The LLC bank account, state by state.
The business account is where liability separation stops being theoretical. Every customer payment in and every business expense out runs through the LLC rather than through you. Providers all ask for the same short stack of documents, and the first item in it, the stamped formation filing, comes from your state. Pick yours to see what that state issues.
Four things that change with your state.
Business banking is national in its rules and local in its paperwork. The documents come from your state, the identity checks come from anti-money-laundering law, and the discipline afterwards is what keeps the separation intact.
What the bank asks for
The stack is short and consistent: the stamped formation document from your state, the IRS EIN confirmation letter, an operating agreement where there is more than one member, and government photo ID for whoever signs. Names and addresses have to match across all four of them.
Traditional bank or fintech
Traditional banks and online-first providers both open LLC accounts, and they feel different from the first minute. One tends to mean an appointment and a branch visit, the other an application in a browser. Deciding which before you gather documents changes where and how you apply.
Know your customer checks
Every provider runs identity and beneficial ownership checks before opening an account. Expect questions about who owns the company and who controls it, and expect the answers to be compared against the documents you handed over. Consistency across them matters more than speed here.
Why separation is the point
Mixing personal and business funds is the surest way to lose the liability protection the LLC was formed for. One account for the company, personal draws recorded as draws, no shared cards. It is a habit rather than a filing, and the whole structure rests on it.
The account is not administration. It is the part of the LLC you use every single day.
Pick your state.
Each state page lists the documents a provider will want from an LLC formed in that state, how traditional banks and fintech providers differ, what the KYC and beneficial ownership questions cover, and how to structure accounts so the separation holds.
A clean handoff, in four steps.
Seven steps on the state pages, four here. Nothing can be done out of order, because the provider is verifying documents that only exist once the earlier steps are finished.
Form the LLC and EIN
The entity and the EIN come first. Providers verify both, and an application made before the state has stamped the formation document has nothing to verify against.
Choose bank or fintech
Decide between a traditional bank and an online provider before gathering anything. It changes whether you are booking an appointment or filling in a form in a browser this afternoon.
Gather the documents
Collect the stamped formation filing, the EIN confirmation letter, the operating agreement where there is more than one member, and photo ID for every signer. Check the names match exactly.
Keep it separate
Once open, run all business money through it and nothing else. Attach the cards, the payment processor and the bookkeeping to the same account so the whole record sits in one place.
Opening the account takes a morning. Keeping it clean is what protects the entity.
The rest of Money & operations.
Every one of these is built the same way: a national explainer above its state pages. They are the filings that sit closest to this one.
Business credit
Business credit, state by state
All 51 states → HubHiring employees
Hiring employees, state by state
All 51 states →The full index lives on Money & operations.
The questions people ask before they apply.
Does my LLC need its own account?
Mixing personal and business funds is the surest way to lose the liability protection an LLC is formed for, and a separate account is what prevents it. It also makes bookkeeping, tax preparation and any future financing conversation dramatically simpler, because the record of the business is already in one place rather than scattered through a personal statement.
What documents will they ask for?
The stamped formation document from your state, the IRS EIN confirmation letter, an operating agreement where the LLC has more than one member, and government photo ID for each signer. Providers check them against each other, so the company name, the address and the ownership details need to read the same way across all of them.
Can I apply before the EIN arrives?
The order in these pages is deliberate: entity, then EIN, then account. Providers verify the company against the state record and the EIN letter, so an application made before either exists has nothing to check. Having both in hand also means the account opens under the exact legal name, which is what invoices, processors and contracts all get matched against later.
Traditional bank or fintech?
Both open LLC accounts and both are used widely. Traditional banks tend to mean a branch, an appointment and a relationship you can walk into. Online-first providers tend to mean a browser application and faster setup. The state pages set out what each route asks for so the choice is made on how you actually work rather than on marketing.
What is the KYC check?
Know your customer: the identity verification every provider runs before opening a business account. It covers who owns the company, who controls it and who is signing, and the answers get compared against the documents you supplied. It is routine rather than adversarial, and applications that stall usually do so because details disagree across paperwork, not because anything was wrong.
Does my formation state matter here?
Only in the sense that it decides which document you hand over. A provider wants the stamped formation filing from wherever the LLC was created, under whatever name that state gives it. What matters more is that the entity is in good standing and the paperwork is consistent. Each state page shows what that state issues, so you know what to bring.
Keep going, in order.
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