Canadian Small Business Banking
- By Susan Ward
- •
- 04 Jan, 2019
- •
'The Balance Small Business' Banking Perks
Business Bank Accounts for Low-Volume Businesses
If you do most or all of your transactions electronically and don't need to write or deposit cheques much, you may be able to use a free business bank account, such as:
RBC's Small Business-
- no monthly fee
- unlimited electronic account transactions each month
- no minimum balance required.
Fees apply to all non-electronic transactions:
- a $2.00 charge for every paper debit or cheque
- a $3.50 charge for every paper credit or deposit
- $0.32 for each items deposited
- a $5.00 fee for every $1,000 cash deposited in-branch.
- a $2.50 per $1,000 charge for ATM deposits
Bank of Montreal's offers a similar no monthly fee eBusiness Plan.
No fee banking only works best unless your clients are all paying directly through credit, debit or wire transfers.
RBC offers a Business Essentials $6 Small Business Account:
- $6.00 fee pays for up to 8 transactions per month
- if your transaction fees exceed $6.00 the fees decrease by the number of transactions; for example, if you make 1-10 paper based transactions, the transaction fee is $1.25 each but if you make 11-30, the fee decreases to $1.20 each.
- you can cut down on transaction fees by banking electronically; 1-10 electronic transactions are only $0.75 each.
The lowest monthly fee currently is the TD Basic Business Plan.
- the $5.00 monthly fee includes:five free transactions and five free deposit items per month.
- after the first 5, each transaction is $1.25 and each deposit item is $0.22.
- cash deposits are $2.50 per $1,000.
Scotiabank's Right Size Account has:
- a $6 per month minimum fee, which is waived for the first 6 months, or waved altogether if you’re a member of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).
- transaction fees of $1.20 through $0.85 each depending on how many transactions you make each month over the $6 minimum fee
Scotiabank also offers a Basic Business Account Canadian or U.S. dollar account:
- minimum account maintenance fee of $9.95 a month - free if your minimum monthly credit balance is $6,000 or over, however no interest is paid on the account.
- one free transaction for every $1,100 kept in the account
- additional transactions charged on a pay-per-use basis. Each cheque, for instance, costs $1.20, while each item deposited to your account costs $1.00.
BMO's Business Start bank account has:
- a $6 per month minimum fee
- no minimum balance requirement
- seven free transactions a month
CIBC's Basic Business Operating Account has:
- a $6 per month minimum fee
- no free transactions
- $1.25 fee for each full-service transaction and $1.00 for each self-service transaction.
And If You're Not a Low-Volume Business?
You're going to pay more. Sometimes a lot more. Each bank offers a slate of business account offerings and their charges for what you get are comparable. There are no banking bargains.
Most Canadian banks offer a business account at the $20 monthly fee level which might work for you if you run a small retail business.
The Royal Bank's RBC Business Essentials Fixed-Fee Account is pretty typical of accounts offered. For a monthly business bank account fee of $20.00 you get:
- Up to 20 debits/cheques each month
- Up to 20 credits/deposits each month
- Up to 20 items deposited each month
- Up to $2,500 cash deposited each month
- Monthly fee waiver with a minimum daily balance of $15,000
(They also offer three other Fixed Fee Plans at monthly rates of $35.00, $50.00 and $75.00, each with increasing numbers of transactions per month.)
The best of these accounts is the TD's Every Day Business Account. For $19.00, it gives you 20 transactions, 50 deposit items and up to $5,000 in cash deposits, more than any other of the big banks.
From there, all the banks offer accounts with increasing monthly fees based on the number of monthly transactions.
The CIBC offers an Unlimited Business Operating Account which, as the name suggests, gives you unlimited transactions with a cash, coin and cheque deposit package for a $50.00 monthly fee. Looking at how few monthly transactions are included in most of the more inexpensive business bank accounts and how quickly additional transaction fees stack up, this may well be the most inexpensive option if your business has many monthly transactions.
Small Business Banking Packages
Another thing that complicates the issue of which is the best bank for small business is that some banks offer small business banking packages that bundle banking services.
Scotiabank's "combo" small business banking packages are of particular interest; they offer several business bank accounts that combine a personal and business bank account with other banking services, such as their ScotiaOne Account Plan. Besides the personal chequing and business bank account, the plan includes a business Visa card, a ScotiaCard and electronic banking for business. Fees start at $49.95 per month.
Required monthly balances to waive the account maintenance fees are often high.
As of time of writing, the account with the lowest required minimum monthly balance is the aforementioned TD Every Day Business Account. You won't have to pay the $19.00 fee on their Every Day A bank account if you maintain a minimum monthly balance of $20,000.
See What Business Bank Accounts Your Credit Union Offers First
There are also a great many Credit Unions operating in different regions in Canada. and you'll want to check with your local Credit Union to see what kinds of business bank accounts it offers. Historically, Credit Unions have had a strong interest in small business banking and your local Credit Union probably offers business banking accounts and services that are very competitive.
Checking your business bank account and comparing it with other competior bank's terms of service could help you find a small business bank account that's a better fit for your small business and save you money.
