Berks Connect
For Business Owners

Business Bank Account Requirements in Berks County

What to bring to open a business bank account in Berks County, what business checking costs at seven local banks and credit unions, and what counts as an item.

Berks Connect Blog|Published September 4, 2026
Image for Business Bank Account Requirements in Berks County

If you're about to open a business bank account in Berks County, you probably have two questions on your mind. What do I need to bring, and what's this going to cost me every month? The bank wants proof of who you are and proof that your business exists, and entry-level business checking around here runs from nothing to $15 a month.

Everything on the bank's list is knowable before you walk in, so my advice is to gather the whole stack and make one trip instead of two. I'd also give some thought to where you open it. There are plenty of banks in Berks County, and several credit unions offer business checking too. Look at the ones near where you work and call two of them before you fill anything out.

What to bring to open a business bank account

Here's what the bank will ask for. None of it's hard to get, but the names can sound more complicated than the documents themselves, so I'll say what each one is.

  • A government-issued photo ID. Bring a second form of identification too. A passport, a paystub, a utility bill or a vehicle registration all work.
  • Your EIN. EIN stands for Employer Identification Number. It's the federal tax ID number for your business, the way your Social Security number is the tax ID number for you. You get it from the IRS, it's free, and it's issued immediately when you apply online.
  • Formation documents for your type of business. These prove the business exists and say who is behind it. An LLC brings its articles of organization, which is the form filed with the state to create the company, and its operating agreement, which spells out who owns what and how decisions get made. A corporation brings its articles of incorporation, its bylaws, and a corporate resolution, which is a signed statement that the company approved opening the account. A partnership brings the partnership agreement. A sole proprietor trading under a business name brings the fictitious name registration, which I explain below.
  • Ownership details for everyone who owns 25 percent or more of the business, plus the one person who runs the place day to day.
  • Proof of the business address, and a license if your trade requires one.

Why the bank asks who owns the business

That 25 percent line catches people off guard. You came in to open a checking account, and the banker wants your partner's date of birth and Social Security number. It isn't the banker being nosy. Federal rules make the bank identify the beneficial owners of any company created by a filing with the state, meaning the actual people behind an LLC or a corporation, and collect the name, address, date of birth and Social Security number of each one. Someone who has no Social Security number gives another government ID number instead. So if you have partners, call them before your appointment and get that information together.

Registering a fictitious name before you open the account

If you do business under any name other than your own legal name, Pennsylvania calls that a fictitious name. You may know it as a trade name or a DBA, which is short for "doing business as." Either way, you register it with the Department of State before you open the account, and the bank will ask to see the registration if the account is going in that name.

The fee is $70, with an exemption for veteran and reservist-owned small businesses. When an individual is named on the registration, notice runs in two county newspapers, one of them a legal newspaper, which is a paper that carries official notices.

If you haven't registered the business at all yet, back up and work through starting a business in Berks County first.

What business checking costs at Berks County banks and credit unions

Now for the second question. Below I've put the entry-level business checking accounts from seven Berks County banks and credit unions side by side, with the monthly fee, what you have to do to avoid it, and how many items you get each month.

Before you read the table, you need to know what an item is, because the banks use the word as if everyone already does. An item is one transaction the bank processes on your account: a check you write, a deposit you make, an electronic payment coming in or going out. Every account includes a certain number of items a month at no charge. Past that number, you pay a small fee for each additional one.

Four of the seven charge no monthly fee. As of 2026, entry-level business checking here runs from nothing to $15 a month, and the ones charging a flat monthly fee waive it if you keep a certain balance. Fulton's fee works differently: it's triggered by volume, not by your balance.

