Thank you so much for this video. I have spent 2 hours today comparing multiple business accounts and your video helped make this decision easy. Thanks again!
On December 14th, 2022, there were 3 charges of $200 each at a Kohl's in Brooklyn, NY. I am in Boca Raton, FL. They were not my charges. Relay has refused to credit my account, nor do they respond to my requests for a resolution as of today. This bank is run by thieves, I am probably going to have to take them to court because at this point it is the principal.
I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you can get it resolved. Were the purchases made using a Relay debit card number? They are issued by Mastercard and advertise "Zero Liability Protection."
Same happened to me! They FROZE my account...and won't let me transfer it. They are basically holding on to ALL of my cash assets. They refuse to let any transactions go through. All because someone stole my card and purchased a flight in Tajikistan.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick This is concerning. If @TradersLanding is out of state it sounds to me like it's likely digital fraud. Does Relay Bank offer FDIC insurance coverage for digital transactions?
@@elizabeth.nelson What happened and when did it happen? If you are a victim of fraud it can take up to 45 days for some banks to make it right according to my online reading...? Seems super long though...
literally the worst bank ever. cant find your statements, cant find your account number. the design is not intuitive. i opened 2 accts, one did not accept my ID upload that the other account accepted. and they require you have a website and social media to open a business acct. seriously asinine. i need a bank account before i can start opening ccards and paying for things.... like a website. they didnt think of that.
I guess this is a case of "to each their own." I personally really like the UI, but that's a good point about requiring a website. That excludes a lot of early-stage businesses. I've been passing some of these comments along to their support team. Hopefully they can make that optional in the future. What bank did you end up going with?
Great video! I really wanna try Relay but the as I'm making the account, it says "An error occurred while creating your account! " . I will have to try contacting the support team maybe?
Thanks! Yeah, I would try reaching out to support to get help with setting up your account. Or you might just try starting the application again. Maybe it was a temporary technical fluke. 🤷 Hope you get it figured out!
They will lock you account out indefinitely if anything goes wrong. My account was hacked and after changing passwords and adding new account profile, my account continue to stay locked with no help from support. Never again online banking...
Geez, sorry to hear about that! I hope you can get your situation resolved. Relay just started requiring 2-factor authentication for added security. But I totally get it - not having access to face-to-face support is a big downside of online-only banks.
Thanks for the review and love your sense of humor! After reading all the issues that new members are having I don't know if it's worth the risk. I'm trying to implement the Profit First methodology and I'm looking at all my options. Would it make sense to open the accounts and move money gradually to 'season' the accounts sort of speak?
Thanks! I think testing out the platform with smaller amounts of money is wise before going all in. The one minor issue that I experienced when I first opened my account with Relay was that deposits took a while to clear (over a week). But after a few weeks, deposits cleared much faster. I don't think the extra accounts need the same seasoning - especially if you're using them for Profit First and just moving money directly between accounts; those happen instantaneously.
The main con is what you just mentioned - it's an online bank. Some people really like the peace of mind knowing you can walk into a building and talk to someone face to face to help with any problems you might have. You don't get that with Relay (or any other online-only bank). And until recently, you couldn't make any cash deposits. But besides that, I honestly don't have any complaints. It's a bank, and it does what I need it to do better than other banks that I've used.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick I really want to to try it, but I'm paranoid. 🤣 I've heard horror stories of people getting their accounts frozen for various rediculousness and with an online bank all you have is an email you hope gets returned. That makes me extremely nervous. No reason to to think that would happen to me but it seems I have bad luck when I make hasty decisions.
@@gamiensrule I totally get it! I saw some of those reviews too, and it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence when you're shopping around for someone who's going to be holding your money. But I figure, negative reviews are typically overrepresented. But I'm also not here to shill any bank in particular. I'd say, if you find their feature set to fit the bill, give it a try. Are you currently banking with someone else? Maybe start by just transferring in a portion of your funds and see how it goes. You can always switch later (I switched banks 6 times before I moved to Relay!)
Dont do it! They froze my account and wont let me access any of my funds. Its been over a week. Never refunded a fraudulent charge (not end of the world). And customer support takes FOREVER to get back to you.
@@elizabeth.nelson thank you so much for this reply! This was/is my greatest fear. With a brick and morter bank - while they could still choose to do this - you can at least go in and talk to a person. You can build relationships. Do you have any idea why they've don't this? Having my businesses funds frozen would be a major blow to my business. It could potentially sink us.
Alright, I have some homework to do. I haven't used Bluevine to do a fair comparison, but you're not the first person to ask. I'm thinking of doing a deeper dive into some of these options for a video in the future.
Relay is my pick. And they are FDIC insured! Actually, all three of these services are FDIC insured. To be fair, I haven't used Bluevine for comparison, and Novo has made some improvements to their platform since I used them last. I'm just really enjoying Relay, but I don't think you can go too wrong with any of these options depending on what you're looking for. If you DO want to check out Relay, you can get a $50 welcome bonus when you sign up with my link: sidekick.show/relay
This is the kind of review I was looking for!! I've been running a small business for over a year, but am just now opening a separate banking account. I've spent three hours so far comparing so many banks, so I am thankful for this video!
Hi David - just subscribed. Love this video. You have a way of making the mundane (business banking) really interesting and funny. You remind me a little of @wheezywaiter - Keep up the great work!
I'm actually evaluating that myself. I had been using AND.CO (now Fiverr Workspace) for invoicing and expense tracking when I was just side-gigging. Now Formations Corp is handling my books and other S-Corp stuff. But I'm looking at Xero or Freshbooks for another business I'm a part of. I'll keep you posted!
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick I was hoping for a review. I'm binge watching the content. My llc is a few days old and I'm looking into accounting software. My structure and accounts are setup up to follow the profit first structure. I'll give one of your mentions above a try and see how they work for me. Thanksbfor the response and great channel 👍
@@bignamehusband3327 Thanks for watching, Charlie! I'm still using Fiverr Workspace for my solo business, and Bonsai for my partnership. Our bookkeeping needs are pretty minimal. Both of those tools have income and expense tracking built in. I just track our capital accounts in a separate Google Sheet (but if you're the only one in the business, I don't think you need to worry about that).
