Updated on 19 November 2023

Mercury Review

Item: Mercury
Rating: 4.6
Author: The Logician

Mercury is a financial technology company that offers services tailored for startups. Learn everything there is to know about it in my Mercury review.

Updated on 19 November 2023

4.6

Free Checking & Savings Accounts
Up to 5.42% Yield on Mercury Treasury
Excellent Customer Support

Starting From

$0/free

Get Started

Recommended: Optimized for Startups

Mercury is a financial technology company that allows businesses to store, manage, and move their funds. With Mercury, companies can open FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts, issue employee debit and credit cards, and pay expenses via checks, wires, ACH, and more. It is specifically made for startups and offers special features that startups need, like applications for venture debt.

Cost	Free to Use, Except for Certain Advanced Features
Minimum Balance Required	$0
Support	Support Is Available via Email, Live Chat (from Monday to Friday, 6 am to 5 pm PT), Social Media, Help Center, Blog
Security	FDIC & SIPC Insurance, Automated Fraud Monitoring, Regulated Partners, PCI Standards, Robust Encryption, SOC 2 Compliance, Multi-Factor Authentication
Cashback	1.5%

Banking Stacks for a Straightforward Payment Process of Startups

Many startups need a lot of time to understand how the business world works, especially when it comes to payments. They need to adapt to the payment methods, the payment terms, and how to keep a record of everything. So, if you’re just starting, I might have the right tool for you.

Mercury is a financial technology company that allows you to store, manage, and move funds. With Mercury, you can open FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts, issue employee debit and credit cards, and pay expenses via checks, wires, ACH, and more.

It is specifically made for startups and offers special features that startups need, like applications for venture debt.

In my Mercury review, you’ll learn more about the banking option in general and explore its features, security, ease of use, scalability, pricing, customer support, third-party integrations, and reputation. Besides this, you’ll find a pros and cons list and see whether Mercury is suitable for your business.

Therefore, I suggest we don’t waste more time and move on to the detailed Mercury review!

Mercury At A Glance

Mercury was established in 2019, which makes it one of the last payment methods developed on the market. The main idea of this platform was to help startups grow easily and easily make earnings without experiencing lengthy bank processes. With Mercury, you can pay with:

Credit cards
Debit cards
Checks
Gift cards
ACH

Important

Mercury transforms the banking experience by combining bank stability with intuitive technology. As a result, you’ll get more control, more time, and experience no fuss at all.

But keep in mind that Mercury isn’t a bank. It’s a financial technology company. Still, it provides business checking and savings accounts through Evolve Bank & Trust and Choice Financial Group. It also comes with FDIC-backed checking and savings accounts and, for some customers, access to a high-yield treasury account.

Note

By putting extra funds into the US government securities and money market funds, you can receive a 5.42% yield.

What’s latest, Mercury has a corporate card (IO), which is mainly an assistance for smaller businesses that may not qualify for other corporate card offers.

Due to all of these perks, Mercury counts 100,000 users and over $50 billion in transactions during 2022. Since its beginnings, Mercury has raised $163 million from the firms that invest in it. More precisely, some of the biggest investors are:

Andreessen Horowitz
CRV
Coatue
Homebrew
L2 Ventures
Sapphire Ventures
Serena Ventures
SV Angel

Did you understand what Mercury is all about? If you want to go more in-depth, stay with me and check out what I found out with my tests!

Mercury Features, Pricing, & More

In order to help you make the right decision, I put Mercury to the test. More precisely, I tested some of its critical aspects, like features, ease of use, security, pricing, customer support, third-party integrations, and reputation.

Warning

These are not all of the elements you can consider. I tested what I found most important.

So, let’s have a look at the things that make Mercury so popular among business owners!

Features

One of the most crucial elements of every payment method is its features. In fact, this is what makes the platform perform well, fulfill all of your needs, and stand out from its competitors. Luckily, Mercury has some really fantastic features, such as startup tools, credit and debit cards, ATM networks, and venture debt.

Note

You can always consider other features. This is just what is most significant for Mercury.

Honestly, I was positively surprised by my test. So I won’t leave you waiting. Let’s find out more about Mercury’s features!

Credit Cards: Mercury recently launched its corporate card – IO. This card is perfect for businesses that wouldn’t qualify for other corporate cards, such as Brex. More so, IO comes with a 1.5% cashback rate on all domestic and international purchases and has no foreign transaction fees. Also, it guarantees a full repayment once a month and does not report to credit bureaus.