Institution and account Monthly fee How to avoid the fee Items included each month
Fleetwood Bank, Basic Business Checking $7.50 $500 daily balance 75 checks paid and 25 deposits per cycle
Fulton Bank, Business Checking $0 No balance needed. The fee applies if you pass 200 items. 200, then $0.50 each
Mid Penn Bank, Free Business Checking $0 No required minimum balance Ask when you open
Diamond Credit Union, Business Easy Checking $0 No minimum balance 100, then $0.50 each
First Commonwealth FCU, Basic Business Checking $0 No minimum balance 100, then $0.25 each. Cash deposits count as items.
M&T Bank, Business Essential Checking $5 $1,000 average ledger balance, or $300 in debit card purchases, with e-statements 25, then $1.00 each
Wells Fargo, Initiate Business Checking $15 $2,000 minimum daily balance 100, then $0.50 each

What should you make of this? Past the allowance you pay by the piece, so the item count matters as much as the fee. If you write a handful of checks a month, almost any of these accounts is close to free. If you run a register or get paid by dozens of small electronic payments, the 25-item allowance at M&T and the 200-item allowance at Fulton are very different accounts, even though the sticker prices are $5 and $0.

Read the waiver line before you count on it. To waive a fee means the bank drops it when you meet a condition, and the conditions vary. M&T, for example, wants a $1,000 average ledger balance, which is the average of your daily balances over the month as the bank records them, or $300 in debit card purchases, and either way you have to take electronic statements instead of paper ones.

What counts as an item, and why you should ask

This is the part that trips people up. What counts as an item isn't standard. Cash deposits count as items at First Commonwealth and don't count at Discovery. M&T counts the ACH traffic you receive but not what you originate. ACH is the system behind direct deposits and automatic bank-to-bank payments, so at M&T a customer paying you electronically uses up an item, while you paying a vendor the same way doesn't.

So before you compare two accounts, ask each one for its definition of an item in writing. It's a fair question.

If you take cash, ask how cash is treated before you sign, because at some of these institutions cash has its own limit. M&T gives you the first $2,500 a month and prices what's over it per hundred dollars. Wells Fargo does the same above $5,000. For a restaurant or a shop, that line can matter more than the monthly fee.

The account is also the start of a lending relationship

One more thing while you're choosing. The institution that opens your checking account is usually the first one you'll ask for a loan, and that second conversation goes better when the first one has been running a while. So ask on day one who handles business lending and what they like to see. Locally, Fleetwood Bank does lines of credit, term loans and SBA 7(a) loans, which are bank loans the Small Business Administration guarantees in part. Diamond Credit Union does 7(a) lending, 504 loans for buildings and heavy equipment, and commercial real estate. Discovery Federal Credit Union finances commercial real estate and construction and runs equipment financing out to seven years. Riverfront Federal Credit Union runs a commercial services division out of Reading, with equipment loans from $5,000 to $1,000,000. Don't skip the credit unions in Berks County when you make your calls, because several of them run commercial desks.

So here's what I'd do. Apply for the EIN online today, since it comes back immediately. Register the fictitious name if you're going to trade under one. Put the formation documents, your two forms of ID and every owner's details in one folder. Then call two institutions, ask what an item is and what waives the fee, and go open the account with the whole folder in hand. Once the account is open and the business is official, add your business to BerksConnect so people around here can find you.

Questions people ask before opening a business account

Do I need an EIN, or can I use my Social Security number?

A sole proprietor can open a business account with a Social Security number. I'd get the EIN anyway. It's free, it comes back immediately online, and it keeps your Social Security number off the paperwork you hand to customers and vendors.

How much money do I need to open the account?

Not much. First Commonwealth opens its basic business account with nothing down, and Wells Fargo asks for $25.

Do I still have to file beneficial ownership information with FinCEN?

No. U.S. companies are exempt from beneficial ownership reporting and no longer file those reports. The bank still asks about owners at the counter, because that's a separate rule, and it still applies when you open a new account.

Do I have to register a fictitious name before I open the account?

If you operate under a name that isn't your own legal name, yes. The Pennsylvania filing is $70, unless you qualify for the veteran and reservist exemption, and you'll be asked for the registration when the account goes in a trade name.

Sources