Finding a good business checking account can be difficult – a lot of them charge fees, require minimum balances, are difficult to open, and to be frank, simply aren’t very good. For years, I used Azlo, a free online business checking account that charged no fees and had a great app and website. In my opinion, it was one of the best business checking accounts out there.
Unfortunately, Azlo announced that it was shutting down in early 2021, which means that I had to look for a new business checking account for my writing and blogging business. The bank I decided to use was Bank Novo – an obvious successor to Azlo.
Like Azlo, Bank Novo is a free online business checking account with no fees, no minimum balance requirements, and a great app and website. I’ve now moved all of my business checking activity to Bank Novo and have been very happy with my experience so far.
In this Bank Novo review, I’m going to go over what Bank Novo is, discuss some of its best features, answer some frequently asked questions, and explain why Bank Novo is the business checking account I recommend and personally use.
What Is Bank Novo?
Bank Novo is a free online business checking account aimed at startups and small business owners. There are four main things you should know about Bank Novo.
First, Bank Novo is a fintech company. That means it’s a tech company that partners with an FDIC-insured bank. Your funds are securely held with Middlesex Federal Savings, a federally chartered bank headquartered in Massachusetts. Bank Novo provides the back end and customer service for your account. Middlesex Federal Savings holds your money.
Second, Bank Novo does not charge monthly fees or require a minimum balance. Interestingly, Bank Novo also reimburses all ATM fees worldwide, which is a nice perk that can be useful for some people. The only fee I was able to find is a $27 insufficient funds fee which is easily avoided so long as you don’t overdraft your account.
Third, Bank Novo is an online-only bank. You can only access your account via the Bank Novo app or on the Bank Novo website. Since it’s an online-only bank, there are no physical branches, so if you’re looking for a bank with physical branches, this is not the bank for you. I haven’t had to go into a bank branch in years and I can’t think of any reason that I’d need to go into a branch, so an online-only bank works perfectly for me.
Finally, Bank Novo is a business checking account which means you can only get it if you have a business. They support sole proprietors, LLCs, partnerships, and corporations. In other words, so long as you have some sort of business, you are eligible to open a Bank Novo account.
Bank Novo’s Best Features
Bank Novo has a lot of features that make it a good bank. Here are some of the most important features to think about when it comes to Bank Novo.
1. No Fees or Minimum Balance Requirements
I have one non-negotiable item when it comes to any bank – it has to be 100% free. That means no monthly fees and no minimum balance requirement. On principle, I don’t think anyone should have to pay a fee to use a bank.
Bank Novo does exactly that. It doesn’t charge any fees and doesn’t require any minimum balance. The only exception is that you have to fund your account with $50 to open your account, but your balance can drop below that without any issue.
The fact that Bank Novo charges no fees is in contrast to many other business bank accounts, which often charge monthly fees or require you to maintain a minimum monthly balance to keep the account fee-free. The only fee you have to worry about with Bank Novo is an overdraft fee but so long as you don’t overdraft your account, you’ll have no issues with fees.
2. Easy to Open
Opening your Bank Novo account is easy. To open your account, you simply select what type of business you have (i.e. sole proprietorship, LLC, S-Corp, etc), then submit any supporting documents they request. Your account should be approved within a few days. The entire signup process is online and should take you about 10 minutes to complete. My account was approved and up and running within a few days.
3. Intuitive and Easy to Use App and Website
In my experience, many (if not most) business checking accounts from larger banks have poorly designed apps and websites.
Fintech banks, by contrast, always have gorgeous apps and websites. Bank Novo is no different. Both the app and website are intuitive and easy to use.
One really important feature with Bank Novo is that you can add notes to your transactions. This is particularly helpful for someone like me since I have income that comes into my business from various sources. It makes it much easier when I can label a transaction and remind myself what the transaction is.
4. Easy Invoicing
If you’re running a business, you may have to send invoices to clients. I have several affiliate partners that require me to send an invoice to them at the end of each month.
Bank Novo allows you to easily create invoices that you can then email to your clients. Clients can then pay you via ACH. If you have Stripe, you can even accept payments via credit card.
5. Novo Reserves Feature
One interesting feature that Bank Novo offers is called Novo Reserves. This feature allows you to create a separate sub-account within your checking account that you can earmark for specific expenses (think taxes, payroll, or any other larger savings that you may need to do).