You can transfer money in and out of Relay for free with ACH transfers. They typically take 1-2 business days to clear. Wire transfers are also also available for a small fee ($5 for domestic/$10 international/free to receive wires). I don't believe Zelle is available. But you can link your bank account to another payment gateway or app like PayPal, Stripe, Venmo, etc. to send and receive money.
Thank you for this review. Have you tried or have any opinions on Baselane? I am a landlord so find use in the rent collection piece, but it's not necessary.
You're welcome, Anya. I wasn't familiar with Baselane before you mentioned it. I took a peek at the website. It looks like it is a really robust platform. Personally, I have mixed feelings about "all-in-one" platforms. I love the convenience of having a bunch of tools available in a single "kit," but there's usually some shortcomings somewhere (does 3 things really well and 1 thing backwards). But so long as it does the main thing you need it to do, and does it well, AND does it for free, I see no reason not to at least give it a shot. I would just recommend taking a closer look at any fees (are the transaction fees for rent collection competitive with other options?). And make sure the rent collection experience for your tenants is smooth and intuitive.
i like the profit-first method and have been using a hodgepodge of many discover bank accounts for that for years but to be able to give access to others to specific accts easily is a huge plus!!!! mike m guy has great incites for bizowners btw, I've read all of his books but it think pumpkin plan and profit first are my fav. one downer is there is no apy/interest paid on those accts at relay that i can see but i am guessing that's how they make their money
Hi Sarah, they do have a real-time customer support number you can call (posted hours are 9am - 5pm EST, M-F). I haven't had any issues where I needed to contact customer support, but I have spoken with one of their (human) people. Since joining, they've sent out a couple communications requesting customer feedback, and I had the opportunity to video chat with one of their reps, discussing business goals, how I use their platform, and ideas for helpful content they can provide for their customers. Pretty nice folks. I would expect their customer support people to be similarly decent and human :-)
Awesome! Glad the video was helpful. I don't think you'll be disappointed. I've been banking with Relay for about 3 years now and it's still treating me well.
How long have you had your account? I remember when I first opened mine, checks would take about a week (or sometimes longer) to clear. But after a month or so, I noticed settlement times started to get shorter. Now, checks typically clear in 2-3 days for me. But every now and then, there will be a slowpoke.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick Ah. I didn't consider the length of time I've had my account. It hasn't been that all that long. And check deposits are 7-10 business days. Good to know that it gets shorter the longer you have the account. Thanks for the tip
So far my biggest 2 cons is that I can only transfer money little bit at a time since there is only a $1000 ach limit, the other con is that it takes an entire week of business days to receive deposited checks (assuming they don’t cancel the check because of “corners” even though they were clearly in the photo)
Hmmm. Did you just recently open your account? This is something that should improve with time. Deposits used to take a long time to settle for me as well, but after about a month, that dropped to just a few days. And I'm not aware of any transfer limits. I've definitely transferred over $1000 in one go. There might be some soft undisclosed probation period for new accounts. I'd reach out to their support and see if they can raise or remove those limits for you.
Impressed by the vid and it was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. New subbie. I bank with Capital One but not in my home state. They required me to come to the office to open a business acct. Chase wanted me to be registered with their state, so that wouldn't work. So here I am with Relay and just needed more info. Thank you again.
Relay Financial isn't a bank, it's a financial technology company. They work with a bank, Evolve Bank & Trust. It's basically a fancy web portal for their partner bank. Having opened an account at Relay Financial, I can tell you my experience has been absolutely terrible. It's taken them two weeks to respond to my support ticket. They say they have phone support, but even during normal business hours, you get a recorded message saying they can't take your call. They suggest contacting support by email and promise a turnaround of a "few business hours" but as I mentioned, I've been waiting well over a week for a response to my support ticket. After looking more closely at the positive reviews for the bank, they don't seem to be genuine--a Nerd Wallet score isn't the same thing as reviews from actual Relay customers. Strongly considering switching back to the good old brick and mortar. Buyer beware. You get what you pay for, especially in this market.
You're correct. Relay is primarily a fintech platform and Evolve holds the funds. I believe Evolve partners with Mercury and a few other companies/apps as well. This sort of bank partnership seems par for the course for a lot of emerging online banking/financial services. I won't disagree that one of the trade-offs with an online-only service is going to be limited support options. I honestly haven't needed to reach out to their support very much, but when I did, received a reply within 15-20 minutes. Maybe I'm just lucky though, or maybe it was the nature of the inquiry, or maybe support has legit gone downhill since my own experience. I really do appreciate you adding to the conversation. I'm always exploring new options and planning to do a deeper comparison in the future of other services that some folks have asked about. But I can only dive so deep, so it's good to hear different people's experiences. If you are looking for a Profit First-friendly bank, community banks and credit unions are usually good brick and mortar options. A lot of the "big name" banks that I looked into have minimum account balances, so having multiple accounts is a no-go.
Hey Marc, I haven't used Wise to be able to say for sure if one is better than the other. It likely comes down to what banking features are most important to you. It looks like Wise is focused on international business and low cost international wire transfers, so they might have an edge if you're moving a lot of money around globally. But Relay is pretty competitive in this space too; no charges for incoming wires (int'l or domestic). Outgoing international wires are $10, but you can upgrade to Relay Pro to unlock free wires.
To be honest, I haven't paid close attention to *precisely* how long it takes ACH transfers to clear - but I'd say most transfers have only taken a couple days. It might vary depending on the age of the account and the size of the transfers. I did recently make a larger transfer than usual and it took over a week to complete.
From the dashboard, go to Settings > Add Business. Then click the button to register a new business. Once that's settled, every time you log in, you'll have a choice of which business you want to manage. And there's also a quick "Switch Business" link in the bottom left-hand corner of your dashboard.
