QuickBooks Checking Account Review (2024)

Pros

• $0 fee checking account
• High APY
• No monthly fees, account minimums, or opening deposit requirements
• Same, next-day, and instant deposits available

Cons

• Cash deposit fees
• Some functionality is limited to paid users

What Is QuickBooks Checking?

QuickBooks Checking is a free business bank account aimed at businesses using QuickBooks accounting software.

Originally launched as QuickBooks Cash, this business checking account was once only available to users with a paid QuickBooks Online subscription. Since the time of our last review, QuickBooks Checking has been made available with absolutely no fees through QuickBooks Money, a free mobile app.

However, QuickBooks Money users accessing the completely free bank account will not have access to the accounting tools that make this checking account an all-in-one money management system.

If you’re looking for a business checking account that lets you match expenses, capture receipts, and create customized reports, for example, you’ll need a paid QuickBooks Online account. However, if you’re looking for reliable free business checking, QuickBooks Checking fits the bill.

Services Offered By QuickBooks Checking

QuickBooks offers the following banking services for businesses:

• Checking accounts
• Envelopes, a unique savings feature that allows you to earn up to 5.00% APY

If you sign up for a free QuickBooks Checking account through QuickBooks Money, you’ll miss out on many of the money management features you’d find with other online banking services, such as bill pay or expense tracking. However, you can sign up to use QuickBooks Online accounting software to access these features and more — for a monthly fee, of course.

Additional business services available through QuickBooks include:

• QuickBooks Online
• QuickBooks Payments
• QuickBooks Capital
• Intuit Online Payroll

Although the QuickBooks ecosystem is vast, its banking services are a bit lacking when compared to its competitors, leading us to rate it 3.6/5 for services.

QuickBooks Checking Rewards & Perks

A QuickBooks checking account doesn’t offer the most rewards and perks we’ve ever seen in a business banking account. There are no cash-back rewards and no welcome bonuses, although it does have a competitive APY (more on that later). Keeping this in mind, we scored QuickBooks Checking a 3.3/5 for rewards and perks.

There are two stand-out rewards worth noting:

• High APY:A QuickBooks checking account offers a chance to earn interest — an uncommon feature for both online and traditional checking accounts. Even more uncommon, QuickBooks checking accounts offer a high rate of return, currently at 5.00%, when you use QuickBooks’ envelope savings system. That’s well above the current national average, with no cap on balances.
• Same-Day Funding: If you have a paid QuickBooks Payments account and use it to process payments, you can access same-day, next-day, and even instant payouts. Note that some users will pay a 1.75% transaction fee for instant transfers.

Here are some additional benefits that are worth highlighting:

• QuickBooks Integrations: One of the perks of bringing all your business finances within the QuickBooks universe is that you gain a full view of your finances via a single dashboard, including payroll, payments, and spending automatically synced. Note that these functions are not available with the free checking account through the QuickBooks Money app.
• Cash Flow Planner: QuickBooks Checking users gain access to QuickBooks’ Cash Flow Planner, a tool that helps users see what funds are coming in and going out, and then analyzes the finances to predict your cash flow over the next 90 days. This tool also includes alerts when reality deviates from those predictions and suggestions for getting back on track.

QuickBooks Checking Fees

Users who already have a paid QuickBooks Online account will find a seamless connection between their accounting, billing, and banking functions when they start using QuickBooks Checking. That includes everything from invoices to payment processing to bill payment.

Fees for using a QuickBooks Checking account are a little complicated because many users will be using three separate services: a free QuickBooks checking account combined with a free or paid QuickBooks Payments account and a paid QuickBooks Online account.

Remember: You can use QuickBooks Checking for free if you use the free QuickBooks Money app. But if you want to integrate all your business accounting functions with banking and payments, you’ll need to subscribe to QuickBooks Online. If you want accelerated access to funds, you’ll need to use QuickBooks Payments to process business payments from customers.

How Much Does QuickBooks Online Cost?

QuickBooks Online costs between $30-$200/month, depending on which of the four subscription levels you choose.

Is it worth spending the money on a subscription, if you don’t already have one? Our full guide to QuickBooks Online pricing can help you decide.

How Much Does QuickBooks Payments Cost?

QuickBooks Payments is a merchant services provider for businesses that use QuickBooks accounting software. It allows your business to process credit and debit card payments from customers.

