If you’re a freelancer, contractor, or side-hustler, your business can now get its own Wealthsimple account. Wealthsimple Business chequing is now open to sole proprietors, and it comes with a prepaid Business Visa that earns 1% cash back on every purchase, with no monthly fee and no foreign transaction fee.
A business credit card is also on the way. Wealthsimple has opened a waitlist for it ahead of its launch in early 2027.
Wealthsimple Business Chequing
The account works much like Wealthsimple’s personal chequing account. There’s no monthly fee and no minimum balance, and you get unlimited e-Transfers, up to $50,000 a day.
Your balance earns interest of up to 2.25%, calculated daily and paid monthly. The rate depends on your combined personal and business assets at Wealthsimple, starting at 1.25% under $100,000 and reaching 2.25% at $500,000.
You can open up to eight business chequing accounts, all free, and paying the CRA from them costs nothing. Deposits have CDIC coverage of up to $100,000 per business, shared across its savings and chequing accounts.
Who can open one
Sole proprietors are the newest addition. Wealthsimple’s in-app announcement calls it “Business chequing for sole props” and pitches it at freelancers, side-hustlers, and contractors.
You can open an account as a sole proprietor whether your business is registered with the province or not. For an unregistered business, you confirm a few details yourself, like your industry and source of funds.
Incorporated businesses qualify if they’re Canadian-controlled private corporations with a single layer of ownership and a federal business number. Wealthsimple says setup takes most businesses about 20 minutes.
The Prepaid Business Visa Earns 1% Cash Back
Every Business chequing account comes with a prepaid Business Visa. It earns 1% cash back on every purchase, with no annual fee and no foreign transaction fee.
The card spends straight from your business chequing balance, so there’s no application or credit check, and you can use it the day you open the account. Each business gets one card for now, and employee cards aren’t available yet.
The card comes as both a physical and a virtual card at no cost, and ATM withdrawals are free too.
Some spending doesn’t earn cash back. The exclusions are cash-like transactions, bill payments, pre-authorized debits, gift card purchases, refunds, and fees.
For a sole proprietor paying for US-dollar software or buying from overseas suppliers, 1% back with no conversion charge is a simple, low-effort return on spending you’re already doing.
A Business Credit Card Is Coming in Early 2027
The business credit card also earns 1% cash back on every purchase, “whether it’s software, supplies or travel.” It adds a credit line and cards for members of your team, all managed in the Wealthsimple app.
It also supports virtual cards with their own spending limits, plus Apple Wallet and Google Wallet with no limit on tap payments.
The card is for business owners with a Wealthsimple Business chequing account, and approval is based on you as the owner, not on your business. You’ll need a personal income of at least $60,000 or annual business revenue of at least $500,000.
Wealthsimple starts with a soft credit check, and a hard check follows if you complete the application. It hasn’t published the card’s annual fee or foreign transaction terms yet, and says full details will come when the card opens to everyone in early 2027.
Wealthsimple Is Filling In Every Piece
Wealthsimple started with investing, and it keeps filling in the gaps around it. It now offers chequing, a prepaid card, two personal credit cards, and business banking. A business credit card is on the way.
What I like most is that the whole lineup is built for spending abroad. None of the cards charge foreign transaction fees, and the prepaid cards take care of foreign ATM fees too.
I’ve leaned on Wealthsimple’s personal prepaid card for exactly that. In Thailand, where ATMs typically charge 250 THB per withdrawal, the fee (about $10.95 CAD at the time) came back to me two days later. On the newer Visa version, refunds land almost instantly.
The Wealthsimple Visa Infinite +* Credit Card and the Wealthsimple Visa Infinite Privilege* Credit Card also skip foreign transaction fees while earning 2% cash back. The prepaid Business Visa now brings the same no-FX, free-ATM setup to business spending.
For anyone who travels or pays in US dollars, that’s a rare combination from one company, and it all sits under one login. The business credit card’s foreign transaction terms are the one piece still to come.
Conclusion
Wealthsimple Business is a strong fit for sole proprietors and small companies that want no-fee banking, interest on their balance, and a card that pays something back. Opening the account gets you the 1% prepaid card right away.
If you’d rather pay with credit or need cards for your team, join the waitlist for the business credit card. Its annual fee and foreign transaction terms, due in early 2027, will decide whether it’s worth the upgrade.
This story originally appeared on princeoftravel
