Merrill Lynch checking accounts 'well-kept secret'

Merchants unhappy with low-interest checking accounts may find an alternative at Merrill Lynch & Co. By opening a checking account with an initial deposit of $20,000, a business can earn 5.5 percent interest.

Although a business must deposit that amount to open a Working Capital Management Account, there are no mandatory minimums for earning interest, which is paid whatever the balance, according to Rachel Stark, a manager with Merrill's Business Financial Services in Stamford.

In addition, checking accounts can be tied to a line of credit and customers can obtain other banking services. "Any type of financing that bank would do, we do," she said.

Banks are barred by law from paying interest on the business-checking accounts of for-profit corporations. Chase Manhattan Bank, for example, pays...