NorthOne Review: An Attractive Choice for Business Owners

Small business owners and sole proprietors can have a tough time finding bank accounts that don’t charge astronomical fees. This NorthOne review shares why small business owners have an attractive option with NorthOne. 

The checking account comes with a variety of features perfect for small business owners, including the ability to send and pay invoices, integrate with accounting software and Shopify and Etsy, and set up sub-accounts for easy money management.

Table of Contents

1. What Is NorthOne?
2. NorthOne Features
1. NorthOne New Account “bonus” – $20
2. Payroll, Invoice Pay, and Deposit Capabilities
3. Sub-Accounts with Auto-Transfer Capabilities
4. Invoicing Tools
5. Accounting Software Integration
6. Payment Processor Integration
3. NorthOne Fees
4. How to Open a NorthOne Account 
5. Additional NorthOne Features
6. Who Is NorthOne Best For?
7. NorthOne Pros and Cons
8. NorthOne Alternatives
1. BlueVine
2. Novo
3. Axos
9. Summary

What Is NorthOne?

NorthOne was founded in 2017 and officially launched to the public in 2019 and is not actually a bank, it’s a financial tech company. The actual checking account is backed by Bancorp Bank and is FDIC insured through Bancorp. 

As of this writing, nearly 200,000 business owners have chosen NorthOne for their business banking needs. 

NorthOne’s checking account was created especially for small business owners. And the great thing about NorthOne is that the account can work with all types of small businesses:

• Freelance businesses
• Sole proprietorships
• Small corporations
• Any other type and size of small business

The NorthOne account has a long list of features designed to make the financial management of your business easier so you can focus on growing your business. This includes a number of automated tasks that can help you more easily close books at the end of the month.

NorthOne account fees are both affordable and transparent.

The NorthOne mobile app gives you full control over your business finances so you can run your business from anywhere where there’s internet access and you use touch ID or face ID to ensure your information is secure. And, of course, you can use your PC to manage your NorthOne account too. 

Learn more about NorthOne

NorthOne Features

Each NorthOne feature makes it a little bit easier to manage your business finances. Here’s a rundown on some of NorthOne’s most prominent features and a little bit about how they can help your business.

NorthOne New Account “bonus” – $20

The $20 bonus is structured as a waiver of the NorthOne Deposit Account monthly fee (which is $10 per month) for two months.

This offer expires 6/6/2023.

Payroll, Invoice Pay, and Deposit Capabilities

In regards to depositing money in your NorthOne account, you can use NorthOne’s mobile app to deposit checks. 

NorthOne partners with Ingo Money for mobile check deposit services. Note that Ingo Money may charge a fee for mobile check deposit in some instances. See your NorthOne cardholder agreement for details.

If you need to deposit cash, you can do so free of fees when you use an in-network ATM.

The NorthOne account also lets you make ACH transfers and wire transfers right from your phone. This feature makes it easy for you to pay employees and vendors. 

And if you’d rather, you can make these transfers from your PC. 

The same goes for paying invoices. NorthOne has pay capabilities that allow you to pay invoices right from your phone as well. 

Sub-Accounts with Auto-Transfer Capabilities

One of my favorite features of the NorthOne account is the sub-account feature. NorthOne has sub-accounts called “envelopes” that allow you to divide your business funds up into different categories for easier money management. 

For instance, you could have sub-accounts for categories such as:

• Payroll
• Paying taxes
• Emergency savings
• Future purchases, expansions, or growth
• A variety of business expenses

The NorthOne account allows for unlimited sub-account envelopes at no extra charge. Designed much like a personal financial envelope budgeting system, NorthOne’s envelopes help ensure your business has money set aside when it’s needed. 

Bonus: You can set up auto-transfers for your envelopes to make setting aside money for specific expenses or savings even easier. 

Invoicing Tools

NorthOne has some great features to help you with invoicing as well. The account comes with in-app invoicing. This feature is set up so that you can create and send invoices right from your phone.

You choose the due date, acceptable payment methods, and accept payment from the app. When you’ve received the payment you can change the status from pending to paid as well. 

NorthOne also offers a separate invoicing app. This separate invoice-maker app is more comprehensive than the in-app invoicing feature. 

It allows you to send quotes and estimates, and lets you save customer contact information. 

Tip: This free invoice-maker app is available for non-NorthOne customers too.  

Accounting Software Integration

Your account has integration abilities with accounting software including:

• QuickBooks
• FreshBooks
• Wave

After you connect your NorthOne account to one of the above-mentioned software programs, you can import your chart of accounts. 

Then you can sync all of the information and transaction details between NorthOne and your accounting platform to help you easily manage your business income and expenses. 

In addition, the company partners with both Shopify and Etsy and allows you to link those accounts to your NorthOne account. This means you can see all of your order numbers and the coordinating payments with either of those e-commerce platforms right on your NorthOne account. They connect with your accounting software as well. 

Payment Processor Integration

NorthOne also integrates with several payment processing companies:

• PayPal
• Venmo
• Stripe
• Square

Partnership with these platforms means you can accept payment from any of these payment processors and have the money deposited directly into your NorthOne account. 

Learn more about NorthOne

NorthOne Fees

When you open your NorthOne account, you’ll be required to deposit between $50 and $250. After that, there are no minimum balance requirements. 

NorthOne charges a monthly account fee of just $10. The monthly fee includes unlimited transactions and access to all NorthOne features, including your business ATM Mastercard debit card. 