QuickBooks Money has a pay-as-you-go plan that costs $0/month and includes per-transaction processing rates of 2.99% to 3.5%. Unlike with other processors, you won’t see an added fee, which typically runs around $0.30/transaction.

Subscribing to QuickBooks Online cuts processing rates to 2.5%-3.5% per transaction.

Read more about plans, features, and fees in our QuickBooks Payments review.

QuickBooks Checking Fees

While you’ll pay $0 in monthly service fees to use QuickBooks Checking, it wouldn’t be accurate to say no fees are involved. Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect:

• ATM Fees: You can use your Quickbooks cash card at ATMs within the Allpoint network, but there are limits to how often. In-network transactions are free up to four times each month. After that, you’ll pay $3 each time. An additional out-of-network fee of $3 per use also applies.
• Instant Deposit Fee: QuickBooks Payments includes a service called Instant Deposit that normally takes a 1.75% transaction fee for processing payments within about 30 minutes. With a QuickBooks checking account, that fee is waived and will cost you $0 while giving you same-day access to funds from sales processed through QuickBooks Payments.
• ACH Payments: Previously, you could expect to pay a 1% ACH fee for each ACH payment to your QuickBooks checking account. Since the time of our last review, that fee seems to have been eliminated. Hooray!

Overall, QuickBooks Checking has competitive fees — once you’ve waded through the different accounts you may opt to sign up for and the corresponding fees for each account. For its fees, we’ve given QuickBooks Checking a score of 3.9/5.

QuickBooks Checking Eligibility Requirements

Signup for the QuickBooks checking account is offered as an option during the process of setting up QuickBooks Payments. It’s included with QuickBooks Money, too. Here’s a breakdown of the basic eligibility requirements:

Certain types of businesses may be excluded from QuickBooks Payments under parent company Intuit’s Acceptable Use Policy. That includes most high-risk businesses. These limitations lowered our eligibility requirement score to 3.9/5.

There are no income, time in business, or credit score requirements for opening a QuickBooks Checking account.

QuickBooks Checking Application Process

To sign up for QuickBooks Checking, you must first sign up for a QuickBooks Online account (and pay the appropriate fee) or sign up for a free QuickBooks Money account. Unfortunately, QuickBooks is not forthcoming about the steps of the application process or details such as application processing times. This lack of transparency lowered our score to 3/5 for this category.

When you apply for a QuickBooks Checking account, expect to provide documentation to open a business account. Requirements will vary depending on your business type. For most, this will include your business name, address, and EIN as well as your legal name and Social Security number. LLCs and corporations in particular can expect to show more documentation.

QuickBooks Checking Features

A QuickBooks checking account offers the main features required for successful business banking.

At the time of our last review, we noted that cash deposits were a notable missing feature. Thankfully, cash deposits are now available, for a fee, via Green Dot retailers. A few features, such as checks and virtual cards, are still missing, which lowered our score in this category to 4/5.

A few QuickBooks checking account features need a closer look:

• Savings Subaccounts: While a QuickBooks checking account does not include a separate savings account, you can stash your cash in up to nine subaccounts called envelopes, saving for planned or unexpected expenses such as taxes, payroll, emergencies, and purchases. Money in Envelopes accrues interest and cannot be spent until you move it back to your main account.
• Debit Card: A QuickBooks checking account comes with a debit card printed with your business name.
• ATM Use: Users are allowed just four free transactions per month within the 55,000-strong Allpoint ATM network. Additional transactions and out-of-network transactions each incur a $3 fee.
• Mobile App:You can use iOS or Android mobile devices to easily deposit business and personal checks from your QuickBooks account.
• Integrations With QuickBooks Systems: When you use QuickBooks banking with QuickBooks software for functions like accounting, billing, payments, and payroll, you bring all your financial systems into one seamless system. That means payments and spending are automatically synced, so your books stay effortlessly up to date.

One important feature of a QuickBooks checking account is the speed with which funds are available. Payments processed through QuickBooks Payments can be available in as little as 30 minutes. Here are some other funding timelines:

To be such a big name in the small business world, it’s surprising that QuickBooks isn’t more forthcoming with information about products like QuickBooks Checking. You can find most of the information you need to determine if this product is right for you, but you have to click around the website and dig into the fine print to find basic details.

