Novo Banking vs Nearside Banking. Which Business Bank Account and Business Debit Card is Better?
Features offered by big banks and large financial institutions aren’t cut out for small companies and local businesses. These companies are always on the lookout for financial solutions that could provide them with better features. Thanks to the power of advanced technology, today’s choices are seemingly endless. If you’re a business owner, you’re undoubtedly interested in finding out which business banking platform is best for you, your team members, and your small company. Currently, two such platforms are all the rage – Novo vs Nearside. Naturally, you’ll want to choose the better one, but that’s not as easy as it sounds. We’ve decided to put these two similar companies in a match and declare the ultimate winner by the end of this article. Read on to find out who wins!
- Novo – best for business owners who seek a secured business banking platform with multiple integrated tools and outstanding customer support.
- Nearside – best for new businesses looking for online banking, discounts, perks, debit card with rewards, and easy to access growth funds.
Novo vs Nearside Comparison Table
| Novo | Nearside | |
|---|---|---|
| Bank name | Middlesex Federal Savings, F.A. | LendingClub Bank |
| Products offered | Business checking | Business checking, business loans |
| Minimum requirements | None | None |
| Bonus offer | – | Increased cashback for limited time |
| Credit check | No | No |
| Best for | Small and medium business owners, entrepreneurs, and freelances | Independent contractors, sole proprietors, gig workers, single-member LLCs, and new business owners |
| Debit card | Yes, Novo Business Debit Card | Yes, Nearside Business Debit Card |
| Card network | Mastercard | Mastercard |
| Virtual card | Yes | No |
| Rewards | – | 2.2% unlimited* cashback |
| Annual fee | $0 | $0 |
| Maintenance fee | None | None |
| ATM fees | All fees refunded | Free withdrawals from 55k ATMs |
| Overdraft fees | None | None |
| Business loans | No | Yes, up to $10,000 |
| Integration | Stripe, Shopify, Invoicing, Reserves, Square, Slack, Wise, Xero, Woo, QuickBooks, eBay, Etsy, Amazon, etc | Partnered with Yelp, Square, QuickBooks |
| Apps | Yes, 15+ | No |
| Additional perks | Booking.com – 6% savings; gusto – $500 cash savings; Quickbooks – $150 savings; Hubspot – $1400 savings; Zendesk – $540 savings per seat; homebase – $50 cash; and more | Constant contact – 20% off; gusto – 3 months free; indeed – $200 in credit; Semrush – 14 days free; drip – 6 months free; PandaDock – 14 days free; unbounce – 20% off for 3 months; XERo – 25% off, and more |
| Perks focus | Cash back | Percentile discounts |
| Customer service | Yes, the real person | Yes |
| FDIC insured | Yes | Yes |
| More info | Novo Debit card | Nearside Debit card |
| Reviews | Novo Bank Review | – |
| Application | Claim this offer | Claim this offer |
About Novo and Nearside
Before we jump into the comparison, it’s important to say something more about these two companies. Let’s start with Novo.
As you can probably assume, Novo is a business banking platform. Therefore, it’s specially designed to respond to the needs of modern-day business owners. Its services cater to everyone, from traditional small business owners to modern freelancers and startup founders. Fully independent and not owned by any bank, Novo supplies its users with modern and easy-to-use tools, even when on the go. With customers at the heart of its interest, it continues to improve its services, launch new products, and equip its users with maximum flexibility, privacy, and security.
Nearside is a business banking platform that caters to small and medium-sized businesses. Its primary purpose is to make starting a business much more straightforward, at least financially. Providing its users with transparent and fair lending products and accessible financial services, Nearside helps new business owners get started with their projects. Even after the launch, it still provides further assistance as the business grows.
Advantages
Now that you know more about the ideas, missions, and visions behind Novo and Nearside, it’s time to take a closer look at the main banking features and advantages you can count on when using these two business banking platforms.
Novo
Here are some top features small business owners get with Novo:
- Easy account registration. Forget about spending half of your day in a bank line to submit your application. You can skip the long bank queues and quickly set up an account from the comfort of your home. You can complete the whole process in minutes.