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The term “virtual” is heavily overused,
evoking everything from virtual machines running in the cloud to simulated
virtual reality. The concept of logical devices that are deliberately separate
from their physical placement is the scope of this discussion to describe
different virtualized instances employed by organizations. A logical unit
number designates a logical disk that may be backed by anything from a
partition on a local physical drive to a multidisc RAID volume exported by
networked storage in multiple locations. A virtual private network designates an
isolated private network, where the isolation is provided using a cryptographic
method right on the session layer to secure data packets that may still need to
traverse the public internet. The highest form of virtualization security
standards today works with computer architecture language for I/O
memory-management unit that translates I/O virtual memory addresses to their
corresponding MAC addresses, via proxy tunnels. Intelligence agencies and other
sensitive data bases that depend on public intranets use this sort of setup. Other
examples of virtualization include virtual LAN, for places that host gaming,
schools like ours, large organizations and other organizations that use many
end clients. Other variations are also known as: N-Port ID virtualization, Intel
Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O, and now there is Multi-Root I/O
Virtualization Modern virtualization platforms that exploit indirection numerous
ways. A virtual machine is just an application that simulates a complete personal
computer. A hypervisor is the software
application that, can offer indirection to decouple an operating system
and its application from the physical hardware. The “guest” is the layer of software running inside the virtual
machine. The guest operating system manages applications and virtual hardware
and the hypervisor manages virtual machines and the physical host/s’ end
addresses.
Many companies choose to choose cloud migration to take advantage of cost savings. For companies with fewer than 1,000 employees, purchasing multiple servers is too expensive. Virtualizing requires fewer servers and extends the lifespan of existing hardware. This also means reduced energy costs. Many love the cloud because of it’s ease of use. For example, it’s much easier to backup and protect against disasters that are always unexpected. Recovery is much easier and accurate, with less manpower and a fraction of the equipment when using the cloud. This also provides better business redundancy. With an increasingly mobile workforce, having good business redundancy is essential. Virtualization gives employees access to software, files and communications anywhere they are and can enable multiple people to access the same information for more efficiency with IT operations. Going to a virtual environment will always make everyone’s job easier and more efficient, especially the I.T. staff providing less downtime, fewer outages, quicker recovery and instant backup automatically, as opposed to non-virtual environments.
Network speeds, volumized storage arrays, antenna frequencies, and bandwidth have pushed the internet of things to the top of a shining hill. I've listed some legal methods of contractual exodus from a handy blog collectionbelow; mostly for my own reference.
Prepaid: AT&T GoPhone and Straight Talk. Other options include H20 Wireless , Ultra Mobile , Net10 , LycaMobile , Spot Mobile , Telcel America , GIV Mobile , MetroPCS , Simple Mobile , Red Pocket , and Pure Talk.
Unlocking your phone before you leave your current carrier seems to be the hottest trend today because you get more value from a better capable device.
Before you make the call to your carrier, gather some info:
- The account holder’s name and account number
- The account holder’s social security number (they’ll ask you for the last four digits) or password
- The IMEI of your device
- The phone number
- Make sure your contract is finished. Carriers aren’t required to unlock your device if your plan is active
How can I tell if my phone is eligible? It needs to be a device from a current AT&T customer or a former customer, and you’ll need to verify that with either a phone number or account number. The device will need to have been paid for in full and not reported lost or stolen. AT&T customers can unlock up to five devices per account per year.
Caveats: Your unlock code comes in through your email, and can take a few days to arrive. Check your spam folder. Officially, AT&T doesn’t do SIM unlocks over the phone; instead, it funnels all requests to an online form, which is a good system until it isn’t.
Can I unlock it online? Yup, just plug in your IMEI number right here.
What’s the best phone number? Customer support can be reached at 1- 800-331-0500 but the web form is your best bet.
Where’s the official documentation? Here.
How can I tell if my phone is eligible? Here’s a list of Verizon devices sold with an unlocked SIM slot. Verizon uses the CDMA network in the United States, but many of its devices also include an unlocked SIM slot. This means most Verizon phones — including all LTE devices — aren’t locked. Unlike Sprint, the SIM slot on Verizon iPhones comes unlocked.
Caveats: While you can use SIM-equipped Verizon phones on AT&T, T-Mobile and other GSM carriers, unless the device has roaming GSM radios it won’t be able to make phone calls or send texts in the United States. Most recent Verizon phones will work on American GSM bands, but LTE support can be a mixed bag depending on your device.
In the past, Verizon has sold a small number of phones described as “Global Ready 3G.” Often older phones — think Blackberrys — with a SIM slot come locked.
Can I unlock it online? Verizon currently doesn’t have an online unlock request form.
What’s the best phone number? Call 1-800-711-8300 and ask for a SIM unlock.
Where’s the official documentation? Here.
How can I tell if my phone is eligible? You’ll need to have an account with Sprint, verified either through an account number or a phone number. The account needs to be in good standing, and the phone can’t be reported or lost and stolen. Sprint does unlock devices for short overseas trips. If you’re an active member of the U.S. Military deployed overseas, you can request an unlock from Sprint, although the same caveats (good standing, account with Sprint) still apply.
Caveats: If you’ve got a Sprint iPhone, you’re probably out of luck. From Sprint’s legal unlocking policy:
Sprint-branded iPhones have been manufactured in a way that prevents them from being unlocked to allow the device to activate on a different carrier’s network in the United States.
While Sprint uses radios that make it difficult to use its devices on other CDMA and LTE networks, almost all Sprint spectrum resellers are free to activate unlocked Sprint phones..
Can I unlock it online? Yes, through an online chat with a customer service representative.
What’s the best phone number? Call 1-888-211-4727, or *2 from a Sprint device.
Where’s the official documentation? Here.
Alternative prepaid carriers: Ting , iWireless , Voyager , FreedomPop , ROK Mobile , Sprint Prepaid
