Banking products and online banking

[Bryan Greenwood]

Just curious! What banks would you recommend for deposit accounts and online banking with low or no fees? Online banking would have to be able to download transactions into QuickBooks. Thoughts!  Ideas!

[Ryan Mapes]

@Bryan Greenwood As others have mentioned, most traditional banks now provide the ability to download statements and import them into QuickBooks.  Of course, fees and other functionality/offerings will vary quite a bit from bank to bank.  Banks have largely been slow to adopt new technology.  So, your online banking portal might look like something out of the early 2000s.  

Beyond basic banking features and low fees, it's important to consider what else you'd like to see from your banking partner.  A few considerations:

1) Ability to quickly/easily obtain short term funding for renovations or a downpayment on your next rental property.  Many banks are really slow or are super strict on their lending criteria forcing you to now work with multiple banks across your portfolio.

2) Ease of use - ability to sync your property management and accounting software so that you can see a wholistic picture of your financial performance across your portfolio.  Virtually no traditional bank does this.  You'd need to turn to a modern real estate finance platform. 

3) Flexibility - ability to open a new bank account at any time of day/or night online without having to walk into a branch.  Sounds basic, but most financial institutions won't allow this (we're one of the few that do).  

Traditional banks/credit unions have remained largely unchanged.  And, real estate investors have increasing demanded better solutions/experiences.  I think we'll continue to see modern financial platforms fill this void at an even faster pace in the coming years.