While having lots of options is usually a good thing, the sheer number of online and brick-and-mortar locations can make choosing a bank for business incredibly complicated, in part because real estate investors have specific banking needs.
If you’ve been looking for a bank for your real estate business or have been considering making a switch, your task just became a little bit easier. In this article, we’ll look at some of the best banks for real estate investors, including online options that may be ideal for investors who own rental property remotely.
Key takeaways
- Criteria to consider when choosing a bank for a real estate business include minimum balance, monthly and annual fees, and interest on cash held in accounts.
- The best banks for real estate investors integrate banking accounts with real estate management software, have no minimum balance requirements, and can streamline income and expense tracking.
What makes a banking service great for real estate investors?
While large national and regional banks may be a good choice for general consumer retail and business use, they’re not necessarily the right options for investors.
There are several criteria real estate investors may wish to consider when choosing a bank:
- Minimum balance
- Fees (monthly and annual)
- Interest on cash held in accounts
- Cash management (such as a nightly “sweep” into an interest-bearing account)
- Loans (short-term, financing and refinancing, home equity line of credit (HELOC), and portfolio loans)
- Rewards programs (like credits used to help reduce expenses)
- Customer service (local and online)
With these things in mind, here are our favorite banks for real estate investors.
Our favorite banking services for real estate investors
Let’s begin by taking a look at Stessa Cash Management, a new, all-in-one money management system for real estate investors.
Stessa Cash Management
Stessa Cash Management integrates with Stessa rental property financial management software to provide a seamless, all-in-one money management service for real estate investors.
With Stessa Cash Management, real estate investors can automatically track income and expenses with an unlimited number of accounts, such as one for each property or portfolio of rental properties. Stessa is a fintech company, not a bank and banking services are provided by Blue Ridge Bank, N.A., member FDIC.
By integrating Cash Management with Stessa, investors can gain real-time insights into rental property financial performance, generate key financial reports without worrying about missing transactions, and avoid the hassles of trying to synchronize accounts with an outside bank.
Stessa Cash Management provides the key features real estate investors are looking for:
- Unlimited free sub-accounts (to organize finances by property, security deposits…etc)
- No monthly maintenance fees
- No minimum balance requirements
- No inbound wire fees
- Physical and virtual debit cards with unique account numbers for each property or portfolio to make recordkeeping easy
- 2.00% APY interest rate as of August 2022 (compared to the national average interest of 0.03% on checking accounts as of July 2022, according to the FDIC)
- 1.1% cash back as of August 2022 (subject to change)
- $5 wire send fee, with no wet signature needed
- Integration with Stessa’s real-time insights and key financial reports
Learn more about Stessa Cash Management and sign up for a free Stessa account.
Annual Percentage Yield (APY) of 2.00% is effective as of 8/5/2022. No minimum opening deposit or account balance required. Fees could affect earnings on the account. The national rate is the average of rates paid by all insured depository institutions and credit unions for which data is available to the FDIC, with rates weighted by each institution’s share of domestic deposits.
In addition to Stessa Cash Management, here are 12 banks or banking services available for real estate investors to consider in 2022, listed in alphabetical order.
Bank of America
Bank of America is owned by Berkshire Hathaway and provides a wide variety of investment banking and financial services. Traditional banking services include checking and savings, credit cards and lending, and merchant services. Bank of America is known for its reward programs, such as credit cards with customized cash and travel rewards, and an introductory 0% APR offer.
BlueVine
Real estate investors looking for online banking services may want to give BlueVine a closer look. The fintech company provides online banking and financial services to small and medium-sized businesses. The company was founded in 2013 and has over 400,000 customers with more than $350 million on deposit. Business-friendly banking features from BlueVine include no monthly or overdraft fees, online bill pay, 1.2% interest on business checking accounts, and revolving lines of credit.
Capital One
Capital One specializes in credit cards, savings accounts, and auto loans with over 750 branches and more than 70,000 ATM locations. Business banking solutions from Capital One include checking and savings accounts, loans and lines of credit, and merchant services. The bank also offers Capital One Escrow Express service to separate monies in subaccounts, so landlords or property managers can handle individual tenant security deposits.
Chase
Chase Bank is a subsidiary of JPMorgan Chase and provides financial services to almost half of American households. Chase has over 5,300 branches and 15,500 ATMs nationwide and offers a variety of business banking products and services, including business checking and savings accounts, business debit and credit cards, business loans, and merchant services, such as credit card processing.
Digital Federal Credit Union
Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) offers a wide variety of online banking services, along with 23 DCU brick-and-mortar locations in the Northeast, over 5,900 Co-op shared branches, and more than 80,000 surcharge-free ATMs. Business banking services from DCU include free business checking with no minimum deposit or monthly fee and an APY as high as 0.10%, as well as business savings accounts with competitive returns.
First Internet Bank
Based in Fishers, Indiana, First Internet Bank opened for business in 1999 to provide consumers and businesses with branchless delivery of banking services. Services for business owners and real estate investors from First Internet Bank include small-business and commercial checking, savings and certificates of deposit (CDs), and financing for residential development and commercial construction.
KeyBank
KeyBank is one of the largest bank-based financial services companies in the U.S., with about 1,000 full-service branches in 15 states, and over 40,000 ATMs nationwide. Business banking services include checking and savings, business rewards credit cards, and small-business loans. KeyBank also offers automated business tax payment services and E-Bill & Collect to invoice and collect recurring payments from tenants via ACH, credit cards, and debit cards.
LendingClub Banking
Boston-based LendingClub Banking acquired Radius Bank in 2021 to provide full-service virtual banking solutions for individuals and businesses. The bank was ranked as the best online bank of 2020 by Bankrate, and was recognized by Newsweek in 2022 as having the best cash-back checking account. LendingClub offers high-yield savings accounts with no monthly service fees, rewards and tailored checking accounts with no monthly maintenance fees, and a 0.10% APY (provided that minimum balance requirements are met).
NBKC
Headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, NBKC Bank is an online bank and mortgage lender with dozens of physical branches in the Kansas City metro area, plus over 37,000 MoneyPass ATMs in the U.S. and Puerto Rico. Solutions for business owners include checking and money market accounts, credit cards, and lending for real estate, construction, and Small Business Administration (SBA) loans.
PNC Bank
PNC Bank provides banking and financial services in 27 states and the District of Columbia, through nearly 3,000 branches and over 9,000 ATMs. Small-business banking services from PNC include business checking, credit cards, and merchant services. The bank also offers Analysis Business Checking to link multiple checking accounts for easier bookkeeping and improved cash-flow management.
U.S. Bank
U.S. Bank is the fifth-largest banking institution in the country, with more than 2,900 branches and 4,700 U.S. Bank ATMs. Investor-friendly banking solutions from U.S. Bank include business checking and savings accounts, business credit cards, lending, and merchant services. Business checking fees range from $0 to $30 per month and include 125 to 500 free transactions per month, depending on the checking plan and account balance.
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo is the third-largest bank in the U.S., with over $1.9 trillion in assets. The bank provides consumer and business banking services and mortgage products through more than 7,200 locations and over 13,000 ATMs. Small-business services from Wells Fargo include business checking and savings accounts, credit cards and credit lines, loans, and merchant services. Wells Fargo is also one of the most active SBA 7(a) lenders providing financial assistance to small businesses.
