Rho Business Banking Review: Fees, Features, & Complaints

What Is Rho Business Banking?

Rho Business Banking is relatively new to the challenger bank and corporate card scene. While Rho is not a bank itself (its services are backed by partner banks), its banking services are aimed to compete against more traditional banks. Rho’s pitch is that it offers “intuitive” and “faster” banking.

Rho offers three main services:

• Commercial banking (with checking and treasury accounts)
• Corporate cards
• Accounts payable

Rho launched its corporate card in May 2021, enabling it to compete head-to-head in the upstart corporate card sector against big fintechs like Brex and Ramp.

Rho Rewards & Perks

The Rho corporate credit card sports a flexible rewards scheme based on your company’s repayment terms. This flexibility lets companies structure their card repayments in a way that matches their cash flow.

Here’s Rho’s tier structure for cash back and term lengths:

• 1.75% cash back if the balance is paid off daily
• 1.50% cash back if the balance is paid off every 30 days
• 0.75% cash back if the balance is paid off every 45 days
• No cash back if the balance is paid off every 60 days

Terms can be adjusted up to four times per year. Sadly, international purchases won’t earn cash back.

Going beyond the corporate card, Rho’s business banking accounts (checking and treasury) both generate 0.01% APY.

Rho Pricing & Fees

Rho is mostly fee-free and has no pricing tiers. You won’t pay any of these fees:

• ACH
• Same-day ACH
• Domestic wire
• International USD wire
• Bill pay
• Additional card/user
• Card transactions (including foreign transactions)

However, do be on the look-out for a couple of fees, including:

• 0.6% FX fees for most currencies (0.75% for Asia-Pacific currencies)
• Wire recall fee of $30

Rho Eligibility Requirements

Rho doesn’t post stringent credit requirements for prospective companies. You also won’t need to worry about a personal guarantee or collateral requirements when applying for a Rho account. These factors could make Rho a great option for some companies.

However, with Rho’s steep revenue/investment requirements, Rho is geared towards a certain type of high-powered business or startup. Smaller businesses may need to look elsewhere for a bundled business banking account and corporate card solution.

Additionally, some companies may be declined for a Rho account because it operates in a high-risk industry. Rho defines high-risk industries as including:

• Betting, casino gaming chips, etc.
• Adult dating and/or escort services
• Drug stores, pharmacies, and cannabis
• Drugs, proprietaries, and sundries
• Stamp and coin stores
• Quasi-cash, currency, money orders, traveler’s checks
• Pawnshops
• Bail and bond payments

Rho Business Banking Features

Rho’s feature set is built around making banking easier and faster for businesses. It’s part of the company’s mission to modernize the banking industry. “There’s nothing [tailored in traditional banking] in support of startups and small businesses. It is still archaic to even obtain a bank account,” Rho co-founder Alex Wheldon told Crunchbase News.

So, what modern features can Rho offer startups and small businesses? Let’s first break down how Rho stacks up against standard corporate card and banking features:

Beyond those standard features, Rho offers a number of other features through its services, including:

• Global Payments: You can take advantage of unlimited and fee-free USD wires to 161 countries as well as foreign transactions (with a 0.6% fee) via 38 global currencies.
• Digital Wallets: The Rho card can be added to both Google Wallet and Apple Wallet for making contactless payments.
• Auto-Synced Accounting: Rho features a native QuickBooks integration and supports Sage and Wave via Plaid. Auto-syncing allows you to easily reconcile purchases the moment an employee swipes a Rho card. On top of that, employees can digitally upload receipts, and Rho will categorize purchases automatically.
• Spending Categories: Besides smart limits, admins can set limits on spending amounts and spending categories for each employee.
• Higher, Stable Credit Limits: Rho claims that customers can receive higher credit limits that won’t fluctuate. According to Rho, the company’s underwriting process — which looks at annual revenue, cash on hand, growth metrics, predictive analytics, and “non-traditional” data points — may offer some customers higher credit limits than elsewhere. Additionally, your credit limit won’t be determined via a percentage of your current cash, allowing for a more stable and consistent credit limit.
• Custom Logos: Your company’s Rho card can be tailored with a custom logo.

Lastly, Rho offers a number of ways to add money to your account, although each method has different processing times:

Rho Customer Service

Rho’s customer service options are available from 8 AM to 9 PM EST. Rho assigns specialists to every client to provide customers with “high-touch, one-on-one support.”

Rho Reviews

Because Rho is fairly new on the scene, there aren’t many customer reviews around. With the limited scope of customer opinions, we reached out to a couple of Rho customers to get their thoughts. Here’s what one user told us:

Rho’s customer service is nothing short of incredible. Anytime I’ve had a question they get immediately back to me with insightful answers. Every interaction I’ve had with them, they’ve come across as very professional and a huge help to grow my business. I love their cash back on every purchase card the most. — Kenny Rose, founder and CEO of FranShares

Another user said this:

Rho Business Banking is excellent. Their customer service is responsive, easy to understand, and everything works in line with my requirements. I have been pleased with their attention to detail including finding solutions for my logistical issues within minutes. The only con would be the limits on international wire transfers. This can become challenging to navigate around when dealing in larger amounts. — Sara Bernier, founder of Born for Pets

Is Rho Business Banking Safe?

While Rho is a fairly new company, its services are backed by reputable and longstanding banks.

Rho’s banking accounts are offered through Sterling National Bank and Evolve Bank & Trust, both FDIC members. The checking and treasury accounts are FDIC insured (up to $250,000 for the checking account and $75 million for the treasury account).

Sterling National Bank issues the Rho corporate card. The card operates on the Mastercard network, which provides fraud protection and standard credit card protection.

Final Verdict: Is Rho Banking Worth It?

Whether Rho is worth it will depend on your business. Businesses that meet the revenue/equity investment requirements and can pay off the Rho corporate card daily (to get the 1.75% cash back rate) will particularly benefit from Rho. Businesses with irregular cash flows may also benefit from Rho’s flexible repayment terms.

However, smaller businesses may not see much benefit — in fact, they may not qualify for a Rho account in the first place. Also, businesses looking for a high APY bank account won’t find it here — Rho’s 0.01% APY is rather paltry compared to some offerings on the market.

That said, Rho has developed a product that stacks up well with some of the other business finance challengers, such as Brex or Ramp. The flexible repayment terms are especially appealing, and the lack of regular fees means that Rho could be a financial boon for the right kind of business.

Rho Banking FAQs

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

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After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Rho for yourself.

The Merchant Maverick Seal of Approval 🏆

Rho	Visit Site

After hours of in-depth research and evaluation, we can confidently recommend this brand to our readers. Get started today and see Rho for yourself.

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