Business Checking: Tiered Commercial DDA with Earnings Credit

Which Tier Fits Your Volume?

Zero-click: Monthly transaction count above 500 items or average collected balance above $500,000 generally qualifies for Commercial Analysis. Between those thresholds, Business Plus or Elite offers cleaner flat-fee pricing without the analysis statement reconciliation.

Commercial checking priced well is a negotiation between balance intensity and transaction intensity. A distributor running 4,000 ACH items a month against a $300,000 average balance should price differently than a holding company cycling $2.8M in monthly wires through a single operating DDA. CorporateConnect publishes the ECR monthly against the 90-day Treasury bill, so treasury teams can model service-fee offset before committing to a tier.

Regulatory posture matters as well. The OCC deposit account operations guidance frames how national banks disclose commercial DDA fees and ECR methodology. CorporateConnect publishes an account analysis statement in BAI2 on the 5th business day of each month with every line item priced, earned and offset.

Earnings Credit Rate Mechanics

Zero-click: ECR equals (monthly average investable balance × annualized ECR rate) divided by 12. Investable balance equals ledger balance less float and a 10% FDIC reserve. A $1M investable balance at 2.25% ECR generates roughly $1,875 in monthly service credit — enough to offset about 180 domestic wires or 60,000 ACH items.

The ECR is not interest. It is a non-cash credit applied to the account analysis statement to offset itemized service charges. Surplus credit does not roll to the next cycle; under-credit balance (fees exceeded credit) bills to the primary DDA on the 10th business day. Commercial clients above $2M in deposit balances frequently negotiate a relationship-pricing overlay that lifts the published ECR by 25–50 basis points.

Tier Comparison Table

Zero-click: Commercial Analysis has no stated monthly fee — fees appear on the analysis statement and are offset by ECR. Business Elite charges a flat $75/month with unlimited items.

Features That Come Standard

Zero-click: Every tier includes online banking, mobile deposit, standard positive pay, a Visa commercial debit card, BAI2 export and FDIC insurance to $250,000 per ownership category.

• Fedwire and SWIFT origination — initiated from Wire Transfers with dual-authorization above configured thresholds.
• NACHA ACH origination — same-day and standard windows via ACH Payments.
• Treasury linkage — ZBA, target-balance sweeps and treasury management modules attach natively.
• Reporting — real-time balance, prior-day BAI2, custom report builder.
• Multi-entity support — parent-child DDA hierarchies through role-based access controls.

Expert Commentary: Jonathan R. Hayes, VP Commercial Treasury Solutions, CTP

"Most treasury teams I sit down with underestimate how much service fee runs through a commercial DDA when the portfolio is pricing two-thirds of its payments at retail per-item cost. Moving to Commercial Analysis with a correctly sized target balance frequently eliminates $18,000 to $40,000 of annual out-of-pocket fee for a $200M-revenue client. The conversation is less about the headline rate and more about whether the ECR is calibrated, the investable balance is accurate, and the analysis statement ties out monthly."

FAQ: Business Checking

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