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“I Love SBB for Good Reasons”

written by jack-o1260 on 23/03/2014

After banking with SmallBusinessBank.com (SBB) for a few months now, I am loving it. Here's why. The customer service is absolutely fantastic. The main customer service team is always ready to help you with anything and everything. You can always hit them up via live chat and you can expect your issue to be resolved to your satisfaction. Most of all, SBB offers for free what other banks charge an arm and a leg for.

I am really amazed by the negative reviews. They are not legitimate at all in my opinion. Here’s why. If you read into the negative reviews, you will see that these reviewers are using this site to vent their anger at SBB, which is flat out wrong. Their anger should be directed at themselves because they failed to do their due diligence. SBB is legit. The negative reviews are rubbish. Read on. Let me explain why they don't really know what they're talking about.

My experience was completely different from theirs because I actually took the time (approximately two months) to learn about the whole application process before applying. During the two months, I read everything on the website. I also took the time to contact the customer service representatives about the application process via live chat to make sure I understood everything about it. This allowed me to not only be comfortable with SBB but also test its customer service and see if SBB is a right fit for the businesses that I manage.

The verification process also didn’t go through smoothly for me the first time around. I think it was a technical difficulty on the part of DocuSign (a third-party company that SBB uses for identity verification). DocuSign could not verify me with the information I entered. So I had to call SBB and ask for a second chance. The second time it worked properly.

After going through the account opening process for two separate businesses (i.e., LLCs), my advice to you is as follows:

1) Don’t expect it to be quick and easy. It will take you some time. The verification process may not go smoothly for you the first time around depending on how established your public record is, which is correlated with your age and the duration of your residence in the United States. You may need to call in or do a live chat and have one of the customer service representatives send you an email for a second chance. 


2) Do your research and due diligence. Take the time to learn about the application process by reading the website and contacting the customer service via live chat.
 Be comfortable before applying. Make sure you know what you're doing. This is key.

3) Get all your business documents ready to go. This will greatly facilitate the application process. What business documents you need depends on the type of company you have (sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company, or corporation). I suggest doing a live chat and asking what you need to have on hand when it comes time to opening the account. 


4) Don’t assume that you passed through each step of the application process just because you saw a confirmation message. Technical difficulties may still arise. Follow up with SBB by talking to the representatives via live chat.
 For example, after submitting your business documents, do a live chat and ask the representative if SBB received what you sent through via secure document upload on its website. Be prepared that this will take more than few minutes as the representative does need time to look into it for you. So don't be in a hurry when you're following up with SBB.

5) Don’t rely on SBB as your only bank. SBB is still growing and may not have everything you're looking for. For example, you may need a more advanced Bill Pay feature. As a good solution, I recommend opening other free business bank accounts at banks near you to use in tandem with your No Bull Checking account. This will not only make up what SBB lacks but also increase your FDIC coverage. Also, when you open other business bank accounts or do some comparison shopping, you will quickly learn the value of SBB and what it has to offer. 


6) Only the first No Bull Checking account is truly a “No Bull Checking” account. You find this out by looking at the fee schedule. The second checking account costs $5/month, and this fee, as I’ve learned, is not assessed on a business level. It is rather assessed on a per authorized signer basis. In other words, if you are the authorized signer for two different businesses with separate tax identification numbers (i.e., EINs), you may be charged $5/month for the second business. I say “may” because you can talk to David Shopmaker and ask him to waive this fee for you. However, your reason must be legitimate.


7) The $500 initial deposit is not a fee. This is the required amount to open a No Bull Checking account. There is no monthly minimum balance requirement, meaning your account can drop to $0 and you will not be charged. The negative reviewer doesn't know what he/she is talking about. There is a BIG difference between initial deposit and monthly minimum balance. They are two worlds apart. The initial deposit is the amount needed to open an account. The monthly minimum balance is usually the minimum amount you need to keep in your bank account to avoid monthly maintenance fees at big banks. This is not something you have to worry about at SBB.

8) Feel free to refer back to this review to help you through the application process. I left a lot of advice to really help you out.

Lastly, I would say this: Give SBB a chance. You won’t be disappointed. Seriously.