Also, wire transfers, whether incoming or outgoing, will cost you $15 each.

NorthOne won’t charge you anything for use of in-network ATMs. However, the ATM owner may charge you a fee – even if you’re using an in-network ATM. 

Given some of the high business account fees at other bigger banks, NorthOne’s fee schedule is fairly attractive. 

So, how easy is it to open a NorthOne business account?  

How to Open a NorthOne Account 

Signing up with NorthOne is fairly simple and can be done in as little as three minutes from any device. Here’s the information you’ll need to open your account:

• Valid Government Issued Photo ID
• Valid Phone Number
• Social Security Number
• Employment Insurance Number (for LLC, S-corp, C-corp and Partnerships)
• Home and Business Address
• Details about your business and owner(s)

See the NorthOne website for current promotional offerings and referral bonus offerings, as the company does run opening bonus offerings on occasion. 

Next, let’s talk about other NorthOne features and information.

Additional NorthOne Features

NorthOne has a North American-based customer service team that can help you via chat, email, or phone. You can also reach the team via social media outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. 

The hours for the customer service center are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern time, seven days a week. 

Note that there is no in-person access with NorthOne. You won’t be able to go into an actual branch location to do banking. 

All account transactions are conducted online or at an ATM. Also, you can’t get paper checks with your NorthOne account. 

Who Is NorthOne Best For?

As mentioned earlier, NorthOne works with nearly all types of small business owners. NorthOne likely won’t have the capability to handle a large corporation’s banking needs. 

However, if you’re a sole proprietor, freelancer, or are running an S-corp or other small business, NorthOne might work well for your banking needs.

Between the low fees and features like invoicing, pay capabilities, and sub-accounts, it should cover most all banking needs for small business owners who can conduct their businesses entirely online. 

If you prefer in-person banking and/or need paper checks, NorthOne is not for you. 

Learn more about NorthOne

NorthOne Pros and Cons

Now let’s summarize NorthOne Business Deposit Account’s pros and cons.

Pros

• Affordable monthly fee at just $10 per month
• Low wire transfer fee
• Invoicing and pay capabilities
• Sub-accounts (envelope system) to help you organize your money
• Easy-to-use mobile app

Cons

• Mobile banking only – no branch locations
• No other banking products provided at this time

NorthOne Alternatives

And if you’re looking for some NorthOne alternatives for comparison sake, here are some similar options. 

BlueVine

BlueVine Business Checking offers features for small business owners that include:

• $0 monthly fee
• 2.00% APY interest paid on account balances up to $100,000
• Paper checks
• No minimum balance
• $0 initial deposit requirement
• $0 fees for non-sufficient funds

There are unlimited transactions with the BlueVine account. And you can use MoneyPass ATMs for free. You can make cash deposits at GreenDot locations, but you’ll pay $4.95 per deposit for doing so. 

Online bill pay is free with BlueVine as well. Note that there are no in-person banking capabilities with BlueVine. 

BlueVine’s website doesn’t clearly list partner integrations, so you’ll have to call customer service for information on partner integrations for your business. 

See our full review on BlueVine for more information on what BlueVine business banking can offer you. 

Learn more about BlueVine

Novo

Novo Business Checking account includes the following features:

• $0 monthly service fee
• $50 minimum initial deposit
• No minimum balance 
• $27 insufficient funds fee
• Unlimited ATM fee reimbursement
• No paper checks
• No branch banking

With Novo you can invoice customers for free using the Novo app. Novo also offers online bill pay. Integrations include QuickBooks, Shopify, and Xero. 

Incoming domestic and international wire transfers are free with Novo. Novo doesn’t allow outgoing domestic wire transfers, but uses the ACH transfer system instead. 

You can send outgoing international wire transfers from your Novo account, but Novo partners with TransferWise to do so and you’ll pay applicable fees.

Bonus feature: Novo bank offers business checking account owners software discounts on many business software programs. See the Novo website for specific information on these discounts. 

To learn more about Novo, check out our article on the best business checking accounts. 

Learn more about Novo

Axos

Axos Basic Business Checking is very similar to NorthOne as well. Features of this account include:

• $0 monthly service fee
• $1,000 initial balance minimum
• $0 minimum balance going forward
• $0 fees for in-network ATMs
• Paper checks
• Online banking only
• 200 free transactions per month

Note that the transaction limit only allows for 60 remote deposit items per month. If you deposit more than 60 checks per month, you’ll want to choose a different account. 

Also, while the Basic Business Checking account Axos offers doesn’t pay interest, Axos does offer a Business Interest Checking account. 

This account will pay interest on balances, however there is a $10 monthly fee if your balance is below $5,000. The Business Interest Checking also features ATM fee reimbursements and an initial opening deposit minimum of just $100. 

Axos offers separate business savings accounts and money market accounts as well. If you don’t care for the sub-account option where monies are tied to the main checking account but categorized, you might prefer Axos Bank for your business banking instead.

Learn more about Axos

Summary

Having the right business bank account for your business is so important. Small business owners often have a tight budget and can’t afford to be lackadaisical about banking fees.

In addition, small business owners can reap huge benefits from automated systems and smart partner integrations. 

Above all, easy and convenient banking capabilities are a must for small business owners. Your time is valuable and is much better spent on managing and growing your business than on tedious financial management. 

A good business bank account makes financial management easier and less time-consuming. And NorthOne has many tools that can help business owners do just that.