How to open a business bank account for a home-based business
Traditional banks often reject home-based businesses because they demand a commercial lease agreement or utility bills in the business name as proof of address. Without a physical storefront or commercial office, owners struggle to pass compliance checks and get their accounts or merchant payouts approved.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Switching to different banks, credit unions, or fintech online banks like Chase, US Bank, Mercury, or NovoDid this help you?
- 2Using a virtual office lease or building lease serviceDid this help you?
- 3Renting an actual physical desk or office spaceDid this help you?
- 4Looking into specific virtual address services like 1st Formations to see if they meet verification requirementsDid this help you?
- 5Contacting payment processors directly to ask what documents they will acceptDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Tried explaining this and they said I need either a commercial lease agreement or utility bills showing the business name at a commercial address.”source ↗
“My LLC has been operating for 3 years, I have tax returns, client contracts, everything. just dont have a physical storefront because I literally dont need one.”source ↗
“applied for a BOA business checking account in october and they kept asking for more documents.”source ↗
“Hi y'all, I need help clearing a UK compliance block (for context: I'm running a UK e-com store from overseas). The LTD setup was fine, but Shopify Payments and Stripe just froze my merchant payouts.”source ↗
“They want physical proof of a UK operating address (utility bill or lease agreement), and they're rejecting standard virtual P.O. boxes. How are other remote founders handling this?”source ↗
“Did you have to rent an actual physical desk just for a (utility) bill or is there a clean way around this framework?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Can I start selling before my LLC is officially approved?
- 3how to register a business as a teen
- 6How to open a bank account without your parents knowing
- 4Which US business bank account and suppliers should I use for a new LLC?
- 11How to quit a corporate job to start your own business
- 2Where do I file a DBA when using a virtual address?