…was surprisingly painless.

After taking a quick look around to find the best account, I settled on the $6 RBC small business account.

It’s basically pay-as-you-go, but it was the cheapest one out there. All the rest of the banks wanted to charge you way more every month, plus additional fees for every single transaction you do.

Coming from my free personal banking with PC Financial and ING Direct I’m having a hard time swallowing the idea of ANY fees at all. But I suppose it’s one of the costs of doing business.

Setting up the account was easy. Apparently you’re a more valuable customer if you’re a business because I got a rep on the phone right away. I started the application, then set an appointment at my local branch for the same day. It’s a 20 minute walk away which is a bit of a downer, but at least it’s walkable. I should have picked a cooler day to try it out though! I was so sweaty when I arrived that the bank person asked if I was ok!

Anyway, some chit-chat, 15 bazillion signatures and a showing of my certificate of incorporation and I was done. I feel good having this all taken care of, despite my chops as a personal finance blogger, business stuff scares the poop out of me. Its a whole new world I will have to learn about!

I couldn’t apply for my corporate card there (ooooh I feel so important saying that!!! *squee!*) so I went home and skyped up the toll-free.

Again I got someone right away, and he was actually pleasant to deal with!

Did you know it’s actually harder to get a credit card than a bank account? I guess it makes sense but I’ve never had trouble getting one before!

There was a lot of detail to go through. They pulled my personal account history (I have an RBC Visa), my credit report/score, took down my work history, salary, professional background details, amount of work done on the business already, projected sales figures and even my personal networth! I also have to send in some tax papers from the past few years to prove I’ve been paying them. I think after that I’ll have to send in my first born child.

Now here is where I’m super glad that I’m a PF blogger! It really paid off!

Being young and having a new business (vs. being established and having revenue) are big counts against you if you’re applying for business credit. Your risk levels are higher and you basically don’t have anything there to guarantee that you’ll pay off anything you borrow.

What made my application stronger than the next young entrepreneur’s is the fact that I have a sparkling credit history, a high positive networth for someone my age, and no debt at all.

But even with those things working in my favour my application still came in at a ranking of “C” on your standard report card scale. Woah.

But the bank dude assured me that it’s waaaaay better than other people like me. Apparently you only get an A or B if you’ve been in business for ages with positive growth year over year. Since I don’t have that since I’m just too darn young I still have a pretty good chance of getting the credit card.

So my fingers are crossed that I will get this… right now it’s tough to separate all the business costs from my personal accounts. Eventually I’m going to have to use QuickBooks or get an accountant and I don’t want to mess things up.

I’m so glad this is done!

PS. The sponsor of this page, HSBC promises the same happy moment for Australian readers with their Business Accounts. Check it out!