I just got denied without a reason given. I don't want to give up because they're just what I need for my advertising business after 20 years with my local credit union.
Sorry to hear that! Definitely reach out to support for some clarity and see if there's anything you can do to get your application through. There are other banks with comparable features, but this one has been my favorite.
That's crazy. I'm a brand new business owner, just got my DBA and ETN, i have no products on my social media, no invoices and i got approved this Monday. They do ask for all documents to be pdf with 3-4 months of bank statements, Drivers licence picture, links to your personal and business social media, business summary. I wonder why they didn't approve it.
I looked into Mercury a while ago. They seem to lean heavily toward venture capital funded startups, whereas Relay is catering to small businesses in general. I personally prefer Relay's feature set, but I could see Mercury being a better fit for a different type of business. Regarding the credit card, that's a nice touch, but it's easy enough to get one from a more seasoned player like Amex or Chase that might have a more robust set of benefits. I don't think it should be a huge deciding factor on choosing a bank.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick thanks for the insight. Mercury also offers several “benefits” through their partners like quickbooks discounts and several other that we could offer o our employees. Does Relay offer something like that which we can extend to our employees?
I believe you can open an account as long as you have an operating presence inside the U.S. Here's a link I found with more info on that: support.relayfi.com/hc/en-us/articles/10239535780628-Required-Documents-and-Information-for-Registration-with-Relay-2-0
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick for LLC's (what i have) mentioned US business address and phone. i just opened acc. with Mercury and got approved in 3 days but the stripe needs local bank to work with UAE license(something i didnt know) and its headache to open business acc. in UAE which may take over month !
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it. Swing by again in a couple days, because I'm about to release an updated review that covers some new features Relay rolled out.
Can you confirm…. I heard that when you deposit checks there is a 1-2 week hold on your money and when you use their debit card they put a hold of like 100$ even when buying something cheap
I don't have any experience using the debit card, so I can't speak to that. But checks clear quickly for me. The first couple checks after I opened my account took longer - about a week. But now I typically see the funds settle within 2-3 days.
Sorry, I don't wire money much. I usually use ACH transfers. It's been my experience with most banks (not just Relay) when you're first getting established, transfers might take a little longer to clear. The amount of the transfers and deposits can result in different settlement times as well.
The most straightforward way to build credit would be to use a business credit card to pay for all of your business expenses (keep the balance low and make payments on time!!!). Relay doesn't currently offer credit cards or loans (I have credit cards through Chase and American Express), so simply having an account with them isn't going to actively build your credit. But a business bank account is still an important piece of your business finance puzzle. You can also apply for a DUNS number to establish a credit score with Dun & Bradstreet - one of the main reporting bureaus lenders use. Here's some more info that might be helpful: www.nerdwallet.com/article/small-business/how-to-build-business-credit-small-business-loans
I don't have a credit card video - I should get on that! I personally use and wouldn't hesitate to recommend Chase Ink cards (sidekick.show/chase). You can compare the "Business Cash" and "Business Unlimited" cards. One offers 5% cash back on specific categories, and the other offers 1.5% back on all purchases. Both have no annual fee, and it looks like they are running a really welcome bonus offer right now. Lots of flexible ways to use the rewards points, including transferring your points balance to another Chase card if you have a personal credit card with them and would prefer to cash out your points for a personal purchase. You can also check out the American Express Blue Business Cash card (sidekick.show/amex). I use that for another business and have been pretty happy. No annual fee, and 2% cash back on all purchases. The cash back system is a lot more simple - they just automatically credit your rewards to your statement balance each month. Good customer support. Hope that helps!
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick it does thank you! If I go with a chase card, it makes me just want to go with their bank account as well but I don’t want their minimums and stuff. That’s why I’m interested in relay bank. Right now I’m really in between chase credit card and Amex
Yeah, I would not recommend Chase for their checking. I'm usually all about keeping things as consolidated as possible, but in this instance, there's no problem getting a card from a different institution than your bank. It's easy enough to set up auto pay and link your Relay account as the payment method. Glad I could assist! Keep me posted and let me know if you need any more help with anything 🙂
Hi KD. You might want to reach out to Relay's support team if you need help with your account. But if you're just trying to add a new debit card, you can do that easily from the "Cards" menu in the dashboard: choose what account you want to link it to, who has access to it, set spending limits, and where to ship it.
You got my attention when you mentioned Profit First. I’m between this and Found (for their taxes and invoicing features). Thx this came in clutch for me.
Nice! Glad it was helpful. If you like Profit First, stay tuned, because Relay is rolling out some new features and I'll be dropping a new video soon with an overview.
Thank you for this review! This is exactly what I needed. I am trying to decide which bank I want to use for my new business. I am also going to use the Profit First method & I will check out your other video on it. Thank you!
Hello Dave, thanks for the information regarding Relay Bank. You are very knowledgeable and the information you provided seems to be standard across the board. I was wondering if Relay would be a good bank to have my multiple gig income streams funneled into. Having one account with multiple business checking accounts would allow me keep things separate but have everything under one roof. Currently, I am in the process of starting multiple side gigs (Doordash, Uber Eats, Amazon Flex etc). However, I have been quite hesitant to start these side hustles because I want to structure my business bank accounts accordingly so I am ready for tax time. I was wondering should I funnel all my side hustles into one business bank account or should I keep each of my side hustles (Door Dash, Amazon Flex etc) separate from one another into separate business bank accounts for each gig. Your insight on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time 🙂🙏✨
Great question! Relay is pretty flexible, so I think it would be a good solution for you, however you want to handle your multiple streams of income. Personally, I would just lump all of my income into one "Income" account and use another "Taxes" subaccount to set aside money for tax time. Are you familiar with the Profit First accounting method? In addition to "Income" and "Tax," you can create more accounts for expenses, owner's pay, and profit. I have a video that goes into a little more detail about how that system works. You COULD do what you suggested - have your different gigs deposit your pay into separate accounts. But I think that would just create more work for you, divvying out taxes for 3 or more different accounts. If any of your income streams should be treated as a separate business entity entirely (ex. You and a friend co-own a taco truck, and the ownership structure is different from your Door Dash, etc job), THEN I would put that income in a separate account. Actually, I would put that in a completely separate Relay account that's specifically for the taco truck partnership (but the nice thing is, you can set it up so you can access both businesses with the same email address, and when you login, you have a choice of which business you want to manage; and there's an option to switch to the other business without having to log out). But if all of your gigs are similar (driving/deliveries), taxed the same, and you're the only owner, then I'd lump all the income together and use Profit First to chunk out your taxes and other expenses.