Funds kept in your reserves are removed from your available balance, so you won’t accidentally spend it. Whenever you need the funds, you simply move them back into your available balance.
I don’t personally use the Novo Reserve feature, but it can definitely be helpful if you’re trying to organize your account. One thing to note is that you can only create one Reserve at a time, but Bank Novo is working on allowing users to create multiple Reserves.
6. Mobile Check Deposit
Bank Novo allows you to deposit checks via your app. By default, the app limits you to $20,000 of check deposits per day and $40,000 per month, but they can adjust these limits if your business needs to deposit larger checks.
Bank Novo FAQ
There are a few important questions that you may have about Bank Novo, primarily around whether Bank Novo is secure and whether your funds are safe. Here are the answers to those questions.
Is Bank Novo Legit? Yes. Bank Novo is a legit fintech bank that is partnered with a traditional bank. Bank Novo provides the platform and your funds are kept with Middlesex Federal Savings.
Is Bank Novo Safe? Yes. Your funds are held by Middlesex Federal Savings, which is a regulated, traditional bank. Bank Novo says they have a dedicated security team and use bank-grade encryption to keep your information secure.
Is Bank Novo FDIC Insured? A very important question with any bank account is whether your funds are FDIC-insured. The definitive answer is yes, any funds you have with Bank Novo are FDIC-insured up to $250,000. All of your funds are kept with Middlesex Federal Savings, which is an FDIC-insured bank. The short of it is that your money is safe and is fully insured by the FDIC, so you can rest easy on that front.
How I Use Bank Novo
I have two types of businesses, so I use two different business checking accounts to keep everything organized.
The first type of business I have is income that I earn from gig economy and sharing economy apps (think apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, Grubhub, Shipt, Instacart, Rover, etc). All of the gig economy apps I use classify me as an independent contractor. When you’re an independent contractor, you’re technically a business consisting of only yourself.
I don’t use Bank Novo for my gig economy income – instead, I use a different free business checking account called Lili, which is geared specifically towards freelancers and gig workers. Lili is a simple business checking account that, in my opinion, is better suited for gig economy and simple sole proprietor businesses. For more information on Lili, check out my Lili Bank Review. I also have a guide I wrote on how to earn a Lili referral bonus.
The second type of business I have is this blog. The blog is more complicated compared to my gig economy side hustles because I have to pay contractors and have a business partner. Because of that, I’ve opted to use a more full-featured business checking account for this business. Previously, I used Azlo, but since Azlo shut down, I’ve now switched all of my blog revenue over to Bank Novo.
Everything I earn from this blog goes into my Bank Novo checking account. Any business expenses go on a business credit card specifically dedicated to the blog. I then pay my credit card bills from my Bank Novo account. At the end of each month, I tally my revenue and profit, then pay myself the profit into my personal checking account.
This is the system that I’ve been using for a while and it works well for me. You can use any system that works for you – just make sure you have a separate business checking account so you can stay organized.
Final Thoughts On Bank Novo
Bank Novo is an excellent bank account and one that I highly recommend for anyone looking for a full-featured business checking account with no fees. It’s very similar to Azlo and I think it’s the perfect replacement for any Azlo users out there.
I wouldn’t recommend Bank Novo to anyone with a business that handles a lot of cash. If you’re that type of business, you’re going to need to go with a traditional brick-and-mortar bank (and unfortunately, you’re probably going to have to deal with fees or other hoops to jump through to avoid fees).
But if you’re someone that works online or has a business that primarily deals with credit cards, then Bank Novo is a bank worth checking out. I use it for all of the revenue I earn from this blog and can highly recommend it as a business checking account.
If it makes sense for you and you feel like supporting this site, you can open your Bank Novo account using my referral link. You’ll receive a $40 signup bonus after you fund your Bank Novo account with at least $100 within 30 days of opening your account and maintain that balance for at least 30 days. The full referral bonus terms can be found here.
I hope you found this post helpful. Feel free to leave any comments or questions below.
This post may contain affiliate links. Financial Panther has partnered with AwardWallet and CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Financial Panther, AwardWallet, and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Some or all of the card offers that appear on the website are from advertisers. Compensation may impact on how and where card products appear on the site. The site does not include all card companies, or all available card offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
More Recommended Ebike/Scooters
Check out these other ebikes and scooters I've reviewed:
- Urban Arrow Ebike – Last year, I made one of the largest purchases I’ve ever made – I bought a $9,000 electric cargo bike from Urban Arrow. In my Urban Arrow review, I will discuss what it is and why I decided to buy this bike, as well as discuss how impactful a bike like this can be on your journey to financial independence.
- Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Ebike – The Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is a fat-tire ebike that I’ve had the pleasure of riding for a while now. It has amazing power, great looks, and awesome range. If you’re looking for a great fat-tire ebike that offers a lot for the price, the Troxus Explorer Step-Thru is definitely one for you to consider. Check out my Troxus Explorer Step-Thru Review.
- Hovsco HovBeta Ebike – The HovBeta is a folding ebike with great specs and a lot of interesting features, and importantly, it’s sold at a good price point. I’ve had a blast commuting with it and using it to do deliveries with DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. Check out my Hovsco HovBeta Ebike Review.
- Vanpowers Manidae Ebike – The Vanpowers Manidae is a fat tire ebike that I’ve been riding as my primary winter commuting bike and have also been using it to do food delivery with apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. After clocking in a decent number of miles with this ebike, I wanted to write a post sharing what my experience with the Vanpowers Manidae ebike has been like. Check out my Vanpowers Manidae Review.
- Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding EBike Review – A Great Value Folding Ebike – The Sohamo S3 Step-Thru Folding Ebike is an entry-level folding ebike that offers a lot of value for the price point. I’ve been riding the Sohamo S3 for a while now, putting the bike through its paces, and I have to say, this bike has exceeded all of my expectations. Check out my Sohamo Review.
- KBO Flip Ebike – The KBO Flip is an excellent bike. I’ve had a great time riding it and think it’s a versatile bike that can be used for a lot of purposes and can fit a variety of lifestyles. It’s worked out great for me as a general commuter bike and as a food delivery bike. Check out my KBO Flip Review.
- Hiboy P7 Commuter Ebike – The Hiboy P7 is an excellent electric commuter bike that’s offered at an affordable price point. The range and speed of this bike are both very good, so you won’t have any trouble getting anywhere you need to go with it. As a food delivery vehicle, this is also good – with how much range it offers, you’ll be able to work all day on a single charge. Check out my Hiboy P7 Commuter Electric Bike Review.
- Himiway Escape Ebike – The Himiway Escape is an interesting bike for anyone looking for a moped-style ebike. If you’re a gig economy worker, the Himiway Escape is particularly interesting and it’s possible to think of it as an investment, especially if you can opt to do deliveries with the Himiway versus using a car. It’s not cheap, but you can definitely make your money back when you compare the mileage you’ll put on your car versus using an ebike. Check out my Himiway Escape Bike Review.
- Espin Sport Ebike – The Espin Sport is a good ebike for someone who is looking for an ebike that feels and rides more like a regular bike. There are many ebikes that are really only bikes in name. In reality, they’re basically electric mopeds. The Espin Sport, by contrast, is a bike you could probably ride without the battery and you’d feel like you’re just riding a regular bike. Check out my Espin Sport Review.
- Varla Eagle One Scooter – The Varla Eagle One is an excellent scooter that can make sense for a lot of people. It can work as a primary mode of transportation. You can use it to work on gig economy apps like DoorDash, Uber Eats, and Grubhub. And it can also be a recreational vehicle if you’d prefer to use it for that. Check out my Varla Eagle One Review.
- Varla Falcon Scooter – The Varla Falcon is an excellent scooter that offers a good amount of power at a lower price point compared to more powerful scooters. It’s not exactly an entry-level scooter, nor is it a high-powered scooter. I think it fits somewhere in-between those two categories – an intermediate scooter if I had to give it a category. Check out my Varla Falcon Review.
- Hiboy S2 Scooter – The Hiboy S2 is an excellent entry-level commuter scooter that's perfect for someone looking to save some money in transportation costs and improve their commute. Check out my Hiboy S2 Review.
- Hiboy S2R Scooter – The Hiboy S2R is one of the more interesting electric scooters I’ve been able to test out. It’s not a high-powered scooter, but for an everyday transport option, it’s very useful, especially given some of the unique features that it has. Indeed, for the price, the Hiboy S2R might be the best value scooter I’ve used. Check out my Hiboy S2R Review.
- Fucare H3 Scooter – The Fucare H3 is a fun scooter and I’ve enjoyed testing it out. For a daily commuter or quick trips or errands, the Fucare H3 is probably the scooter I’ll use. It’s portable and easy to maneuver, so it’s just easier to take on the road when I need it. Check out my Fucare H3 Scooter Review.
