A brand deal payout or an affiliate check lands in a personal checking account without incident, until three or four of them land in the same month and the account starts looking less like a hobby and more like a business a bank would recognize. This piece is not about what a payment processor takes off the top of that payout. An earlier post on this site covered that fee directly. This one covers a separate decision made after the money has already arrived: which account it sits in once it is deposited, and what a bank asks for before it will open that account at all. If the reader is choosing a business checking account for the first time rather than moving an existing one, the paperwork question comes before the fee question, not after.
Why the account matters once the money is no longer occasional
A single sponsored post or one affiliate payout is easy to treat as a rounding error in a personal account. The problem shows up once there are several a month, mixed in with rent, groceries and a friend’s Venmo request, and tax time arrives with no clean line between personal and business activity. That is the moment a business checking account stops being optional. It is worth being specific about which decision this is: for someone who has never had a business bank account, the question is not which bank to switch to, it is which bank will open an account given the paperwork currently on hand. A sole proprietor with only an EIN is in a different position than someone who has already filed LLC formation documents with their state, and the three banks covered here do not all treat that difference the same way.
What each bank actually requires to open an account
| Bank | Entity requirement stated on its own page | Documents named |
|---|---|---|
| Mercury | Mercury’s own FAQ states that customers “must be formed and registered in the United States or a U.S. territory.” The application requirement is built around a formed company, not an EIN-only sole proprietorship. | Mercury’s FAQ names the company’s official formation documents, an IRS-issued EIN document, and a government-issued ID for at least one person with operating control of the business plus any owner holding 25 percent or more of the company. |
| Novo | Novo’s own help center states plainly that a business which has not registered can still apply as a sole proprietor. Its own language: “You won’t need formation documents, but you do need an EIN.” | Novo’s help center lists a valid government issued photo ID, a Social Security number, a US cell phone number and a US address for everyone applying, plus an EIN for the business. A DBA document is required only if the applicant uses a business name that is not their own legal name. Novo’s own EIN article adds that a single member LLC with no employees taxed as a disregarded entity can apply without an EIN at all. |
| Bluevine | Bluevine’s own site states plainly that “any eligible United States based sole proprietorships, corporations, partnerships, or nonprofit corporations are welcome to apply online.” A sole proprietorship does not require a formed LLC or corporation. | Bluevine’s own FAQ groups what it asks for into three categories: personal info (name, email, phone, password), business details (trade name or DBA name, business address and phone number, EIN confirmation letter, annual revenue, entity type and industry), and owner verification (home address, date of birth, SSN, ownership percentage, and a driver’s license) for anyone who owns 25 percent or more of the business. |
Checked on 2026-09-09, the three pages split on this point in a way most side-by-side comparisons flatten into one generic “business documents” line. Bluevine and Novo both allow a sole proprietorship without a formed LLC or corporation, though Novo still expects an EIN in most cases. Mercury takes the opposite position, treating formation documents as part of the application itself. Mercury’s dedicated help center article on the topic, a separate page from the FAQ, did not return readable text in this session, a JavaScript only shell with no article content, so the FAQ language above is what this piece relies on for Mercury.
The monthly fee claim, checked against each bank’s own pricing page
Mercury’s own pricing FAQ, checked on 2026-09-09, states that “Mercury business banking have no minimum account balance requirements, overdraft fees, required monthly fees, or account opening fees.” The page does note that certain features carry separate charges, among them mass payments through its API, Mercury Treasury account management, non-USD card transactions, currency exchange, and premium international USD transfers, and that a paid tier starting at $35 a month exists for businesses that want more invoicing and expense-reporting features. None of that changes the standard account: the no-monthly-fee claim for the base account is unconditioned.
Novo’s own business checking page, checked on 2026-09-09, states “no monthly fees, no minimums, no transaction limits” as a description of the standard account, without attaching that to a minimum balance or a specific named plan. Bluevine’s own page, checked the same day, states its business checking account is “completely free” to start and lists no monthly fee as a base feature. Bluevine’s page separately advertises an APY on the account balance for eligible customers, but that is a yield feature, not a condition on the checking fee itself, and the page’s own FAQ on setup cost repeats that most business checking accounts, this one included, cost nothing to apply for and open. Across all three, the fee-free claim held for the standard account with nothing hidden in a footnote about a minimum balance.
A freelancer with only an EIN, no LLC yet
Picture a creator who has an EIN from the IRS, files taxes as a sole proprietor, and has not filed anything with their state to form an LLC. Brand deal income and an affiliate program have grown enough that a dedicated account makes sense this month, not after the LLC paperwork is done. Based on what each bank’s own page states, both Bluevine and Novo describe a path for this reader today, without a formed entity. Mercury is the one of the three whose own FAQ describes applicants as companies that are formed and registered, which points toward filing the LLC or corporation first, not applying before it exists. This is a requirements comparison, not a recommendation. The reader’s own paperwork, not a ranking, decides which of the three is worth applying to today.
What is not covered here
This piece answers one question: what entity paperwork and what fee terms are on each bank’s own page, as of the date checked. It is not a review of any of the three banks’ broader feature sets, not FDIC coverage or deposit insurance advice, not card perks or integrations, and not a claim that any one of the three is “best.” Whether to form an LLC at all, and what a formation service actually files versus what it merely files paperwork for, is a separate decision that this site covers elsewhere and is not addressed here. Bank requirements and pricing pages change. This piece reflects only what each page stated on the dates checked above, and a reader applying later should check the current version of each page rather than treat this as permanent.
Get the account decision and the payout fee decision in one place
followedapp is published by the team behind RecurPost, one of the vendors this site tracks under the same disclosure rules applied to every other vendor covered here. This post and the earlier one on what payment processors take from a brand deal payout are two halves of the same reader problem: the fee on the way in, and the account the money lands in afterward. Read them together before applying to any of the three accounts above.
FAQ
Can I open a business checking account without forming an LLC?
It depends on the bank. Bluevine and Novo both state that an eligible United States sole proprietorship can apply online without a formed corporation or LLC, though Novo still expects an EIN in most cases. Mercury’s own FAQ points the other way, describing applicants as companies that are formed and registered and asking for formation documents during the application. This answer covers only these three banks, not business banking in general.
Do Mercury, Novo and Bluevine really have no monthly fee?
As of 2026-09-09, all three state no monthly fee on their standard business checking account, checked directly against each bank’s own page. Mercury’s page adds that certain optional features and a separate $35 a month paid tier exist, but the base account carries no required monthly fee, no minimum balance and no account opening fee. Novo’s page states no monthly fees, no minimums and no transaction limits for its account. Bluevine’s page describes the account as free to open with no monthly fee, plus a separate APY offer for eligible balances that does not change the fee status of the checking account itself.
Sources
- Mercury, Pricing, fetched 2026-09-09
- Mercury, FAQ, fetched 2026-09-09
- Novo, Business Checking, fetched 2026-09-09
- Novo Help Center, What business documents do I need to open an account?, fetched 2026-09-09
- Novo Help Center, Do I need an EIN to apply?, fetched 2026-09-09
- Bluevine, Business Checking, fetched 2026-09-09
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