I recorded a short video response for the heck of it, and I briefly cover your I have my accounts set up for two different businesses: ruclips.net/user/shortsRapKXWjUzys
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick Thanks so much Dave for the quick response and the insight. I will lump all my delivery gig income together and implement the for profit system as stated above. Btw, I love your channel and your content. I subscribed and liked your video. Keep going Dave, you are doing great things for the self employed. I will check in with you from time to time. Have a great rest of the day! 🙂🙏✨
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick Sounds good , I like the short. This helped me to clarify my strategy moving forward. Thanks a lot Dave you have been a great help! 🙂🙏✨
Thank you for this review. I've been using Live Oak Bank for my business banking. Their business checking is AWESOME because they pay interest. AND...their business checking doesn't pay interest, is clunky to manage, definitely doesn't fully integrate with QBO even though they are trying, and I have to manually download my statements for my bookkeeper. I'm thinking that a Relay/Live Oak Combo in the Profit First system could be the ideal solution. Income & Op Ex at Relay and Profit & Op Ex - HOLD at Live Oak. Thanks again.
I'm glad you found the review helpful! I'll have to take a peek at Live Oak. Did you happen to see Relay recently rolled out some major Profit First friendly features. I made another video covering the update.
The main concern I have is I’ve had this bank account for sometime There are a lot of great things about it which I enjoy but one of the issues I am having is when I use the routing number and the account number for deposits some places do not recognize the bank at all and some places there are no issues. Can anyone shed some light on why this would be?
Hmmm. I'm not sure why that would be the case. Just checking - did you upgrade/switch over your account since Relay moved from Evolve & Trust to Thread Bank?
I appreciate this video very much! Thank you. I'm in the middle of switching off riverview and chase due to deposit limits and minimum balances (impossible to empty the income account without incurring a charge) - I have been trying to decide between Novo and Relay and it's nice to see someone already made the journey for me. I am still waiting on some information relating to deposit limits.. once those questions have been answered I have a feeling I'll be going with relay myself.
Great video very informative. Opening my first business account and not sure wether to go with novo or relay. After this im leaning relay for the multiple account purposes
Yup! I'm still using Relay. I've read some complaints too, but I personally haven't had any issues with them. You're going to find nightmare stories about any company - especially banks. Without excusing any mistakes or poor service some folks have experienced, it tends to be that the angriest voices are the loudest voices (and are the most motivated to leave a negative review). Even so, it looks like Relay has among the highest ratings on Trustpilot compared to other banks. But I'm not here to convince you one way or another. Whatever bank you choose, I recommend trying them out for a couple months before you start making any crazy large transactions. Banks are heavily regulated and need to verify that people are who they say they are. I imagine online-only banks are going to be especially wary of people opening new accounts and immediately moving large sums of money around. Maybe that's what triggered the issues I read about in some of the nightmare reviews. I'll say, when I first opened my account, it did take longer than expected for check deposits and ACH transfers to settle. But after using them for a month or so, everything moves pretty quick.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick Thanks for the detailed reply! I believe I will give them a try and see how things go. I'm surprised you don't have 100x the subscribers as your content is really good.
Thank you so much for this video. I have spent 2 hours today comparing multiple business accounts and your video helped make this decision easy. Thanks again!
You're very welcome! I'm so glad you found the video helpful!
On December 14th, 2022, there were 3 charges of $200 each at a Kohl's in Brooklyn, NY. I am in Boca Raton, FL. They were not my charges. Relay has refused to credit my account, nor do they respond to my requests for a resolution as of today. This bank is run by thieves, I am probably going to have to take them to court because at this point it is the principal.
I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you can get it resolved. Were the purchases made using a Relay debit card number? They are issued by Mastercard and advertise "Zero Liability Protection."
Same happened to me! They FROZE my account...and won't let me transfer it. They are basically holding on to ALL of my cash assets. They refuse to let any transactions go through. All because someone stole my card and purchased a flight in Tajikistan.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick This is concerning. If @TradersLanding is out of state it sounds to me like it's likely digital fraud. Does Relay Bank offer FDIC insurance coverage for digital transactions?
@@elizabeth.nelson What happened and when did it happen? If you are a victim of fraud it can take up to 45 days for some banks to make it right according to my online reading...? Seems super long though...
literally the worst bank ever. cant find your statements, cant find your account number. the design is not intuitive. i opened 2 accts, one did not accept my ID upload that the other account accepted. and they require you have a website and social media to open a business acct. seriously asinine. i need a bank account before i can start opening ccards and paying for things.... like a website. they didnt think of that.
I guess this is a case of "to each their own." I personally really like the UI, but that's a good point about requiring a website. That excludes a lot of early-stage businesses. I've been passing some of these comments along to their support team. Hopefully they can make that optional in the future.
What bank did you end up going with?
Great video! I really wanna try Relay but the as I'm making the account, it says "An error occurred while creating your account! " . I will have to try contacting the support team maybe?
Thanks!
Yeah, I would try reaching out to support to get help with setting up your account. Or you might just try starting the application again. Maybe it was a temporary technical fluke. 🤷
Hope you get it figured out!
They will lock you account out indefinitely if anything goes wrong. My account was hacked and after changing passwords and adding new account profile, my account continue to stay locked with no help from support. Never again online banking...
