NorthOne Business Banking Review: A Fast Online Deposit Account

Pros

• No account minimums
• Unlimited free transactions for most types
• Open to all business types
• Cash deposits accepted via GreenDot
• Mobile check deposits

Cons

• $10 monthly fee
• No interest-bearing accounts
• No access to credit
• Online only

What Is NorthOne Business Banking?

NorthOne business banking reviews seem to agree that NorthOne is a noteworthy bank option for small businesses. NorthOne is an online-only bank, offering FDIC-insured checking accounts and Mastercard debit cards to business customers.

NorthOne accounts include ATM access, a strong mobile app, no account minimums, and very few fees, except a $10 monthly fee that cannot be waived.

NorthOne also offers integrations with popular business software in eCommerce, accounting, and payment processing. These integrations include top names, such as Amazon and Shopify, QuickBooks and Expensify, and PayPal and Stripe. These integrations can help you tie together your business finances, from sales to deposits.

Could NorthOne business banking be the right small business bank for you? The best way to answer that question is by conducting our own thorough NorthOne bank review.

Is NorthOne A Real Bank?

NorthOne is not a real bank; it’s a financial technology company.

NorthOne business banking services are provided in partnership with FDIC member The Bancorp Bank. Thanks to this partnership, NorthOne accounts are insured to the legal maximum of $250,000.

Is NorthOne FDIC Insured?

Deposits in NorthOne’s business bank account are FDIC-insured to the full legal limit of $250,000.

Because NorthOne is not a bank, it partners with an FDIC member, The Bancorp Bank, to offer FDIC protections to NorthOne customers.

NorthOne Rewards & Perks

NorthOne bank accounts deliver some rewards, but without any savings options that deliver a competitive APY, we cannot deliver an excellent rating for this category in our NorthOne business bank review.

Despite that key omission, we still think NorthOne deserves credit in this category. Here’s why:

Quick Access To Cash

Thanks to a number of nifty integrations with eCommerce and POS software providers, NorthOne provides fast access to cash from connected accounts. Deposits sent to your NorthOne deposit account are automatically categorized almost instantly.

Supported software partners include PayPal, Stripe, Square, Etsy, Shopify, Airbnb, Amazon, Venmo, Uber, Lyft, and more. There are no added fees for using these integrations.

Digital Banking Tools

With thousands of ratings from users, both the iOS and Android versions of the NorthOne mobile app earn a solid 4.7/5 stars. The app lets you fully manage your NorthOne business bank account from your phone, though you can also access your account through the web.

From depositing checks and cash to sending and receiving payments, accessing live support, and managing NorthOne integrations with other business apps, the digital banking tools NorthOne provides are standouts.

Mastercard Debit Card

You can do a lot with your NorthOne debit card. For starters, you can use the card to withdraw cash, with no fee, from in-network ATMs (MoneyPass and Mastercard Cirrus machines). You can also use the card to make purchases wherever Mastercard is accepted worldwide and make cash deposits at 90,000 GreenDot locations nationwide.

Virtual Debit Card

Each NorthOne business bank account comes with one virtual debit card in addition to a physical card. You can use the virtual card along with your physical card up to a combined daily limit of $5,000/day.

Referral Offer

When a current customer encourages a friend to sign up for NorthOne business banking, each can earn a $75 referral bonus. Customers receive unique referral links to share, and NorthOne will pay the bonus within 30 days once the other person opens an account and makes an initial cash deposit of at least $50.

NorthOne Pricing & Fees

Although NorthOne does charge a monthly fee that cannot be waived by meeting a minimum balance or other requirements, we find the fee reasonable at $10. In exchange for that fee, NorthOne users free themselves from virtually all other fees commonly associated with business banking.

