Mercury Bank
If you’re a new business is looking for online banking, Mercury is worth considering as it offers business checking and savings accounts with no monthly fees. Mercury is an option designed for start-ups, so it offers a variety of scalable digital tools.
How does Mercury work?
The first thing you need to understand about Mercury is that it is not a bank. It is an online banking that offers a checking account and a savings account. Both accounts are commercial and provided by Choice Financial Group and Evolve Bank & Trust.
Mercury claims that the accounts are entitled to insurance of up to $5 million by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Additionally, holders with balances greater than $250k will have access to Mercury Treasury, an automated cash management account.
Mercury Requirements
To open an account with Mercury, you must have a US business and an EIN. It is not possible to open accounts for trusts or businesses in industries such as online gambling, marijuana, adult entertainment, and money services. You can request your account on the Mercury website and you must fill out a form with basic information about you and your company.
The necessary data includes your Social Security Number (or passport if you do not have one), information on owners with more than 25% participation, information on founders and information on directors with power over your finances.
Both the founder and the co-founder, the owners with more than 25% participation and the managers involved with your finances will have to provide an identity document. You will also need your company incorporation document and an EIN. Once registered and approved, you will be able to start using your account and you will receive a debit card within 8-10 days.
The good and bad
Mercury offers a variety of benefits, including no monthly fees, transaction fees, and withdrawal fees through the Allpoint network. Also, there is no minimum deposit or minimum balance requirement to open the account.
Mercury also offers access to digital tools, API access to customize your account, and also allows you to add team members to the account, among other things.
On the other hand, with Mercury you will not be able to make cash deposits, which can be problematic (although you can check through their app), and the interest rate they pay for savings accounts is quite low. If you want a higher rate, you must apply to the checking account, which requires a minimum of $50,000 USD.
Another downside to Mercury is that it rejects many account requests if you don’t know how to fill out and document everything. That is why at NUMA we have an officer within the bank, who helps us approve and expedite our clients’ applications. In addition to this, by working with us, if in the first 6 months after opening your Mercury account, you deposit $30,000 USD or spend $6,000 USD with your card, you will receive a $300 USD bonus credited to your account.