Warning

You must use the banking services of Mercury so you can enjoy the IO perks.

Debit Cards: Besides the unique IO credit card, Mercury provides its users with virtual and physical Mastercard debit cards that you can use everywhere that Mastercard is accepted. These cards can be used for tracking spending, as well as for your employees, on which you can set a spending limit.

Warning

These debit cards don’t come with rewards, points, or cashback options.

ATM Networks: One of the greatest benefits of Mercury is that it has its own ATM network. Due to this, you can use your Mercury Mastercard debit card without paying any fees at any of the 55,000+ ATMs. You can find a Mercury ATM in the US as well as internationally.
Startup Tools: Thanks to the advanced software of Mercury, you will enjoy a few built-in tools that will help you send and receive online payments, track your business transactions, analyze cash flow, and monitor your spending. On top of that, you can create virtual debit cards and even manage them by editing the spending limit, freezing the cards, or adding them to your online wallet. Some of its tools even allow you to add team members to your account, add them as admins, enable them to move funds, receive a debit card, change permissions, and let them access your transaction history and statements.

Note

These digital tools help startups streamline their funds movement and grow in no time.

Venture Debt: This term loan is perfect for startups that have raised venture capital within the past year and want to grow more. In fact, the Mercury Venture Debt focuses on the strength of your investors and founding team. As a result, you will be able to minimize dilution, reach a higher valuation, and extend your runway.

Important

While Mercury charges an origination fee and interest on the Venture Debt, it doesn’t charge a prepayment penalty, back-end fees, or final payment fees.

Ease of Use

Another thing that makes Mercury excellent is its ease of use. The platform has a well-organized dashboard and an intuitive user interface, which means you can navigate through it without any issues or confusion.

Also, its starting process is very simple. So, even if you are a beginner, you should be okay. In other words, you just need to provide personal details, business information, documentation about your business, and your employer ID number.

Note

You can open a Mercury account as long as you are a US resident or your business operations take place in the US.

Security

If I can assure you about one thing, it is that Mercury is one of the safest financial platforms on the market. This is because it will protect your data with encrypted passwords, third-party penetration testing, two-factor authentication, and a fully encrypted database.

Besides this, Mercury guarantees FDIC & SIPC insurance, automated fraud monitoring, and regulated partners and complies with PCI Standards and SOC 2. Due to this, you can relax and be sure that Mercury will prevent all hacker attacks.

Customer Support

Mercury has a pretty wide range of customer support options. You can reach out to its customer services via email, live chat, help center, blog, or FAQs section. Unfortunately, one thing disappointed me a bit – Mercury lacks 24/7 customer support.

Warning

Mercury’s live chat is available from Monday to Friday, 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. PT.

However, I must say that their agents are very knowledgeable and solve your issues in no time. They also leave a good impression as they are pretty kind and friendly.

Scalability

As I briefly explained in the Venture Debt feature part, Mercury is a pretty scalable finance platform that cares for your business growth. This is because it allows you to get some cash after you’ve earned some capital, which you can use for acquiring more resources, promoting your business, etc.

Best Email Marketing Tools

Email marketing can be very effective if done right. To do it right, you can use one of the email marketing tools mentioned in this article!
READ THE FULL GUIDE

2.

Constant Contact

Constant Contact

1.

Ongage

Ongage

3.

MailerLite

MailerLite

READ THE FULL GUIDE

Third-Party Integrations

When it comes to third-party integrations and collaborating with other apps and services, Mercury can be your go-to choice.

More precisely, Mercury integrates with QuickBooks and Xero’s accounting software, which helps you automatically sync transactions. It is also compatible with Stripe, PayPal, Venmo, and Amazon payments. Furthermore, Mercury utilizes Plaid so that you can connect to your other bank accounts and quickly access your data from a single dashboard.

As a result, all of your work will become centralized, and you will be able to jump from one app to another in no time.

Pricing

What makes Mercury stand out from its competitors is its no-fee working. Yes, you’ve read that right! Mercury has absolutely no fees. It doesn’t even charge you to create an account. But let’s be more precise.

Mercury doesn’t charge any monthly or ongoing fees, and it doesn’t even impose a minimum balance or any other starting requirements. Also, there are no foreign transaction fees, and you can enjoy no-fee access to its ATMs, even if you use the Mercury debit card out of the Allpoint network.

Warning

However, the ATM owner may charge you.