More Recommended Investing App Bonuses
For additional investing app bonuses, be sure to check out the ones below:
- M1 Finance ($100) – This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account. Check out my M1 Finance Referral Bonus – Step-By-Step Guide.
- SoFi Invest ($25) – SoFi Invest is an easy brokerage account bonus that you can earn with just a few minutes of work. Use my SoFi Invest referral link, fund your SoFi Invest brokerage account with just $10 and you’ll get $25 of free stock. I also have a step-by-step guide for the SoFi Invest referral bonus.
- Webull (20 free stock shares) – Webull's current promotion gives you 20 free shares valued between $3-$3,000 each if you open an account using my referral link. Here’s a guide I wrote about how to earn your free shares using Webull.
- Moomoo (15 free stocks) – Moomoo is a free investing app currently offering 2 different referral bonuses if you open an account using a referral link. Read my Moomoo referral bonus guide for more information.
- Robinhood (1 free stock) – Robinhood gives you a free stock valued between $2.50-$225 if you open an account using my referral link.
- Public (1 free stock) - Public gives you a free stock valued between $3-$70 if you open an account using my referral link.
More Recommended Bank Account Bonuses
If you’re looking for more easy bank bonuses, check out the below options. These bonuses are all easy to earn and have no fees or minimum balance requirements to worry about.
- SoFi Money ($325) – SoFi Money is a free checking account from SoFi. They’re currently offering a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi account with a referral link and deposit $10. You can also make an additional $300 as well if you complete a direct deposit. This is a good bank that is also 100% free, so you won’t have to worry about managing this account. Here’s a post I wrote with instructions on how to earn your SoFi Money bonus: SoFi Money Referral Bonus: Step By Step Guide.
- Upgrade ($300) – Upgrade is a free checking account that’s currently offering a $300 referral bonus if you open an account and complete a direct deposit. These bonus terms are easy to meet, so it’s well worth doing this bonus as soon as you can. Here’s a post I wrote with more details: Upgrade $300 Referral Bonus – Step By Step Directions.
- Fairwinds Credit Union ($175) – Fairwinds Credit Union is offering a referral bonus for users that sign up using a referral link. Fairwinds has no fees or minimum balance, so this is a particularly easy bonus to earn. Since this is a smaller credit union, my gut instinct tells me this offer won’t be around long, so if you’re in a position to meet the bonus requirements, grab this bonus before it’s gone. Here is my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Fairwinds Credit Union bonus.
- Chime ($100) - Chime is a free bank account that offers a referral bonus if you use a referral link and complete a direct deposit of $200 or more. In practice, any ACH transfer into this account triggers the bonus. This bonus is easy to earn and posts instantly, so you’ll know if you met the requirements as soon as you move money into the account. I wrote a step-by-step guide on how to earn your Chime referral bonus that I recommend you check out.
- US Bank Business ($800) – This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, since there are no direct deposit requirements. In addition, you can open the Silver Business Checking account, which comes with no monthly fees. Check out how to earn this big bonus here.
- Fifth Third Bank ($200) – This offer is limited to customers in the following states: Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, West Virginia, and South Carolina. If you don’t live in one of those states, you won’t be able to open an account online but you can still open an account in-branch if you happen to be visiting a city that has a branch. This is a fairly easy bank bonus to earn, especially since there are plenty of data points showing what will trigger the direct deposit requirement. In addition, you can open the Fifth Third Momentum Checking bank account, which comes with no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements. Read my guide on this bonus here.
- GO2Bank ($50) - GO2Bank is an easy bank bonus that I recommend people take advantage of if they have an easy way of meeting the direct deposit requirement. I like that it’s easy to open the account and that the bonus pays out quickly. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your GO2Bank $50 referral bonus.
- Current ($50) – Current is a free fintech bank that’s offering new users a $50 referral bonus after signing up for an account using a referral link. Current is an easy bonus to earn and also gives you access to three savings accounts that pay you 4% interest on up to $2,000. That means you can put away up to $6,000 earning 4% interest. That’s very good and makes Current an account I recommend to everyone. Check out my step-by-step guide on how to earn your Current Bank bonus.
- Novo Bank ($40) - Novo bank is a free business checking account that’s currently offering a $40 bonus if you open a Novo business checking account using a referral link. In addition to being a good bank bonus, Novo is also a good business checking account. It has no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements and operates a good app and website. Indeed, it’s the business checking account I currently use for this blog. Check out my post on how to easily open a Novo account.