NorthOne business banking includes no additional fees for:

• ACH payments
• Bill pay
• Check deposits
• Transfers
• Purchases
• App integrations

Besides out-of-network ATM fees, which are relatively easy to avoid, there are two fees you might regularly encounter, depending on how your business runs:

• Wire Transfer Fee: $15 for incoming and outgoing transfers
• Cash Deposit Fee: $4.95 per deposit, with a per-deposit limit of $375 and caps of $1,500/day, $3,500/week, and $5,000/month

NorthOne Eligibility Requirements

NorthOne business bank accounts are available to all kinds of businesses, including sole proprietorships, partnerships, limited partnerships, LLCs, corporations, and joint ventures. NorthOne especially appeals to small businesses and freelancers, with easy eligibility requirements and no minimum balances. However, NorthOne maintains a fairly typical list of excluded businesses that will be ineligible for NorthOne business banking services.

Because NorthOne is an online-only bank, applications are processed entirely online. Account-holders must be at least 18 years old, a US citizen or legal resident of one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia, and have a verifiable US street address. Expect to provide personal identification when you apply, including your name, address, and date of birth.

NorthOne Business Banking Features

An in-depth NorthOne business banking review shows that this is a bank loaded with features that will appeal to small and mid-sized businesses. One feature that’s notably lacking, however, is access to credit. NorthOne participated in the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), offering small business loans. The PPP program has ended, however, and NorthOne no longer offers loans of any kind.

What Makes NorthOne Banking Stand Out?

What NorthOne does offer is notable: numerous integrations with popular business software that can help you connect your finances and make accounting easier. If you connect your POS, for example, NorthOne even makes it easier to access your cash, delivering almost instantaneous access to funds from sales. These integrations alone make NorthOne stand out from its competitors in the increasingly crowded business banking field.

We’ll go into detail on NorthOne’s outstanding integrations in the next section. For now, here’s a list of some other standout features:

• NorthOne Banking App: Not all online banks come with easy-to-use and useful mobile apps. NorthOne’s app is both, with high ratings and satisfied user comments on both the Apple App Store and the Google Play store. You’ll need to use the app to deposit checks, as that feature is available only in-app.
• Invoice Maker: You can build and send professional invoices and send reminders about outstanding invoices from your phone using the free Invoice Maker app for iOS and Android.
• Cash Deposits: It’s increasingly uncommon to find a bank — especially an online bank — that allows users to make cash deposits. So even though you will have to pay a fee to make cash deposits in your NorthOne account via GreenDot ($4.95 fee for up to $375 in cash deposit) and have strict limits of $1,500/day, $3,500/week, and $5,000/month, it’s nice to see that NorthOne allows users to deposit cash.
• Free Transfers & Check Deposit: Some business bank accounts charge no monthly fees but then hit users with transaction fees or a limited number of free transactions with fees for excess transactions. Not NorthOne. While it’s stated up front that you’ll pay $15 for each incoming and outgoing wire payment, the list for the types of transactions included in the free and unlimited column is much longer. You can make as many ACH payments, deposits, transfers, and purchases as you want, subject to some daily, weekly, and monthly limits.
• Savings “Envelopes”: While we think it’s a shame that NorthOne doesn’t include any interest-bearing accounts (e.g., savings accounts), we appreciate the opportunity to use what NorthOne calls Envelopes to set aside money for rent, taxes, payroll, and other regular expenses as well as for unplanned expenses and emergencies. You can set up as many Envelopes as you’d like and use them with no added fees. You even can automatically direct a percentage of your money on a daily, weekly, or monthly schedule. Manage Envelopes along with your main account through the mobile app or website.
• Virtual Card: Each NorthOne business bank account comes with a single virtual card linked to your account. The virtual card has a 16-digit account number that is different from your physical debit card, a security code, and the expiration date. The virtual card is automatically activated when you open your account and can be used online and in stores if you add it to a digital wallet.

Like all business banking service providers, NorthOne puts some limitations on the availability of funds. For example, you can deposit as many checks as you’d like each day fee-free, with a minimum amount of $5 and a maximum of $15,000 per check. Your account will be limited to $15,000 per rolling 24-hour period and a maximum of $50,000 per rolling 30-day period. There is no limit to either the number or the dollar amount of incoming wire transfers.

Here are some common processing times:

NorthOne Software Integrations

We think the area of integrations is one where NorthOne stands out from the competition. While you can find other business bank accounts that let you tie in a couple of POS, accounting, or even eCommerce software options, NorthOne has more integrations by far.

