Having a Chase Total Personal Checking account for many years with payroll direct deposit from my employer as my primary source of income, I also take on some self employment as a side hustle, such as accepting payments from private clients though paypal, or doing consulting work for organizations and receiving a 1099-NEC for my services. I also have a book and receive royalties from Amazon as well as my publisher. Pretty much everything is ACH'd into the account, though there are also some checks. Chase can see all of this if they want to. What was once occasional extra income has become more substantial. Everything is sole proprietorship and reported on my personal taxes using a Schedule C. It is self employment income. I have no problem separating my finances with just my personal checking account, and this has been going on for years, and Chase has never questioned whether i'm using the account for some buisness transactions in addition to my personal finances. I've heard that Chase can abruptly close your personal checking account without warning if they feel you are using the account for business purposes, but I have been using the account as I describe for years. A business checking account is not free, but I'm wondering if I should open one just to be safe. What do you all think?
Answers
Btw, It is technically free if you can maintain a $2,000 balance. They also have a $400 sign up bonus offer going on which is a great deal. Amex also has a $300 bonus offer for business checking with no minimum balance or maintenance fees.
https://www.chase.com/business/banking/checking/business-checking-offer/PC99232?sitelink=headline&jp...
https://www.americanexpress.com/en-us/business/checking/?eep=80285&refid=amex_p2_sem_nb_p2-bca-core-...
You are allowed to have SP under the same Tax ID as personal Accounts.
Chase would not get alarmed on the amount of transactions while the source of the Credits seems legitimate to Bank.
However...pay attention to the total number of transactions.
If frequency and number of transactions falls out of "typical range" and considered by Bank as "excessive", the Bank may force you to open the account type designed to generate Bank's revenue out of frequent and multiple Account Activities, aka Business Accounts.
The neat "trick" you can use is to open Chase Business Credit Card, under SP, your name as name of Business, SSN or EIN as Business Tax ID(I have both).
Once you have one Business Account, all your accounts, including Personal falls internally to the Bank under "Chase for Business" umbrella.
Still, be mindful of the number of transactions... it is not the size of it, it is how frequently you use it!
Offer is good until 4/18/24, although it might be extended again.
Also see - https://www.doctorofcredit.com/chase-business-total-checking-750-bonus-no-direct-deposit-required/
Please review offer requirements at these websites.
Maintaining "a minimum daily balance of $2,000 in your account as of the beginning of each day of the statement period" eliminates the monthly fee. There are also other ways to do this.
There are several advantages to a valid business account, not the least of which is to mimic, in some cases, a direct deposit.
In a meantime every Bonus seeker has to figure or clarify with Chase actual meaning of "offer enrollment".
The Bonus is only available once in 24 months period!!!