QuickBooks also has a social media presence that provides some important information, but updates are infrequent and don’t provide a lot of info specific to QuickBooks Checking.

For these reasons, we’ve rated QuickBooks Checking 2.9 out of 5 stars for sales and advertising transparency.

QuickBooks Checking Customer Service

In general, online banks are not known for exceptional customer service. Because QuickBooks Checking fits into an already developed support network, users will find a greater array of options available to them than is the norm, including phone support and extensive self-help resources.

However, QuickBooks users report that the support available does not always meet their needs. With options ranging from interactive support like phone and live chat to the do-it-yourself route of exploring the knowledgebase and watching video tutorials, most users eventually find the answers they need.

Overall, the support for QuickBooks Checking isn’t very impressive, resulting in a pretty average rating of just 3 out of 5 stars.

QuickBooks Checking Reviews

As with other nontraditional business banking options, the QuickBooks checking account is a relative newcomer and there isn’t a lot of feedback available online yet. We’ll continue watching for customer comments, so we can get a better feel for this bank account in the future. We’ve rated this lack of reviews accordingly by scoring QuickBooks Checking 3.3/5 for this category.

Here’s a sampling of what we’ve found to date:

Negative QuickBooks Checking Reviews & Complaints

• Unsatisfactory customer support
• Expensive
• Long wait for debit cards
• Buggy app

Positive QuickBooks Checking Reviews

• Integrated functions connect all of business finance through various QuickBooks applications
• Different eCommerce platforms offer reliable integrations with QuickBooks
• Cash Flow function is useful for seeing snapshot predictions of your company’s future
• Fast deposits from transactions

Is QuickBooks Checking Safe?

Like all QuickBooks software products, QuickBooks checking accounts come with several security measures to keep your data — and your money — secure. First, the connection for online banking is always “read-only,” so no one can use your information to gain access to your accounts.

These key factors provide additional security:

• Authentication: You’ll need a PIN and customer ID number to access your account. Digital certificate technology provided by VeriSign supports these factors.
• Privacy: QuickBooks combines SSL and RSA to provide encryption online. QuickBooks’ password features allow you to control access to your accounts.
• Secure Storage: Banking details are encrypted so no one can view or access them, even from the back end. Multi-factor authentication adds an extra layer of protection even if your login details become compromised.

Keep in mind that QuickBooks is not a bank. QuickBooks’ banking services are provided through a partnership with Green Dot Bank, Member FDIC. Because of this partnership, all QuickBooks checking accounts are FDIC-insured to the legal maximum.

How Does QuickBooks Checking Compare?

For comparison purposes, here’s how QuickBooks Checking stacks up against some of the best business bank accounts:

Final Verdict: Is A QuickBooks Checking Account Worth It?

A QuickBooks checking account is a powerful tool that can help a growing business handle complex financial information. If your small business is starting to grow and you still haven’t made the transition to business banking, QuickBooks Checking could be a good choice, especially if you’re already using QuickBooks Online to manage your business finances.

In a previous review, we noted that QuickBooks Checking customers were required to also use QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Payments and said that this expensive software requirement meant this business banking option wasn’t well suited to freelancers, sole proprietors, or very small businesses.

Now, however, with the addition of the free QuickBooks Money option, we feel that QuickBooks Checking can hold its own with the best free business checking accounts around. Many $0 fee business bank accounts come with costly transaction fees. We’re pleased to note that QuickBooks has eliminated bothersome fees for common transactions like ACH and wire transfers.

The only remaining fee that troubles us is the $4.95 cash deposit fee charged by QuickBook’s sponsor bank, Green Dot. That fee is ubiquitous to Green Dot and not likely to go away, so if cash deposits are an important part of your business, take note.

On the other hand, if you’re looking to upgrade your business banking or looking to start with the best, QuickBooks Checking is worth a look. Current QuickBooks users will find a lot to like, starting with a QuickBooks checking account’s high APY. At 5.00%, that’s a high bar that very few business checking accounts can beat. In fact, this rate is extraordinary for a checking account and puts Quickbooks’ banking option within striking distance of the best high-yield business accounts.

Altogether, we can recommend QuickBooks Checking unequivocally to current QuickBooks Online customers and any small business owners who can use QuickBooks Money for free access to this business checking option.

QuickBooks Checking Account FAQs