Depositing a check made out to a business?

Factual Questions
1

I often do freelance programming/technical consulting for companies. Since most of them seem to prefer making checks out to businesses for this sort of work, rather than individuals, I have a doing-business-as filed for Absolute Technology Consulting. However, in the past all the checks I’ve received have been made out to:

Absolute
Absolute Technology Consulting

and I’ve been able to deposit them in my personal checking account. I don’t have a business account for ATC.

Recently, I received a check made out to just Absolute Technology Consulting, and the bank refused to deposit it, saying it was made out to a business, and had to be deposited into a business account.

Is this correct? Do I have to open a business account with my DBA in order to deposit this check? Why can’t I just bring the DBA with me to the bank, and have them deposit it into my personal account?

2

Try a search, there was a thread with exactly the same question a few weeks ago.

3
  1. Indorse check "Absolute Technology Consulting pay to the order of [your name here].
  2. On the next line, sign the check with your given name.
  3. Deposit the check in the ATM.

Or

Bring your DBA to the bank and explain the whole situation to the bank manager. Should be pretty easy to fix.

Or

Try to hash it out with a bunch of impatient people in line behind you while trying to explain the nuances of UCC law to the teller.

Read this first.

4

http://www.legalzoom.com/customer_service/product-DBAs.html

5

I have to say, come tax time, separate business accounts can make it a lot easier to keep things straight.
Bear in mind that there are some things related to FDIC insurance that make it a poor idea for a bank to knowingly let you transact commercial business in a personal account.
I believe that the requirements for bank investment holdings to remain eligible for FDIC insurance are different for business versus personal accounts, and the bank could get in some minor trouble with its regulators if it routinely knowingly allowed individuals to run businesses in their private checking accounts.

6

This is a matter of bank policy, not a legal restriction. My bank allows me to deposit business checks into my personal account. I simply gave them a copy of my DBA, and that shows up on their computer whenever a teller checks.