- Varo ($25) – Varo is a free fintech banking app similar to Chime or Current. It’s currently offering a $25 bonus to new users that open a new Varo account with a referral link. The bonus for this bank is very easy to meet, all you need to do is spend $20 within 30 days of opening your Varo account. Check out my step-by-step guide to learn how to earn this bonus.
Kevin is an attorney and the blogger behind Financial Panther, a blog about personal finance, travel hacking, and side hustling using the gig economy. He paid off $87,000 worth of student loans in just 2.5 years by choosing not to live like a big shot lawyer.
Kevin is passionate about earning money using the gig economy and you can see all the ways he makes extra income every month in his side hustle reports.
Kevin is also big on using the latest fintech apps to improve his finances. Some of Kevin's favorite fintech apps include:
- SoFi Money. A really good checking account with absolutely no fees. You'll get a $25 referral bonus if you open a SoFi Money account with a referral link, and an additional $300 if you complete a direct deposit.
- 5% Savings Accounts. I'm currently getting 5.24% interest on my savings through a company called Raisin. Opening a Raisin account takes minutes to complete, it's free, and all of your funds are FDIC-insured. I explain how it works, why I'm now using it to store my emergency fund and any other cash savings I have, and why I recommend everyone check it out in this review.
- US Bank Business. US Bank is currently offering new business customers a $800 signup bonus after opening a new account and meeting certain requirements.
- M1 Finance. This is a great robo-advisor that has no fees and allows you to create a customized portfolio based on your risk tolerance. You also get $100 for opening an account.
- Empower. One of best free apps you can use to monitor your portfolio and track your net worth. This is one of the apps I use to track my financial accounts.
Feel free to send Kevin a message here.
I was so happy to find Novo Bank, they seemed like a great solution for my business. My account was approved on Sunday and I moved over the required $50. On Tuesday I got an abrupt email to “Dear Customer” which initially I thought it was a phishing or spam email:
“Dear Customer, upon further review of your banking relationship, we have determined that unfortunately, we cannot continue to provide you with a business bank account. We will be closing your account effective immediately. After this date, all requested payments will be returned, no further deposits will be accepted, and the account will be permanently closed. If you have any questions regarding the contents of this letter, please email at support@banknovo.com.”
Very disappointing. I have emailed support to see if there is anything I can do to change the decision, but at this point I am not sure if I want to continue to do business with them. 🙁
Thats a bummer. I first applied for Novo back in 2018 I think and was also rejected for no apparent reason. Ended up going with Azlo, but then when they shut down, I applied with Novo again and have had a good experience since.
Hi Kevin, thanks for your response! To add insult to injury, they actually sent me a debit card! I thought for a minute they changed their mind but my email address that I signed up with is not found in their system, so I can’t get logged in.
They never replied back to my email, and they haven’t refunded my $50.
I have emailed them again…
Kevin, by any chance do you have a phone number you could share? I do not find anything on their site to start a chat, or a phone number, or send a message through contact. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!
This bank will not speak to me about a disputed charge and gives the same answer over and over again that only a third party can look up a dispute. They put up an illusion that they can protect people’s money, but they cannot and have not given me any evidence proving that I actually made a charge on my account when I did not.
This ‘bank’ is lacking in professionalism and ability to protect people’s money.
Hey!
Thanks for all your great content. I finally have my side hustle up and running and was looking into a business account. I read your Lily review and was thinking about that and then this popped up. I was a little confused about which one was better. Seems like Lily is for a smaller business compared to Bank Novo? Can you clarify when you would recommend one vs. another. Again, love your stuff and will continue to devour every post!
Hey Jordan, thanks for the kind words.
Here’s how I think about it.
I use Lili for all of my gig economy side hustles. These are all sole proprietorships that are very straightforward. The automatic setting aside of taxes works well for me here.
I use Bank Novo for my blog business. The reason I use Bank Novo for that is that I have a lot more complicated income sources with my blog and Novo is better for that because I can categorize things, send invoices, pay contractors, etc.
So long story – I think Lili is perfect for a gig worker or someone doing simple freelancing. Bank Novo is better for someone that has a more full-fledged business.
Gotcha, thanks for clarifying!
Thanks for this post, I’ve been looking for a free business checking. Signed up today.
Glad you found it helpful!