After obtaining your licenses opening a business bank account should be the next step for you. Every aspect of running a business revolves around money. It is not wise to use your personal bank account for your business, simply because you need to be able to separate your personal finances from your business finance.

Opening a business bank account is the easiest way to allow government departments, creditors and auditors to assess your business and helps you achieve accountability; as well as giving your business credibility. Even a sole proprietor with a small company should have a business bank account in order to organize your finances and for public and trade identification.

Again, you should never use your personal account for business purposes. There are many differences between business and personal accounts. In general, deposits are required to open a business account; the amount of deposits vary but can range anywhere from $100 to $500 or more, depending upon the type of account you open.

Typically banks offer anywhere from one to three different types of business accounts. Free account, small business, and business; the free account will likely be the one to require the least amount of deposit, may offer no maintenance fee, have a specified amount of free transactions, then resort to a lower per transaction fee after you’ve exceeded the free amount. This type of account is designed for a small business with low transaction activity.

The next level for small business will likely require a minimum deposit and could require a minimum daily balance with a fee being accessed if you do not meet the daily balance. It should also include a minimum number of free transactions with a fee being charged if you exceed the free transactions. This type of account is designed for a small business with moderate transaction activity.

The largest type of business account will require the highest minimum deposit, may or may not require a minimum balance, almost always carries a monthly maintenance fee, and could offer transactions per month tracking and account analysis.

In addition to those types of accounts, banks generally offer business bank account holders a wide variety of other services like safe deposit boxes, money orders, cashiers checks, night depository, credit card merchant programs, federal tax and FICA deposits and overdraft protection. They may offer working capital lines of credit, real estate financing and equipment loans, along with trust services.

For the corporate business they may offer defined employee contribution plans, defined benefit plans and non-qualified plans. For sole proprietorships, investment management, IRA and SEP accounts, and trust accounts may be offered.

Lastly, in this day and age they’ll likely offer convenient online banking.

In order to successfully run a business online you will need a merchant account allowing your customers to pay at the time of purchase (called point of sale) using credit or debit cards. Your bank may or may not offer merchant accounts; you should check with the bank of your choice to verify that they do offer this service, if you intend to do business online. If not, seriously consider finding another bank that will accept credit/debit card payments on your behalf, as online consumer purchases and business transactions are growing daily.

How this works is your customer purchases an item on your website and their credit or debit card is charged and the amount credited to your bank account on regular intervals, for example monthly or when the account reaches a previously determined amount. Some merchant accounts allow you to credit the funds to your account upon your request.

There is generally a charge of initial set-up fees and an ongoing monthly charge with merchant accounts. Typically there is also a small charge for each transaction processed.

An important thing to consider is choosing a gateway to handle your credit card payments. A gateway, simply speaking, is a third party company that connects your website to your merchant account.  The gateway facilitates online payments by connecting your secure order form with your merchant account at the bank. Basically the gateway takes the data your customer has submitted and gives it to the bank. After the bank has responded to the gateway it then gives that return data to the site for handling.

When searching for gateways keep a few things in mind. Look for *available features, cost and reliability. Be absolutely confident that the gateway provider offers the highest form of security for your customers.