I applied for an instant EIN on the IRS web site.
https://sa.www4.irs.gov/modiein/individual/index.jsp . For business type I put "Sole Proprietorship", type of business "consulting", reason for getting EIN, to open bank account. It issues you an instant pdf letter with your EIN that you can print. That letter and my personal ID was all I showed them to open my business account.
I went down to my branch with my EIN letter I printed off the IRS web site.
A printout of the coupon from
https://www.chase.com/index.jsp?pg_n..._Business_9898
A printout of the coupon from
https://www.chase.com/index.jsp?pg_n..._Consumer_9939 for the personal account.
And $600 cash ($100 for the personal and $500 for the business)
The Chase business account was opened as a "Sole Proprietorship". The rep said "Oh, good, those are easy to set up, with an EIN I thought it would be a corporation". She asked me for a business license. I said I don't have one. She said "let me check what you need...... and consulted her system. Then she said, oh, it says here an EIN alone is just fine.... WAMU would have never allowed that but it looks like that is all you need for Chase.
It was all very easy. Any chit chat questions about my "business" I answered from the perspective of if I were freelance consulting in my customary line of work, which I would do if I had any clients. That I have no clients is not relevant to opening the account.