Small businesses are the lifeblood of every community. We at Florida Capital Bank are proud to be the longest-standing community bank in the Jacksonville area! When you’re looking for a banking partner, knowing what business services are available is incredibly important.
This article can help whether you’re new to owning a business or you’re a seasoned business owner. No matter which you are, it’s good to know what’s available to you and your business when it comes to banking. We’ll make sure you have all the information you need!
The following is based on what we at Florida Capital Bank offer to our business customers to help them thrive. As an award-winning bank, we have high standards for making sure businesses get personalized banking services. This is a list of what we think businesses should keep an eye out for, and that’s why we offer it!
Business Banking vs. Consumer Banking
While we offer some consumer banking options, our focus has always been on having the best business bank accounts in Florida. There are some differences to understand between business and consumer banking options, the big one being the customer.
While not too dissimilar, the accounts serve slightly different purposes. Here are some typical business accounts and how they differ from their consumer counterparts to better help your business:
Business Checking Accounts: There are many different types of business checking accounts, each with different services that help meet different goals. All of our business checking accounts have low opening deposits, low or no fees and easy-to-use mobile banking.
- How They Differ: Business checking accounts have to help your business make purchases while also helping with accounting. There might be a limit to the number of purchases you can make per month, but this helps to ensure that you’re keeping your balance high.
Business Savings Accounts: These are helpful whether you’re just starting your business or you’re looking to take it to the next level. All of our business savings accounts have low opening deposits, low or no fees and easy-to-use mobile banking.
- How They Differ: Similar to business checking, business savings accounts usually are built with a goal to keep your business accounts flush and make sure you can track your finances accurately and easily. Thanks to businesses usually having higher balances, business savings accounts usually have higher interest rates than consumer savings accounts. Learn more about our business checking and savings accounts today.
Business Loans: Businesses look for additional funding help, which we can provide. Similar to how consumers research mortgage loans, personal loans and auto loans, businesses have to pick the business loan that best meets their needs.
- How They Differ: The types of loans offered to businesses are different from those offered to consumers. There are equipment and real estate loans that might be similar to home and auto loans, but there are also several other types of business loans that come with their own tax implications. Business term loans allow you to finance major equipment, plant or building expansion projects. These loans are typically secured by the fixed assets owned by your business (buildings, real estate and equipment). Purchase the commercial property your business needs or refinance to improve your cash flow. FLCBank offers commercial loans to businesses across Florida.
Other Business Banking Services
Business banking doesn’t stop there – there is a whole suite of services dedicated to helping make sure your business’s finances are flowing how they’re supposed to.
Here are some of the top services you might see while looking for a financial institution to partner with:
Treasury Management Services:
Business treasury management solutions are any services that help you manage cash flow beyond your basic checking and savings accounts. This could range from payroll to sending and paying invoices, fraud protection, liquidity and more. The following treasury management services are most common to come across:
- Automatic Clearing House (ACH): ACH services automate payments. When you set up ACH, you can streamline your operations by automating payments and wire transfers! This gives your employees and business partners faster access to funds while saving you time on processing the payments.
- Check Positive Pay: Similar to ACH, check positive pay is related to automatic payments, and it helps detect fraud.
- Remote Deposit Capture: Don’t worry about bringing your checks to a branch; with our remote deposit capture, you can deposit checks electronically and securely from your office (or anywhere with a secure internet connection).
- Lockbox: Your customers and business partners can send their payments directly to your lockbox, where they’ll be processed quickly and deposited into your account. Access your funds and payment information easier with lockbox!
- Sweep Services: Sweep services allow businesses to move finances automatically from one account to another. The purpose may be to reduce debt in an account, to move excess funds so they earn interest or to minimize what’s in your checking account.
Business Debit and Credit Cards
Spending money efficiently is just as important as saving money efficiently! You’ll want a business debit card and credit card that allow you to control your finances. There are three main goals with a business credit card.
- Build your credit: Your business has credit just like you do! There are credit cards that are specifically built to help your company grow its credit.
- Separate your finances: Your personal finances and work finances should stay separate. With a good business credit card, you can control your finances easily while keeping them separate from your personal finances.
- Get rewarded: You have to spend money to run a business, why not get rewarded for it? A good rewards program can help you keep your costs down while you shop.
Industry-Specific Banking Solutions
Some financial institutions have special business loans and business bank accounts. While looking for an institution to partner with, finding one that already knows and works in your industry can help streamline your banking.
Online Business Banking
One more helpful service to look for is an online business bank account. Running a business takes enough work; you shouldn’t have to spend half your day trying to get your banking done in person! Online account management is incredibly important for business owners and can save you a lot of time and effort.
Finding a Bank
The final step is the hardest one: finding a bank! The best place to start is to look for one in your area. Jacksonville community banking might not be hard to come by, which means you have to be thorough in your search. Start by looking into industry-specific banking and talking to other business owners about who they’ve had success with.
Finding banks that have been in the area for a long time or make efforts to help better the community is a good strategy. For example, we’ve been a Jacksonville community bank for a long time, and we dedicate a lot of our time to building up the community through fundraising, supporting local organizations and donating to local causes.
Join Florida Capital Bank
A bank that is active in the community wants to help it grow can be a great partner to help grow your business! If you like the products and services listed above and want to work with Florida Capital Bank to grow your small business, start by finding a branch near you.
If you’re looking for additional non-business solutions, we do offer consumer banking options! You can also turn to us for home loans, we offer a variety of jumbo products as well as fixed & adjustable-rate mortgages, personal checking accounts, savings accounts and debit and credit cards.