Our Take
The bottom line:
QuickBooks Money offers payment processing services plus a business checking account with no monthly fee and up to 5% APY on some funds. It’s a solid choice for the owners of new or very small businesses who make most of their transactions online and want to earn interest.
QuickBooks Money
Deposits are FDIC Insured
Monthly fee
$0
APY
5.00% With $0 min. balance for APY
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Account holders can set money aside for specific purposes and earn 5% APY on it.
- Built-in invoicing.
- Built-in payment processing, which means same-day availability for some funds.
Cons
- No check writing.
- Only four free ATM withdrawals per month; $3 per withdrawal after that.
Full Review
QuickBooks Money is a banking platform that includes payment processing, invoicing services and a business checking account. This review, and the corresponding star rating, focus on the checking account, which is known as QuickBooks Checking.
QuickBooks Checking is an online-only account with few fees, plus a whopping 5% APY on funds you store in so-called savings “envelopes.” Its banking services are provided by Green Dot Bank, which offers Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage of up to $5 million via an Insured Cash Sweep program.
As part of the QuickBooks ecosystem, QuickBooks Checking may be a good choice for freelancers or solopreneurs looking to manage their finances in a single place. Its inclusion of QuickBooks Payments means you can receive customer payments within a day — no need to transfer them from a separate account. It also integrates with the popular QuickBooks Online for accounting (and is available to business owners who already subscribe to that product).
However, QuickBooks Money loses marks for its low limit on free ATM visits and its lack of checks. If at least some of your business takes place offline, you may want to seek other options.
QuickBooks Money is best for small-business owners who:
- Do not write checks or use large amounts of cash.
- Want to earn interest on the money in their checking account.
- Don’t want to use a separate payment processing program (and are willing to accept slightly higher fees for the convenience).
If that doesn’t sound like your business, there are several strong alternatives to QuickBooks Money:
- Want built-in payment processing plus additional banking services? Chase business checking offers full-service banking, including checks, a large branch network and tens of thousands of ATMs. Plus, you can take payments through your Chase app using the bank’s QuickAccept service. Chase’s account does charge a monthly fee, but there are multiple ways to waive it.
- Want to earn interest on all your funds? Consider Bluevine’s business checking account. It offers 2% APY on all the money in your checking account, up to $250,000 — no need to manage envelopes. But similar to QuickBooks Checking, Bluevine limits cash deposits to $5,500 per day and $7,500 per 30-day period.
QuickBooks Checking at a glance
This is the bank account you'll have access to through QuickBooks, whether you sign up for QuickBooks Money or open an account via QuickBooks Online.
Monthly fee | $0. |
Minimum opening deposit requirement | $0. |
APY | 5% on funds stored in envelopes. |
Transactions | Unlimited in quantity. Debit card spending is limited to $10,000 per day. Cash withdrawals are limited to $2,000 per day and $10,000 per month. |
How to open a QuickBooks Money account
Signing up for QuickBooks Money starts with making an account with Intuit, the parent company of Quickbooks. Then, you’ll enter some basic information about your business — your business name, industry, entity type, address and phone number. An employer identification number is not required.
QuickBooks also asks for personal information like your birthdate and the last four digits of your Social Security number for identity verification.
Your account application can be approved within minutes.
To move funds into your account, you can link other checking accounts, payments apps or gig work apps to QuickBooks Money. You can add your new debit card to your digital wallet, and you’ll receive one in the mail too.
QuickBooks Online users: How to open a QuickBooks Checking account
If you already use QuickBooks Online, you have built-in access to both QuickBooks Checking and QuickBooks Payments for no additional fee. You can log into your existing QuickBooks account and apply for a bank account there.
Where QuickBooks Money stands out
Built-in payment processing: QuickBooks Money users can manage their banking and take payments using the same app. That means one less account to create and one less app to install to manage your business. It also means customer funds are deposited directly into your checking account — so you won’t have to wait the usual day or two for the transfer from your payment processor to your checking account to clear.
QuickBooks Payments charges a processing fee of 2.99% per online transaction. That’s roughly on par with competitors (
Stripe Payments
, for instance, charges 2.9% plus 30 cents), but high-volume businesses could potentially find cheaper payment processing. To learn more about payments services, including payment processing fees, see NerdWallet’s review of QuickBooks Payments. 5% APY on envelopes: The “envelopes” functionality allows users to move money into up to nine separate buckets for expenses like payroll, quarterly estimated taxes or large purchases. Once there, funds earn 5% APY — quite a bit higher than any other free business checking account.
You’ll need to remember to move your money to an envelope to earn that rate. And to spend it, you’ll have to move it out of an envelope. Considering those hoops, you may simply want to use QuickBooks Money like a business savings account. It can make sense to have multiple business bank accounts, and QuickBooks Money’s high APY and FDIC limit make it a solid place to park an emergency fund.
Integration with other QuickBooks products: If your business grows to the point that you want to start using accounting software, QuickBooks will almost certainly be on your radar. Most business bank accounts should integrate with QuickBooks — but if you already use QuickBooks Money, all your data will automatically carry over.
Where QuickBooks Money falls short
Limits on cash withdrawals, deposits: Many online business bank accounts place some restrictions on cash deposits and withdrawals, and QuickBooks Checking is no different.
You can only withdraw up to $2,000 per day or $10,000 per month at an ATM, and just four withdrawals per month are free — you’ll pay $3 each after that, even at the 55,000 Allpoint ATMs that are in network.
On the flip side, QuickBooks Checking customers can deposit up to $5,000 per day — a higher limit than some other accounts that focus on freelancers, like Lili and Found. Still, fees vary depending on which Green Dot-network retailer you use and can be as high as $5.95.
No checks: QuickBooks Checking users can’t write checks. The app does include mobile check deposit, though.
Need more flexibility with cash, checks or both? Consider the NBKC business account. It has similarly few fees, plus no fees on ATM withdrawals or limits on cash deposits. NBKC offers checks, too. But you’ll have to sacrifice that high APY — funds in this account don’t earn interest.
No weekend customer support: Support is available from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific time on weekdays, primarily via live chat. Some additional phone support is available during those hours.
Side hustlers who work nontraditional hours may want to consider Axos and American Express, both of which offer 24/7 customer support.
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