Geez, sorry to hear about that! I hope you can get your situation resolved. Relay just started requiring 2-factor authentication for added security. But I totally get it - not having access to face-to-face support is a big downside of online-only banks.
what are they maximum amounts that can be held in each account? Is there an APY with money in their account?
I'm not aware of any maximum amounts, but they advertise being FDIC insured up to $2.5M.
And they do offer interest bearing savings accounts.
Thanks for the review and love your sense of humor! After reading all the issues that new members are having I don't know if it's worth the risk. I'm trying to implement the Profit First methodology and I'm looking at all my options. Would it make sense to open the accounts and move money gradually to 'season' the accounts sort of speak?
Thanks! I think testing out the platform with smaller amounts of money is wise before going all in. The one minor issue that I experienced when I first opened my account with Relay was that deposits took a while to clear (over a week). But after a few weeks, deposits cleared much faster. I don't think the extra accounts need the same seasoning - especially if you're using them for Profit First and just moving money directly between accounts; those happen instantaneously.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekickThanks so much!
Soooo no cons? Tha't makes me question the validity of your review. I'm hella nervous about switching from my brick and mortar bank to an online bank.
The main con is what you just mentioned - it's an online bank. Some people really like the peace of mind knowing you can walk into a building and talk to someone face to face to help with any problems you might have. You don't get that with Relay (or any other online-only bank). And until recently, you couldn't make any cash deposits.
But besides that, I honestly don't have any complaints. It's a bank, and it does what I need it to do better than other banks that I've used.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick I really want to to try it, but I'm paranoid. 🤣 I've heard horror stories of people getting their accounts frozen for various rediculousness and with an online bank all you have is an email you hope gets returned. That makes me extremely nervous. No reason to to think that would happen to me but it seems I have bad luck when I make hasty decisions.
@@gamiensrule I totally get it! I saw some of those reviews too, and it doesn't inspire a lot of confidence when you're shopping around for someone who's going to be holding your money.
But I figure, negative reviews are typically overrepresented.
But I'm also not here to shill any bank in particular.
I'd say, if you find their feature set to fit the bill, give it a try. Are you currently banking with someone else? Maybe start by just transferring in a portion of your funds and see how it goes. You can always switch later (I switched banks 6 times before I moved to Relay!)
Dont do it! They froze my account and wont let me access any of my funds. Its been over a week. Never refunded a fraudulent charge (not end of the world). And customer support takes FOREVER to get back to you.
@@elizabeth.nelson thank you so much for this reply! This was/is my greatest fear. With a brick and morter bank - while they could still choose to do this - you can at least go in and talk to a person. You can build relationships. Do you have any idea why they've don't this? Having my businesses funds frozen would be a major blow to my business. It could potentially sink us.
This is a high-quality channel. You deserve many more subscribers. So I've just subscribed :)
Thanks so much for the compliment! I really appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment 🙂
Same!
Have you also used Bluevine? I'm curious about your take on Relay v. Bluevine.
Alright, I have some homework to do. I haven't used Bluevine to do a fair comparison, but you're not the first person to ask. I'm thinking of doing a deeper dive into some of these options for a video in the future.
Hi which on does you prefer novo, bluvine, or relay bank? I wish they were FDIC secured doe 🥴
Relay is my pick. And they are FDIC insured! Actually, all three of these services are FDIC insured.
To be fair, I haven't used Bluevine for comparison, and Novo has made some improvements to their platform since I used them last. I'm just really enjoying Relay, but I don't think you can go too wrong with any of these options depending on what you're looking for.
If you DO want to check out Relay, you can get a $50 welcome bonus when you sign up with my link: sidekick.show/relay
This is the kind of review I was looking for!! I've been running a small business for over a year, but am just now opening a separate banking account. I've spent three hours so far comparing so many banks, so I am thankful for this video!
I've been there! I feel like I spent DAYS going back and forth on what bank to use. I am so glad you found the video helpful!
i agree.
Hi David - just subscribed. Love this video. You have a way of making the mundane (business banking) really interesting and funny. You remind me a little of @wheezywaiter - Keep up the great work!
Thanks Jim! I really appreciate the encouragement.
Hey Mark nice video! What accounting software are you using? I’m considering Xero. What do you think?
I'm actually evaluating that myself. I had been using AND.CO (now Fiverr Workspace) for invoicing and expense tracking when I was just side-gigging. Now Formations Corp is handling my books and other S-Corp stuff. But I'm looking at Xero or Freshbooks for another business I'm a part of. I'll keep you posted!
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick Have you made a video on this yet?
@@bignamehusband3327 On Xero? I haven't got my hands on that yet.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick I was hoping for a review. I'm binge watching the content. My llc is a few days old and I'm looking into accounting software. My structure and accounts are setup up to follow the profit first structure. I'll give one of your mentions above a try and see how they work for me. Thanksbfor the response and great channel 👍
@@bignamehusband3327 Thanks for watching, Charlie! I'm still using Fiverr Workspace for my solo business, and Bonsai for my partnership. Our bookkeeping needs are pretty minimal. Both of those tools have income and expense tracking built in. I just track our capital accounts in a separate Google Sheet (but if you're the only one in the business, I don't think you need to worry about that).
How do money transfer work? Are there any fees for transferring in and out of the account? Also how long does it take to transfer? Is Zelle available?
You can transfer money in and out of Relay for free with ACH transfers. They typically take 1-2 business days to clear. Wire transfers are also also available for a small fee ($5 for domestic/$10 international/free to receive wires).
I don't believe Zelle is available. But you can link your bank account to another payment gateway or app like PayPal, Stripe, Venmo, etc. to send and receive money.
Awesome review! Signing up today! Hope the send you a finders fee...😜
Thanks, Trey!
Thank you for this review. Have you tried or have any opinions on Baselane? I am a landlord so find use in the rent collection piece, but it's not necessary.
You're welcome, Anya. I wasn't familiar with Baselane before you mentioned it. I took a peek at the website. It looks like it is a really robust platform.
