Foo - Small business banking

Was wondering if anyone here owns a small business and which bank do they use? I'm looking to open a checking account and a business credit card.

I've used Bank of America for my personal account in the past without problems but was wondering if anyone had better experiences with other banks.

small business bank service sucks harder than personal banking.

Find a smallish local bank that has not needed TARP money (which means they are conservative with their investments) where you know the loan officers. Move your personal accts there and then talk. It will be much easier to get business credit lines that way.

I'd consider a credit union. None have had to take TARP funds, and a number of them actually have decent services for SMBs, including lines of credit. However, +1 on the above advice of moving personal stuff to a stable bank, then going for business items.

For more than a decade, I was satisfied with LaSalle Bank (IL), who were then bought, but remained in place. Last year they were swallowed by BoA, who announced humongous minimum balances to offset big fees, sweetened by the personal touch of an Engulf & Devour bank, so I left.

I use a small regional bank for my small business accounts and even my personal one as well. Small business banking can be straightforward and pleasant if you find the right organization to work with. I like mine because I always get a live person when I call in and I never have to push 50 gazillion buttons before I get to a customer service rep. Everything gets taken care of quickly and if they have to call you back (for whatever reason) they do so promptly. Occasionally I have to deal with big banks like Wells Fargo, BOA and others when I have to verify checks that people give me. I can say from experience that it's often a pain to deal with these banks. I almost always have to wait to speak to a live person and only after listening to a bunch of menu options and pushing a lot of buttons to finally end up in the right place. yuck!

Thanks for the responses. I'll definitely be looking at some of the more local options.

Surpringly the hardest part of all this is coming up with a business name. EVERYTHING has a domain name already registered. I'm going to be starting a small tech business, and was trying to go for a one word company name. I literally sat on the computer for 3 hours last night making words up outta my ass and ALL the domains are registered.

Either it's a small company who hasn't updated their site since 1998 or squatters took over the domain. It's redic the number of registered domains with NO website. I'm very frustrated. I'm considering going _____solutions.com. But even in that case, I'd prefer to have both versions registered for traffic.