank business checking accounts — Wise Business

Choosing the right bank account for your business is a really important step. For that reason, it’s vital to look at a range of options for your account provider. That will give you the information you need to be able to compare each one’s fees and features, and decide which of them is right for your own business.

One alternative you may want to consider is the Wise Business borderless account. This will let you as a business owner hold funds in more than 40 global currencies. You can also use your Wise account to send and receive money internationally — and you’ll be able to use the mid-market rate we mentioned earlier on. You’ll also have the option to integrate your account with Xero, helping you cut down on administration and make your life simpler. For smoothing out your workflow and helping you automate payments, there’s a Wise API, too. You can also create and send your invoices by using our downloadable free invoice templates, and use our balance sheet template, profit and loss statement template, cash flow statement template or an independent contractor agreement template. All this means that you can spend less time on the boring stuff and more time growing your business and its profits.

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There’s no substitute for having as much information as possible at your fingertips when you choose a business bank account. It’s something that needs care — but the more you know, the better your chances of finding a product that’s ideal for you and your company. Conventional providers like TD Bank offer a range of business checking accounts, but you can also think about new alternatives like the Wise borderless account. You can think of the time you put into thinking about your choice as an investment. It can really repay your effort if you end up with the account that best suits you in terms of features, cost, and convenience.

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Sources:

1. TD Bank 'About Us' page 21 June 2019
2. TD Bank's Apply for account 26 June 2019
3. TD Bank Small Business Checking Accounts 24 June 2019
4. TD Bank Small Business Banking 25 June 2019
5. Compare TD Small Business Checking Accounts 25 June 2019
6. TD Business Simple CheckingSM Account Guide 25 June 2019
7. TD Business Convenience Checking Plus Account Guide 25 June 2019
8. TD Business Premier CheckingSM Account Guide 25 June 2019
9. TD Bank - What you need to open a small business deposit account 26 June 2019
10. TD Business Simple CheckingSM Account Guide 26 June 2019