Personally, I have mixed feelings about "all-in-one" platforms. I love the convenience of having a bunch of tools available in a single "kit," but there's usually some shortcomings somewhere (does 3 things really well and 1 thing backwards). But so long as it does the main thing you need it to do, and does it well, AND does it for free, I see no reason not to at least give it a shot.
I would just recommend taking a closer look at any fees (are the transaction fees for rent collection competitive with other options?). And make sure the rent collection experience for your tenants is smooth and intuitive.
i like the profit-first method and have been using a hodgepodge of many discover bank accounts for that for years but to be able to give access to others to specific accts easily is a huge plus!!!! mike m guy has great incites for bizowners btw, I've read all of his books but it think pumpkin plan and profit first are my fav. one downer is there is no apy/interest paid on those accts at relay that i can see but i am guessing that's how they make their money
No APY *yet* 👀
They're rolling out some new features pretty soon!
Thank you! I opened a Relay account but have not spoken to a human yet. Do they have real time humans to talk to?
Hi Sarah, they do have a real-time customer support number you can call (posted hours are 9am - 5pm EST, M-F). I haven't had any issues where I needed to contact customer support, but I have spoken with one of their (human) people. Since joining, they've sent out a couple communications requesting customer feedback, and I had the opportunity to video chat with one of their reps, discussing business goals, how I use their platform, and ideas for helpful content they can provide for their customers. Pretty nice folks. I would expect their customer support people to be similarly decent and human :-)
Sold! My company just signed up.
Awesome! Glad the video was helpful. I don't think you'll be disappointed. I've been banking with Relay for about 3 years now and it's still treating me well.
Ditto. This video had all the exact info I needed. Thanks!
You're welcome! Glad it was helpful!
I love almost everything about this bank... BUT, why does it take sooo... freakin.... long for a deposited check to clear? This is a real problem
How long have you had your account? I remember when I first opened mine, checks would take about a week (or sometimes longer) to clear. But after a month or so, I noticed settlement times started to get shorter. Now, checks typically clear in 2-3 days for me. But every now and then, there will be a slowpoke.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick Ah. I didn't consider the length of time I've had my account. It hasn't been that all that long. And check deposits are 7-10 business days. Good to know that it gets shorter the longer you have the account. Thanks for the tip
@@JRMooreMusic Hopefully things will start moving quicker for you soon!
So far my biggest 2 cons is that I can only transfer money little bit at a time since there is only a $1000 ach limit, the other con is that it takes an entire week of business days to receive deposited checks (assuming they don’t cancel the check because of “corners” even though they were clearly in the photo)
Hmmm. Did you just recently open your account? This is something that should improve with time. Deposits used to take a long time to settle for me as well, but after about a month, that dropped to just a few days. And I'm not aware of any transfer limits. I've definitely transferred over $1000 in one go. There might be some soft undisclosed probation period for new accounts. I'd reach out to their support and see if they can raise or remove those limits for you.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick I did, I opened it a week ago
How long did it take for you to be approved?
I don't remember exactly (signed up over 2 years ago), but I don't believe it was very long. Less than a day.
Impressed by the vid and it was exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. New subbie. I bank with Capital One but not in my home state. They required me to come to the office to open a business acct. Chase wanted me to be registered with their state, so that wouldn't work. So here I am with Relay and just needed more info. Thank you again.
So glad you found the video helpful!
Relay Financial isn't a bank, it's a financial technology company. They work with a bank, Evolve Bank & Trust. It's basically a fancy web portal for their partner bank.
Having opened an account at Relay Financial, I can tell you my experience has been absolutely terrible. It's taken them two weeks to respond to my support ticket. They say they have phone support, but even during normal business hours, you get a recorded message saying they can't take your call. They suggest contacting support by email and promise a turnaround of a "few business hours" but as I mentioned, I've been waiting well over a week for a response to my support ticket. After looking more closely at the positive reviews for the bank, they don't seem to be genuine--a Nerd Wallet score isn't the same thing as reviews from actual Relay customers. Strongly considering switching back to the good old brick and mortar. Buyer beware. You get what you pay for, especially in this market.
You're correct. Relay is primarily a fintech platform and Evolve holds the funds. I believe Evolve partners with Mercury and a few other companies/apps as well. This sort of bank partnership seems par for the course for a lot of emerging online banking/financial services.
I won't disagree that one of the trade-offs with an online-only service is going to be limited support options. I honestly haven't needed to reach out to their support very much, but when I did, received a reply within 15-20 minutes. Maybe I'm just lucky though, or maybe it was the nature of the inquiry, or maybe support has legit gone downhill since my own experience.
I really do appreciate you adding to the conversation. I'm always exploring new options and planning to do a deeper comparison in the future of other services that some folks have asked about. But I can only dive so deep, so it's good to hear different people's experiences.
If you are looking for a Profit First-friendly bank, community banks and credit unions are usually good brick and mortar options. A lot of the "big name" banks that I looked into have minimum account balances, so having multiple accounts is a no-go.
Would you recommend Relay over Wise to do Amazon reselling?
Hey Marc, I haven't used Wise to be able to say for sure if one is better than the other. It likely comes down to what banking features are most important to you. It looks like Wise is focused on international business and low cost international wire transfers, so they might have an edge if you're moving a lot of money around globally. But Relay is pretty competitive in this space too; no charges for incoming wires (int'l or domestic). Outgoing international wires are $10, but you can upgrade to Relay Pro to unlock free wires.
What about Ach Transfers. I heard the wait time is about 7-10 days
To be honest, I haven't paid close attention to *precisely* how long it takes ACH transfers to clear - but I'd say most transfers have only taken a couple days. It might vary depending on the age of the account and the size of the transfers. I did recently make a larger transfer than usual and it took over a week to complete.
How do you add multiple businesses to a single login?
From the dashboard, go to Settings > Add Business. Then click the button to register a new business. Once that's settled, every time you log in, you'll have a choice of which business you want to manage. And there's also a quick "Switch Business" link in the bottom left-hand corner of your dashboard.
Thanks for this, starting profit first and looking for a bank with no fees!
