NorthOne Business Banking Review 2022: The Right Choice for Small Business Banking?

By Emily Cahill

April 29, 2022

About NorthOne Business Banking

NorthOne is actually not a bank. It is a financial services firm that helps business owners manage their companies’ finances. The NorthOne platform offers a business deposit account for money management plus integration with other financial products and services business owners use to stay on top of their finances.

As a digital platform with a full-featured mobile app, NorthOne makes financial processes simple for small teams and freelancers who are on the move.

NorthOne Business Banking Features

NorthOne offers versatile features with its app and spending account.

Mobile Checking

NorthOne offers many of the same features you get with a checking account from a bank, with enhancements that make it even more useful. You can send invoices and deposit checks right from personal or company devices through the app.

Plus, users can mail hard-copy checks via the app. When used with the ACH and wire transfer payment features, the mobile checking options from NorthOne make it possible to pay clients and vendors using a variety of methods.

Pros

• Control incoming and outgoing payments from the app on the go
• Pay clients and vendors however they prefer right from deposit account

Cons

• Mostly mobile-only account features
• No physical NorthOne locations, although you can make cash deposits to your account via MoneyPass ATMs

Team Debit Cards

For team members authorized to make purchases and payments, NorthOne provides Mastercard debit cards issued by The Bancorp Bank. This means there’s no time-consuming shuffling of checkbooks or waiting periods for a single authorized user to make payments.

Pros

• Add whole team to one account
• No waiting for a single authorized cardholder

Cons

• Risk of overdrafts from multiple users on same account

Envelope Budgeting

Built into the NorthOne app is a budgeting system based on the physical “envelopes” budgeting system. Each envelope represents a category of personal or business expense. Users can designate percentages of payments received to be automatically deposited into specific envelopes to meet budgeting goals.

Pros

• Calculate tax payments automatically from each income payment
• Segment retirement, rent and other set cost expenses automatically

Cons

• Personal budgeting in a business account may be difficult for some professionals

Connect Business Apps

For small businesses using a variety of business and e-commerce apps, being able to connect these directly to their spending-account platform is essential for a smooth cash flow. NorthOne allows users to connect to their preferred e-commerce platforms so that payments can transfer directly to their deposit account.

Platforms available include

• Airbnb
• Square
• Etsy
• Amazon
• Shopify
• PayPal
• Stripe
• Toast
• Venmo

The NorthOne app can also integrate with accounting software, including QuickBooks.

Associated Costs

Users who wish to open a deposit account to access the mobile checking, e-commerce platform and accounting integration and budgeting options available can enroll for $10 a month.

When sending or receiving domestic wire transfers there is a $15 charge.

How To Open an Account

Joining NorthOne takes only minutes. Users may need documentation such as personal IDs, business licenses and state business documents, among others, to open a business account.

NorthOne Business Banking Security

With so many connected accounts, security is a primary concern at NorthOne. Account access can be controlled by the biometric settings on individual devices. Regular monitoring for fraud catches problems before they become catastrophes. If problems arise such as a lost debit card, users can freeze their account and request a new card.

NorthOne’s banking partner, The Bancorp Bank, is a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Accounts have a minimum of $250,000 worth of FDIC insurance.

Customer Service at NorthOne Business Banking

Clients can reach customer service at NorthOne via both email and phone. Calls can be scheduled in the app or by emailing for an appointment.

Competitors

There are a variety of mobile banking options geared towards freelancers and small businesses. Here are a few options similar to NorthOne that you may consider.

Lili

Lili is another digital banking service designed for freelancers. Lili makes it possible to automatically calculate taxes, tag purchases as business expenses for tax purposes, get a business debit card and send and receive invoices directly in the app.

Unlike NorthOne, Lili does not send ACH or wire payments. It also does not connect to payroll software.

Wells Fargo Small Business Checking

For small businesses interested in a brick-and-mortar small business checking account, Wells Fargo could be an alternative to NorthOne. It offers point-of-sale solutions through Clover, allowing businesses to accept many forms of payment, including digital payments such as ApplePay, on their own mobile devices.

Wells Fargo customers can also get savings and credit accounts for their small businesses, making Wells Fargo a better option for small businesses in need of full-service banking.

Small Businesses Have Specific Needs

Financial services firms catering to small businesses need to have tools specific to smaller teams and freelancers. Individuals and small teams can benefit from services through companies like NorthOne to save time. Freelancers especially benefit from having both business and personal expenses budgeted in the same account.

Is NorthOne Business Banking Right for You?

If you are a small business owner or manager looking for a way to connect a spending account to your accounting software and e-commerce platforms, NorthOne may be right for you. NorthOne offers services that make it possible for its clients to focus on business tasks while streamlining some of their cash management tasks.

You’ll need to figure out whether the time saved by integrating e-commerce apps and accounting options is worth the $120 in annual fees. For small businesses with few workers and many moving parts, offloading time-consuming financial processes may well be worth the cost.

Daria Uhlig contributed to the reporting for this article.

This article has been updated with additional reporting since its original publication.

This content is not provided by NorthOne Business Banking. Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by NorthOne Business Banking.

About the Author

Emily Cahill

Emily Cahill is a writer with over three years of experience creating digital content. Previous to that, she worked as a freelancer in publishing while attending Trinity College for English/Rhetoric. She specializes in SEO-driven content that highlights the unique properties of a product or service while making them digitally “findable,” particularly for the finance, geek culture, and lifestyle niches.