[chatmasta]

Brex and Gusto have been nagging us to setup a new bank account, but is this urgently necessary if SVB ACH is operating normally now? What are other people doing?

We'll obviously open a new account eventually but it doesn't seem urgent?

[richardlblair]

If I was a founder in the US right now I'd be opening at least 1 other bank account today and getting at least half my funds into that account. I would also never operate without at least 2 bank accounts.

Operating a business and having employees is a huge responsibility. If people are depending on you to manage the risk of your business so they can buy groceries it's important to take that as seriously as you can.

[chatmasta]

We are taking the responsibility seriously. We have payday on Wednesday and ACH configured with Gusto. They told us to send them a wire by 11am Wednesday, but this was prior to last night's announcement. So I'm wondering if this has changed.

It's likely not possible to open an account at another bank, wire all our money from SVB to there, and then wire the money to Gusto by 11am on Wednesday. So in the interest of ensuring employees are paid, the fastest option will likely be using SVB.

You're right that operating with two bank accounts now sounds like a good idea. We actually have that already because our structure involves a US parent corporation and a UK subsidiary, but the second bank account is in the UK (thankfully not with SVB UK, although ironically that's because we dragged our feet on moving to it).

[richardlblair]

I didn't mean to imply you aren't taking it seriously. Just pointing out what I'd be doing today.

Glad to hear you're focusing on getting that money flowing through to your employees.

Sorry you're in this situation. I know how frustrating it can be when you have to enter a reactive state that takes your attention away from your core mission.

[Zetice]

Does Gusto/Workday make pulling from multiple banks transparent? Seems like a value add for them to add in a way to seamlessly pull evenly from multiple accounts, and doesn't immediately strike me as overly difficult from a technical perspective.

[londont]

Hi there, co-founder of Gusto here. To clarify — If you have not yet updated your bank account on file to another (see article), you will have to wire funds to Gusto in order to make payroll on time. Log in to the app, run payroll, and you’ll get a prompt with more details and the specific cut-off, but it’s usually 10am PST in the morning of payroll.

In terms, of getting a new bank set up, I’ve seen people open bank accounts same-day with Mercury (online) or Chase (walking into a branch). Wiring funds from SVB to one of these banks should take <24hr to complete.

But yes, you CAN initiate a wire transfer from SVB if you prefer to do that. Note that some SVB customers are seeing issues with the portal right now (probably given high traffic).

Hope this helps.

Oh, also we created this resource hub to help SVB customers with tips like the above: https://gusto.com/company-news/silicon-valley-bank-closure-r...

[chatmasta]

Great to hear from you! Thanks for the information. I'm a bit confused though. We have an ACH auto-pay schedule configured to take payment tonight (for payday on Wednesday). I thought ACH from SVB is still working. Is Gusto choosing not to process those payments? And if so, do you plan to eventually resume processing ACH payments from SVB?

Since the ACH payment is scheduled for tonight, we were planning on seeing if it fails, and if it does, sending the wire tomorrow so it arrives by 11am on Wednesday as required.

[londont]

Thanks for the reply. That's right, if you use SVB you have the fund payroll through a wire transfer. The wire can come from any account (including an SVB account). ACH won't work.

[chatmasta]

Thanks. It would be nice if the dashboard reflected that instead of showing the ACH payment as scheduled for tonight, but of course I understand we're all working with little time or information. Also maybe you could update your FAQ to explain that Gusto will not attempt to process any ACH payments from SVB, despite them operating normally from the SVB side. At the moment the document only implies this and you need to read between the lines to understand why a wire is necessary.

I also agree with the other commenter downthread that this is adding an unnecessary layer of complexity, but I understand why you might be doing it to avoid overdrawing an account that has been emptied. Still, I'm not sure this default opt-out is the best solution - maybe it would be better to ask those who did move money out of SVB to cancel their ACH schedule, rather than unilaterally ceasing ACH processing and asking those who didn't move money out of SVB to change their method of payment.

[londont]

Good feedback. Working on clarifying how we message this. Thank you!

[chatmasta]

Thanks for your responsiveness. We'll try initiating the wire, although we aren't able to log into SVB at all right now (503 errors and redirects back to login screen). I sure wish we could use ACH, since I assume it'd be more reliable for Gusto to download some ACH transactions from an SFTP server once, rather than sending every customer to SVB to attempt a wire transfer...

[rexreed]

Always have a backup. I have 2 corporate bank accounts (at least). Neither of them are SVB. Chase is solid. Avoid shiny objects. Startups have enough risk in their daily existence, the last thing you need is to introduce unnecessary risk. Be a revolutionary where it matters. Be boring, steady, and predictable everywhere else.

[chatmasta]

Brex has been promoting their business checking account, and claims it's FDIC insured up to $2.25m. Anyone moving there?

[rexreed]

Personally, I'd stay with a "boring" bank for at least one account. You can always open more than one account. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Brex sure, but they could be a flash in the pan. Have "boring" banks as a backup. I bank with Chase and a local FCU in addition to anything else.

Also, Brex isn't a bank. They make this very clear: https://www.brex.com/support/is-brex-cash-a-bank-account

You should read carefully for anything where you put your hard-earned money.

"Brex Cash is not a bank account; it is a cash management account offered by Brex Treasury (a FINRA-registered broker-dealer) that functions very much like a business bank account.