You're welcome. Glad the video was helpful!
Awesome! Just signed up for relay earlier this week. So far it seems just like you say here! Thanks for the review!
You're welcome. Thanks for watching!
I just got denied without a reason given. I don't want to give up because they're just what I need for my advertising business after 20 years with my local credit union.
Sorry to hear that! Definitely reach out to support for some clarity and see if there's anything you can do to get your application through. There are other banks with comparable features, but this one has been my favorite.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick Well a week later they reached out, asked for proof of residency and a scan of my SSN card. And I'm up and running. 👍
That's crazy. I'm a brand new business owner, just got my DBA and ETN, i have no products on my social media, no invoices and i got approved this Monday. They do ask for all documents to be pdf with 3-4 months of bank statements, Drivers licence picture, links to your personal and business social media, business summary. I wonder why they didn't approve it.
What about mercury bank? They offer a credit card with opening their account which can come handy.
I looked into Mercury a while ago. They seem to lean heavily toward venture capital funded startups, whereas Relay is catering to small businesses in general. I personally prefer Relay's feature set, but I could see Mercury being a better fit for a different type of business.
Regarding the credit card, that's a nice touch, but it's easy enough to get one from a more seasoned player like Amex or Chase that might have a more robust set of benefits. I don't think it should be a huge deciding factor on choosing a bank.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick thanks for the insight. Mercury also offers several “benefits” through their partners like quickbooks discounts and several other that we could offer o our employees. Does Relay offer something like that which we can extend to our employees?
I'm not aware of any discounts for third-party/partner services.
awesome video i just heard about this. def signing up now
Hey Marvin! Thanks for watching. You won't regret signing up with Relay.
does it work for international citizens?im base in Dubai
I believe you can open an account as long as you have an operating presence inside the U.S.
Here's a link I found with more info on that: support.relayfi.com/hc/en-us/articles/10239535780628-Required-Documents-and-Information-for-Registration-with-Relay-2-0
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick for LLC's (what i have) mentioned US business address and phone.
i just opened acc. with Mercury and got approved in 3 days but the stripe needs local bank to work with UAE license(something i didnt know) and its headache to open business acc. in UAE which may take over month !
I've heard that Relay offers percentage transfers- can you confirm or deny? I can't find any information online whether this is an option or not.
Yes they do! I actually just recorded a quick demo of the feature: ruclips.net/user/shortsL25jfKCUjWE
Amazing! Thank you so much! ☺️
You're welcome!
You had me at profit first. Can't wait to check it out. Thanks a bunch!
🙂 You're welcome. Thanks for watching!
Very thorough review!🙌
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.
Swing by again in a couple days, because I'm about to release an updated review that covers some new features Relay rolled out.
Can you confirm…. I heard that when you deposit checks there is a 1-2 week hold on your money and when you use their debit card they put a hold of like 100$ even when buying something cheap
I don't have any experience using the debit card, so I can't speak to that. But checks clear quickly for me. The first couple checks after I opened my account took longer - about a week. But now I typically see the funds settle within 2-3 days.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick ok when you wire money in do they put a hold on that too? Thanks for responding
Sorry, I don't wire money much. I usually use ACH transfers. It's been my experience with most banks (not just Relay) when you're first getting established, transfers might take a little longer to clear. The amount of the transfers and deposits can result in different settlement times as well.
Good content
Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it.
When using relay bank how can I build business credit?
The most straightforward way to build credit would be to use a business credit card to pay for all of your business expenses (keep the balance low and make payments on time!!!). Relay doesn't currently offer credit cards or loans (I have credit cards through Chase and American Express), so simply having an account with them isn't going to actively build your credit. But a business bank account is still an important piece of your business finance puzzle.
You can also apply for a DUNS number to establish a credit score with Dun & Bradstreet - one of the main reporting bureaus lenders use. Here's some more info that might be helpful: www.nerdwallet.com/article/small-business/how-to-build-business-credit-small-business-loans
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick Appreciate that! Which credit card would you recommend for a small business? Do you have a video on that?
I don't have a credit card video - I should get on that!
I personally use and wouldn't hesitate to recommend Chase Ink cards (sidekick.show/chase). You can compare the "Business Cash" and "Business Unlimited" cards. One offers 5% cash back on specific categories, and the other offers 1.5% back on all purchases. Both have no annual fee, and it looks like they are running a really welcome bonus offer right now. Lots of flexible ways to use the rewards points, including transferring your points balance to another Chase card if you have a personal credit card with them and would prefer to cash out your points for a personal purchase.
You can also check out the American Express Blue Business Cash card (sidekick.show/amex). I use that for another business and have been pretty happy. No annual fee, and 2% cash back on all purchases. The cash back system is a lot more simple - they just automatically credit your rewards to your statement balance each month. Good customer support.
Hope that helps!
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick it does thank you! If I go with a chase card, it makes me just want to go with their bank account as well but I don’t want their minimums and stuff. That’s why I’m interested in relay bank. Right now I’m really in between chase credit card and Amex
Yeah, I would not recommend Chase for their checking. I'm usually all about keeping things as consolidated as possible, but in this instance, there's no problem getting a card from a different institution than your bank. It's easy enough to set up auto pay and link your Relay account as the payment method.
Glad I could assist! Keep me posted and let me know if you need any more help with anything 🙂
This bank close my account and not allow to access my fund 😢
Sorry to hear about that. Have you reached out to their support team?
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick already
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick yes only send check
Thank you!
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!
I'm from BD .I'm add relay debit card in my relay account. How can I add my account
Hi KD. You might want to reach out to Relay's support team if you need help with your account. But if you're just trying to add a new debit card, you can do that easily from the "Cards" menu in the dashboard: choose what account you want to link it to, who has access to it, set spending limits, and where to ship it.
Does Relay support Zero Balance Accounts?
Yes! That's why I like them so much for Profit First.
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.
You're welcome! Happy to help!
I want to buy this account if someone no longer uses it?
