Shop Around on Your Banks
I should have posted this weeks ago. Banks. So yeah, we got a bank account so that way when people write checks we can deposit them. Shop around on this one.
I was naive enough to think I could just walk into the bank with he lion as the symbol. Why did I choose that one? Well, they have a location down the street from me, down the street from where we meet and down the street from my treasurer. How convenient is that?
Well, we went in there with all our paperwork and an initial deposit of $500. Ready to sign up. The bank manager sat us down and gave us an option with 250 free transactions per month and oodles of goodies and low fees and then when we are about to sign up he looks at us and asks,"So are just a church group or a full church?"
"We are a church," I replied.
"Oh, we cannot give you this one."
"Why?"
"Um, we got a memo about churches."
"So what can I get?"
"Um….this model here." He then shows me one for larger companies that has no free transactions, and higher monthly fees.
"But can other 501c3’s that are incorporated use the other one you just spent ten minutes showing me?"
"Yeah"
"But how come churches cannot?"
"We got a memo. Not really sure why."
"Ah, very well. So assuming we wanted to get this account here and pay you to let us have an account here…what do we do next?"
"I will need your drivers license and social security cards and $10 from each of you so we can run a credit check. For churches you need to have a credit rating from every signer of at least 580 to have an account."
"Huh? Why is that?"
"We got a memo."
"May I see this magic memo you speak so often of?"
"No."
"Have a nice day, we are going somewhere else."
So, 2 banks later we ended up choosing a bank we were comfortable with and had a reasonable fee structure. It all came down to fees and friendliness at that point. At none of the other banks were there mysterious memos and strange requests. We were treated as any other small not for profit. Shop around before you walk into the bank.