These integrations fall into three main categories:

Payment Processing

NorthOne says it can integrate with any POS its customers use. If you’re using one of our best-ranked POS systems, there’s probably a prebuilt NorthOne integration ready for you to connect to your account. Payments made via a linked POS system will be almost immediately available in your NorthOne account.

That includes payments processed by big names, such as Stripe, Square, Venmo, and PayPal, as well as payments processed through specialty apps, such as Airbnb, Uber, Lyft, Toast, and more. When you connect your favorite apps, your online and in-person payments will be sent directly to your NorthOne business bank account.

Accounting Software

Connecting your accounting software directly to your business bank account can save you time and trouble every day, especially when you’re closing out your year and figuring out taxes.

NorthOne makes it easy with ready-built integrations with QuickBooks, FreshBooks, Gusto, Expensify, Wave, ADP, and more. Your bank transactions will import automatically to your accounting software in real-time.

eCommerce Platforms

Build your online store on major eCommerce platforms, such as Shopify, Etsy, Square, or Amazon, and you can link your NorthOne business bank account. You’ll minimize not only data entry (and errors!) but also track sales, taxes, shipping, and more. Money from sales made on an integrated platform will immediately show up in your NorthOne account.

NorthOne Customer Service & Support

Although it’s easy to find both rants and raves about NorthOne business banking customer service, the raves definitely outweigh the rants. On Trustpilot, for example, 59% of reviewers rate NorthOne “Excellent” vs. 31% who rate it “Bad.” Very few fall in the middle, with just 1% saying they find NorthOne “Average” and a combined 9% rating it either “Great” or “Poor.”

Many of the positive NorthOne bank reviews mention customer service. One user says NorthOne “made me feel like family,” and another calls NorthOne’s service “the friendliest, quickest, and most helpful customer service I’ve ever interacted with.”

Compared to other online-only business banks, NorthOne stands out by providing live service. You can talk to NorthOne reps through the app or website, phone, or email.

NorthOne Business Banking Customer Reviews

As noted above, NorthOne draws its share of both positive reviews and negative comments based on actual users’ experiences with the bank. NorthOne is accredited by the Better Business Bureau and has a B rating there. Most users who post on the BBB website do so because they have a complaint, so we weren’t surprised to see a dozen or so complaints listed. We do note that NorthOne seemed to provide personal responses to each complaint and resolved a few of them.

Negative NorthOne Reviews & Complaints

• Account denials
• Holds on funds
• Monthly fee
• Unhelpful customer service

Positive NorthOne Reviews & Testimonials

• Outstanding and responsive customer service
• Good self-help resources
• Useful integrations

Final Verdict: NorthOne Small Business Banking

We think NorthOne can be a good option for many small businesses looking for business banking services. In fact, we think it’s not just a good option but is actually one of the best bank accounts for small businesses. It’s true that NorthOne has some drawbacks, such as the non-waivable monthly fee and the fees for making a cash deposit. We feel that these factors are outweighed by other “plus” factors, such as the unlimited free transactions and the fact that NorthOne is among the few online-only banks to allow cash deposits.

That said, we don’t recommend NorthOne to large businesses. Look carefully at the bank’s transaction limits to ensure that your company won’t need to deposit more checks and cash than NorthOne allows in a day, week, or month. In particular, note that NorthOne does not allow deposits of checks over $15,000 or check deposits of more than $50,000 per month. While you can make unlimited ACH transfers daily, you will be limited to a $500,000 daily deposit.

Above all, we know that choosing a business bank comes down to your unique needs, including how your small business operates and what type of bank you want to work with. If you’re still trying to decide what matters most to you in a business bank, we have suggestions for how to find and open the right business bank account.

If you’re still trying to decide if you need to open a business bank account or if you can get by with running your business through your personal account, take a look at our guidelines on the key differences between business and personal banking. Understanding why you need a business banking partner can be an important first step in choosing the right business bank to work with.

NorthOne Business Banking FAQs

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