You can use your Brex Cash account to securely deposit checks (including via mobile app); send and receive payments via ACH, check, and wire—even internationally; and manage spend for your company’s different users.

Brex Cash also allows you to choose how your money is stored. You can elect to keep your deposits at a Brex partner bank, and if you do, you’ll be eligible for FDIC insurance up to $2,250,000 in total. The other option is to invest your deposits into a government money market mutual fund. You can also use any combination of these two options.

No matter how you choose to store your funds, your Brex account gives you unlimited corporate credit cards for secure, convenient spending. The cards are automatically paid daily like a debit card—while giving you cash back on every purchase and building your business credit.

Note: Unlike debit cards, Brex cards cannot be used to make cash deposits or ATM withdrawals."

Your FDIC insurance and exposure is entirely up to you at Brex.

[Karunamon]

I would think twice about them after they unceremoniously cut off a bunch of their customers, followed by the higher ups responding to the outrage with lame PR corpspeak

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31772211

[rexreed]

They also dramatically and unilaterally devalued their rewards: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35121124 as well as had a big layoff round: https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/11/fintech-brex-layoffs-restr.... Be wary, manage your risk, don't overconcentrate, diversify.

[randoengy]

Moved there last year, extremely happy with them.

[HPMOR]

It is not urgent. All depositors assets, uninsured & insured, are being backstopped by the Treasury. No need to worry if your assets are being held by the FDIC receivership. Now, if your assets are at First Republic, there might be some concern, but I believe that the Treasury has sent a strong signal that depositors will be made whole.

[robertlagrant]

What does "sent a strong signal" mean in reality?

[HPMOR]

You're right, "sent a strong signal" is deliberately ambiguous, in the sense that there has not been a declared policy shift of the FDIC to protect uninsured deposits. However, given that SVB and Signature were not previously declared Systematically Important Banks, yet all of their depositors were made whole, should give depositors confidence that that the Federal Government will see they are protected.

Now, whether the FDIC should make this a declared policy position remains to be seen, but I believe that would require congressional action.

[dmckeon]

This was pretty strong: https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy1337

[ladon86]

Not urgent. With the government guaranteeing deposits, SVB might be the safest bank in America (at least for this week).

I agree with others that you should be diversifying over the medium/long term, but I wouldn’t be racing to do that today.

[Alex3917]

> SVB might be the safest bank in America

Except for that you can't log into their website, they don't pick up their phones or answer their emails, etc.

[ladon86]

Website is a bit flakey under load, but that's going so subside after today.

I would recommend not YOLOing your money into multiple accounts today - rushed decisions are what got us here. If your immediate payroll issue is sorted, spend today and tomorrow working on a diversification and treasury plan with your team, then execute that over the next week or two. At this point, poorly configured wire transfers and scams are much more of a risk than your SVB balance going away.

[dougSF70]

I am going to run payroll from my personal checking account because gusto wants a different bank to SVB. I will then wire funds from SVB to my personal account. Then I will find a new business banking provider.

[dragonwriter]

> gusto wants a different bank to SVB.

Why the hell would they want a different bank than the one being run by the US government?

The whole point of the herculean effort of a all-deposits-protected federal takeover is to prevent disruption of this kind by providing the firmest possible guarantees.

[dougSF70]

EXACTLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[londont]

Hi there, co-founder of Gusto here. Running payroll from your personal account won't work. It has to be a business account. Please see below a msg I wrote earlier in the thread about some advice on how to get that done on time --

*

To clarify — If you have not yet updated your bank account on file to another (see article), you will have to wire funds to Gusto in order to make payroll on time. Log in to the app, run payroll, and you’ll get a prompt with more details and the specific cut-off, but it’s usually 10am PST in the morning of payroll.

In terms, of getting a new bank set up, I’ve seen people open bank accounts same-day with Mercury (online) or Chase (walking into a branch). Wiring funds from SVB to one of these banks should take <24hr to complete.

But yes, you CAN initiate a wire transfer from SVB if you prefer to do that. Note that some SVB customers are seeing issues with the portal right now (probably given high traffic).

Hope this helps.

Oh, also we created this resource hub to help SVB customers with tips like the above: https://gusto.com/company-news/silicon-valley-bank-closure-r...

[dougSF70]

You are adding a layer of complexity on what is the safest bank in America for the foreseeable future.

[dougSF70]

Ok, I just got an email from the new CEO. The king is dead, long live the king.

Silicon Valley Bank, N.A. rising from the ashes of SVB...can gusto update now please.

[patrickdward]

Get board approval first. This can create legal issues for you.

[jacooper]

So the new DIND bank created by the FDIC is an actual bank? Not just some kind of temporary org until everyone withdraws their money?

[invokestatic]

The DINB, as I understand it, is now closed and all assets moved to a new entity called Silicon Valley Bank, NA which is a “bridge bank” operated by the FDIC and should operate like any other bank does. Until another bank buys it.

[chatmasta]

It's quite bizarre and I'm also wondering this. I have no idea if it's possible to deposit into SVB. But they claim that the bank is operating normally.

[dgacmu]

Yes. The bank is now a bridge bank: https://www.fdic.gov/news/press-releases/2023/pr23019.html

This is a mostly fully functional bank designed to help smooth the transition for depositors away from SVB to their new permanent homes.