Bank Account for Multi-member LLC

[Christopher Gee]

Hi all, my partners and I are in an LLC together, and we're trying to set up a new business bank account. We'd love it if all of our names are on the account. We've run into a problem though:

• Most brick and mortar (Chase, Wells Fargo, etc.) require that all members of the LLC are present to open up the bank account. Of course, all of our members can show up at different branches and present our identity and it wouldn't be a problem, but ...
• My partners and I are all in different time zones and aren't even in the country. 

First question: Has anyone dealt with something like this before?

One solution we're considering is an online business banking option. However, it isn't really clear if online banks are set up for multi member LLCs - from collateral and help content, seems geared towards sole proprieter.

Second question: If you've done online banking for multi member LLC, who did you use?

[Greg Scott]

Christopher:

Hopefully I can share some ideas that will help.  I don't know your specific situation nor the people involved.

Generally a business runs best when there are clear roles about who does what.  Of course, if someone is unavailable, someone else can pick up the slack.  If you don't have these roles defined, it is a recipe for disaster.  For example, my wife handles all the financials for our properties.  She has a background in Finance.  When a bill comes in to be paid, we both know that she is the one that will handle it unless she is overloaded and asks me to do it. With a group of unrelated people in different time zones it is probably even more critical to separate the roles.  

It is also good to have some checks and balances.  So, person A may pay the bills, but person B reviews all the financial statements and could theoretically catch person A if they start stealing from the company.

So, my comment earlier, you shouldn't need everyone to have check-writing capability.  Have one be the primary person with one or two as backups.