This looks something like this:

Annual Fee – 0
Account Fee – 0
Global ACH Fee – 0
Wire Transfer Fee – 0
Foreign Transaction Fee – 0
Additional Cards Fee – 0

However, if you convert a foreign currency into USD, you will need to pay a 1% fee in order to cover Mercury’s costs for the SWIFT network.

Reputation

Although Mercury was developed in 2019, it has managed to establish an amazing reputation. This is because it has pretty amazing features, which are even better than those of the older payment platforms. It’s also easy to use, has no fees, and supports its users for any issue that arises.

Important

You will get the best feedback about Mercury if you read user and expert reviews from people in your business niche.

Mercury Pros & Cons

Best for

No fees and hidden charges
Unique features
Startup tools
High level of scalability
Intuitive UI
Broad range of support articles
PCI compliant
High-end security features
Allows third-party integrations

Not good for

Limited live chat hours
Your business, or at least its operations, must be based in the US

Mercury Standout Features

Above, I’ve explained some pretty incredible features. But what if I tell you that’s not everything that Mercury offers? Yes, there are a few more features that are unique and help catch the attention of many business owners. So, let’s have a look at Mercury’s standout features:

API Access
ShopRunner Service
Mercury Raise
Future of Fintech
Series Tea

Who is Mercury Best For?

Mercury is globally known as suitable for beginners. However, this doesn’t mean that other business sizes can’t use it. So, in order to end the confusion, I decided to use my test results in order to create a list of who Mercury is best for:

Startups that need to borrow a loan for their business
Individuals who are looking for a user-friendly platform with intuitive UI
Organizations that want to benefit from a decent yield
Companies searching for unique features
Businesses that want to save on paying fees

Conclusion

Starting a business requires a lot more than just creating a website or finding a reliable web host. You also need to understand how the payment process works, how to organize your funds, monitor your spending, etc. Nowadays, all of this is possible within a single platform.

Meet Mercury! A revolutionary banking option, which is, in fact, a financial service that allows you to send and receive payments, monitor all of your and your employees’ spending, and organize your business budget.

Thanks to its impressive benefits, such as a unique IO credit card, Venture Debt, and easy and quick transfer of funds, you will be able to transfer your small business into a big and prominent organization! I hope my review helps you.

Best By The Logician

Discover my personal recommendations in my Best By section, ranked in quality according to my experience with the products.

Best By The Logician

Get Started

Frequently Asked Questions

Mercury is a financial technology, mainly for startups. By engaging with Mercury, you receive a checking account, savings account, debit and credit cards, ACH, check, and wire transfer payments, unique built-in tools, and impressive features.

Yes, Mercury offers a unique credit card. You can get the IO credit card. This card is the best solution for businesses that cannot qualify for other corporate cards, and it grants you a 1.5% cashback on all of your purchases.

No, you don’t need to pay fees when using Mercury. This is one of Mercury’s best options, as it allows you to enjoy a no-fee payment journey. The only fee you will pay is 1% on converting foreign currencies into US dollars.

Yes, you can use Mercury if you’re not a US resident. However, the only requirement is for you to have a business with current or future operations somewhere in the US.

Mercury stores your funds either in the Choice Financial Group or the Evolve Bank and Trust. Regardless of which bank your funds are, you can be sure that they are safe, as both of them are FDIC-insured.

Yes, Mercury is reliable. This is because it comes with numerous security features, such as two-factor authentication, robust encryption, fraud monitoring, and PCI and SOC 2 compliance. As a result, your confidential data will be safe and out of hackers’ reach.

Yes, Mercury allows ACH money transfers. In fact, these transfers come with absolutely no fees, which makes them perfect for individuals who want to cut costs on their transfers.

The Mercury cashback is 1.5% of your transactions. The best part is that you will receive the cashback automatically in your Mercury bank account.

get started

The Logician

Trademark of a Living Legend

Mercury Review

4.6

$0/free

Recommended: Optimized for Startups

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Mercury?

Does Mercury Offer a Unique Credit Card?

Do I Need to Pay Fees When Using Mercury?

Can I use Mercury if I’m Not a US Resident?

Where Does Mercury Store My Funds?

Is Mercury Reliable?

Does Mercury Allow ACH Money Transfers?

How Much is the Mercury Cashback?

The Logician

Related Products

$0/free

$0/free

$0/free

$0/free

$0/free

$0/free

$0/free

$0/free

$0/free