This channel? My bank account? Thanks for the offer, but I think I'll keep both 🙂
You got my attention when you mentioned Profit First. I’m between this and Found (for their taxes and invoicing features). Thx this came in clutch for me.
Nice! Glad it was helpful. If you like Profit First, stay tuned, because Relay is rolling out some new features and I'll be dropping a new video soon with an overview.
Thank you for this review! This is exactly what I needed. I am trying to decide which bank I want to use for my new business. I am also going to use the Profit First method & I will check out your other video on it. Thank you!
You're so welcome, Nyka! I'm glad you found the video helpful. Good luck with your new business!
Hello Dave, thanks for the information regarding Relay Bank.
You are very knowledgeable and the information you provided seems to be standard across the board.
I was wondering if Relay would be a good bank to have my multiple gig income streams funneled into. Having one account with multiple business checking accounts would allow me keep things separate but have everything under one roof.
Currently, I am in the process of starting multiple side gigs (Doordash, Uber Eats, Amazon Flex etc).
However, I have been quite hesitant to start these side hustles because I want to structure my business bank accounts accordingly so I am ready for tax time.
I was wondering should I funnel all my side hustles into one business bank account or should I keep each of my side hustles (Door Dash, Amazon Flex etc) separate from one another into separate business bank accounts for each gig.
Your insight on this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for your time 🙂🙏✨
Great question! Relay is pretty flexible, so I think it would be a good solution for you, however you want to handle your multiple streams of income.
Personally, I would just lump all of my income into one "Income" account and use another "Taxes" subaccount to set aside money for tax time.
Are you familiar with the Profit First accounting method? In addition to "Income" and "Tax," you can create more accounts for expenses, owner's pay, and profit. I have a video that goes into a little more detail about how that system works.
You COULD do what you suggested - have your different gigs deposit your pay into separate accounts. But I think that would just create more work for you, divvying out taxes for 3 or more different accounts.
If any of your income streams should be treated as a separate business entity entirely (ex. You and a friend co-own a taco truck, and the ownership structure is different from your Door Dash, etc job), THEN I would put that income in a separate account. Actually, I would put that in a completely separate Relay account that's specifically for the taco truck partnership (but the nice thing is, you can set it up so you can access both businesses with the same email address, and when you login, you have a choice of which business you want to manage; and there's an option to switch to the other business without having to log out).
But if all of your gigs are similar (driving/deliveries), taxed the same, and you're the only owner, then I'd lump all the income together and use Profit First to chunk out your taxes and other expenses.
I recorded a short video response for the heck of it, and I briefly cover your I have my accounts set up for two different businesses: ruclips.net/user/shortsRapKXWjUzys
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick Thanks so much Dave for the quick response and the insight. I will lump all my delivery gig income together and implement the for profit system as stated above. Btw, I love your channel and your content. I subscribed and liked your video. Keep going Dave, you are doing great things for the self employed. I will check in with you from time to time. Have a great rest of the day! 🙂🙏✨
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick Sounds good , I like the short. This helped me to clarify my strategy moving forward. Thanks a lot Dave you have been a great help! 🙂🙏✨
Thanks for the encouragement. I'm happy to help!
Thank you for this review. I've been using Live Oak Bank for my business banking. Their business checking is AWESOME because they pay interest. AND...their business checking doesn't pay interest, is clunky to manage, definitely doesn't fully integrate with QBO even though they are trying, and I have to manually download my statements for my bookkeeper. I'm thinking that a Relay/Live Oak Combo in the Profit First system could be the ideal solution. Income & Op Ex at Relay and Profit & Op Ex - HOLD at Live Oak. Thanks again.
I'm glad you found the review helpful! I'll have to take a peek at Live Oak. Did you happen to see Relay recently rolled out some major Profit First friendly features. I made another video covering the update.
Relay now pays interest. I asked that question. They also start offering business credit products.
The main concern I have is I’ve had this bank account for sometime There are a lot of great things about it which I enjoy but one of the issues I am having is when I use the routing number and the account number for deposits some places do not recognize the bank at all and some places there are no issues. Can anyone shed some light on why this would be?
Hmmm. I'm not sure why that would be the case. Just checking - did you upgrade/switch over your account since Relay moved from Evolve & Trust to Thread Bank?
I appreciate this video very much! Thank you. I'm in the middle of switching off riverview and chase due to deposit limits and minimum balances (impossible to empty the income account without incurring a charge) - I have been trying to decide between Novo and Relay and it's nice to see someone already made the journey for me. I am still waiting on some information relating to deposit limits.. once those questions have been answered I have a feeling I'll be going with relay myself.
Glad you found the video helpful!
Hopefully you can get your questions answered soon and join the party.
Great video very informative. Opening my first business account and not sure wether to go with novo or relay. After this im leaning relay for the multiple account purposes
Thanks for watching! I'm glad you found the video helpful!
So 2 years on are you still with Relay? I've heard some really scary reviews about them.
Yup! I'm still using Relay. I've read some complaints too, but I personally haven't had any issues with them.
You're going to find nightmare stories about any company - especially banks. Without excusing any mistakes or poor service some folks have experienced, it tends to be that the angriest voices are the loudest voices (and are the most motivated to leave a negative review). Even so, it looks like Relay has among the highest ratings on Trustpilot compared to other banks.
But I'm not here to convince you one way or another. Whatever bank you choose, I recommend trying them out for a couple months before you start making any crazy large transactions. Banks are heavily regulated and need to verify that people are who they say they are. I imagine online-only banks are going to be especially wary of people opening new accounts and immediately moving large sums of money around. Maybe that's what triggered the issues I read about in some of the nightmare reviews.
I'll say, when I first opened my account, it did take longer than expected for check deposits and ACH transfers to settle. But after using them for a month or so, everything moves pretty quick.
Thank you for listening to my TED Talk 😂
@@SelfEmploymentSidekick Thanks for the detailed reply! I believe I will give them a try and see how things go. I'm surprised you don't have 100x the subscribers as your content is really good.