- No monthly fees or minimum balance. If you’re launching a business, the last thing you need is to pay regular monthly fees at the bank even before your company starts making profits. Fortunately, Novo has no monthly service charges. Moreover, its accounts don’t have balance minimums, which means business owners don’t have to keep a certain amount of money in their accounts.
- No transaction fees. When you have an account at Novo, you don’t have to pay for ACH transfer fees, debit card charges or incoming wire fees. All transactions are fee-free!
- Refunds on all ATM fees. Even if you’re withdrawing money from ATMs and their banks charge you a fee, Novo will reimburse them each month. That goes for all ATM fees worldwide.
- Free and unlimited invoicing. Send unlimited personalized invoices, track them, and choose payment methods for free.
- Integration with other business tools. Novo integrates with other tools that businesses frequently use, including Stripe, PayPal, Shopify, Xero, and QuickBooks.
- Easy saving methods. With Novo Reserves, business owners can set aside money for taxes, payrolls, and other significant expenses.
Nearside
Moving on to Nearside, these are the platform’s main advantages:
- Easy account registration. Most business banking platforms check a company’s credit score before approving or denying its application. That’s not the case with Nearside. You can submit your application within minutes without having to answer hundreds of questions about your business.
- No monthly fees or minimum balance. This feature may come as music to your ears. Like Novo, Nearside doesn’t charge any monthly fees or require a minimum account balance to let its users keep the account.
- No incorporation requirements. You don’t have to be incorporated to use Nearside. So, even if you use your Social Security Number to file taxes, you can still register your Nearside account to manage all business finances easily.
- Unlimited cashback rewards. Nearside offers unlimited cashback rewards on eligible debit card purchases. Its cashback rate is pretty generous.
- Free ATM withdrawals. The global network of AllPoint ATMs consists of 55,000 ATMs, where users can withdraw funds at no charge.
- Money transfers via Plaid. Using Plaid to link other accounts to Nearside, users can rely on safe and secure money transfers.
Disadvantages
Neither of these two platforms is perfect. Just like they both come with their unique advantages, they have some drawbacks you should consider.
| Nearside | Novo |
|---|---|
| Nearside has its few faults too, such as: | When it comes to Novo, its main drawbacks include: |
| Deposits available only through AllPoint ATMs. You can deposit checks with Nearside, but only via AllPoint ATMs. Therefore, you might need to invest some time in finding your nearest AllPoint ATM. Account transfer initiation. Nearside requires all its users to initiate transfers from their accounts. As that isn’t the handiest feature, many business owners see it as an additional step in their already busy day. | No cash deposits. This business checking platform doesn’t support traditional cash deposits. If you wish to deposit your cash, you need to buy a money order and use Novo’s app to deposit the check. No recurring payments with bill pay. Novo’s business checking platform doesn’t offer recurring payments. Although you can save the needed information for future transactions, you can’t set automatic payments. |
Nearside and Novo Competing Offers and Alternatives
| Name | Issuer | Annual Fee | Regular APR | Review | Application |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chase Ink Business Cash | Chase Bank | $0 | 13.24% to 21.49% (V)* | Chase Ink Cards Review | Claim this offer |
| Axos Bank Checking Card | Axos Bank | See Terms | n/a | Axos Bank Review | Claim this offer |
| Blue Business Cash | American Express | $0 | 13.24% to 21.49% (V)* | – | Claim this offer |
| Revenued Business Card Visa | Sutton Bank | $0 | n/a | – | Claim this offer |
| NorthOne Mastercard | The Bancorp Bank | $10 | n/a | – | Claim this offer |
| ACE Flare Visa | MetaBank | See Terms | n/a | – | Claim this offer |
| Aspiration Zero Mastercard | Beneficial State Bank | See Terms | 11.65% to 21.45% | Aspiration Review | Claim this offer |
| Uplyft Capital | Uplyft Capital LLC | $0 | See terms | Uplyft Capital Review | Claim this offer |
Bottom Line
All in all, Novo and Nearside are both outstanding business banking companies that offer some fantastic benefits to their users. Since both companies focus on providing much-needed support to new business owners and small companies, they come with plenty of similarities. We believe Novo is currently a more flexible solution that offers better features. However, that can change, as both companies regularly work on introducing new options to their users. So, there’s no definite winner in this battle. It all comes down to personal preference and which features are more important to you.
