Do any of you guys use a 2-checking account system? I'm thinking about doing it so that I have one where my paycheck goes into and I do all my monthly expenses on that one (rent, gym, etc) and do personal expenses (credit card, debit, etc) on the other. Has anyone tried this system? what do you think of it?

2/17/2009 5:53:33 PM

why would you do this? sounds like a good way to get overdraft charges

2/17/2009 6:12:50 PM

If you do this, link them so you dont have to worry about overdraft.

2/17/2009 6:27:18 PM

We can probably give you better input if you let us know why you're interested in exploring this. Are you trying to get a better hold of your finances? Do you have roommates who have trouble contributing to the household?

2/17/2009 6:29:06 PM

i have two, but rarely use the older one (wachovia). the only reason i kept it was for the purpose of traveling since i now do all my banking with secu. probably doesn't matter much, but i like knowing i can find a wachovia most anywhere outside of the state. it doesn't cost me anything and has no minimum balance, so why not. if you're smart with keeping track of things, there is no reason you should have any more potential for overdrafts.

2/17/2009 6:35:02 PM

I have accounts with First Citizens and ING Direct. I used to juggle money between the two (more often between ING savings and checking), but now, as my cash flow isn't what it used to be, I'm usually spending fast enough for it not to make a difference. There was a point where FC existed solely to funnel cash into ING and all my bills were ING checks. Now that FC Bill Pay is free and the unfortunate cash flow issue, I tend to just use FC.

[Edited on February 17, 2009 at 6:48 PM. Reason : ING Direct is probably a cop out.]

2/17/2009 6:47:36 PM

i have two, one is my set montly bills account, and the other is my debit spending, makes tracking things easier, its a set amount spent out of one every month

2/17/2009 6:48:26 PM

I have two checking accounts.

one with HSBC and one with BB&T...my BB&T account is just so I can deposit checks/cash at the ATM and transfer them to HSBC.

2/17/2009 7:45:47 PM

I do and actually have them at separate banks.

I use one exclusivly for bills. Starting my new job i calculated all my bills, membership fees, loan repayments and had this amount automatically put in checking acct at bank 1.

I then have a certain % of saving put into a MM acct into bank 1.

The rest of my money is for discretionary (beer, food, gas, fun, etc) put into a checking acct at bank 2.

I pretty much have to go out of my way to take money out of bank 1 so that i never worry about splurging and accidentally spending my bill money or using my savings unless its for a good reason.

I got 3 CC's. The one for bank 2 is basically my overdraft protection or to give myself a "loan" if one week i spend more.

[Edited on February 17, 2009 at 8:50 PM. Reason : l]

2/17/2009 8:48:53 PM

i dont think i'd ever do this, because i pay my bills out of my checking account and thats under the assumption my paycheck has been direct deposited into it.

2/17/2009 8:51:38 PM

my job lets me allocate up 3 accounts for direct deposit

2/17/2009 9:02:24 PM

Be super careful. When I moved up to Raleigh for school I had two checking accounts (and two debit cards). I accidentally paid for something online with one instead of the other, causing an overdraft fee. And then bought gas with that same one thinking it was the one that still had some money in it for gas, incurring yet another overdraft fee. Oops.

Just make sure you keep em separate

2/17/2009 9:06:44 PM

Quote :

"i have two, one is my set montly bills account, and the other is my debit spending, makes tracking things easier, its a set amount spent out of one every month"

That's what I do.

I have rent, car insurance and other set bills come out of an account that I put money into when I get paid, and I don't have a debit card to the account. Everything else I use my debit card connected to my main checking account, and I use Mint.com to keep track of all my spending

2/17/2009 9:19:35 PM

we have one where our direct deposit goes to and an online "high yield" account - i don't think it makes much sense to have 2 low interest accounts though

2/17/2009 10:05:47 PM

Quote :

""i have two, one is my set montly bills account, and the other is my debit spending, makes tracking things easier, its a set amount spent out of one every month""

2/17/2009 10:35:39 PM

i have a checking, savings, and money market account at ncsecu; a checking and savings account at wamu (now chase, i guess)

i calculated about what i need every month to pay bills, that's taken out of my paycheck first and put into one checking account. some goes into money market, then some goes into each of the two savings accounts. a bigger portion is drafted into my investment account. the rest goes into the other checking account for discretionary spending.

it works very well. i keep the debit card and checkbook attached to my bill paying account at home, and i also asked both banks to remove my money market/savings accounts from online access so the temptation to just transfer money isn't there. i have a line of credit set up on the discretionary account just in case i overdraft, but if that happens i'd make sure it was paid off as soon as i saw it (hasn't happened yet, shouldn't if you keep track of your shit).

i never have to even think about paying bills, i just do it because i never see the money in the first place. it's very nice. it's also a hell of a lot easier to save money if you never see it in the first place, both for 401k and general savings.

[Edited on February 17, 2009 at 11:22 PM. Reason : heh, just realized i posted almost the exact same thing hur did. ]

2/17/2009 10:55:34 PM

wow i think u stole my idea

2/17/2009 11:17:31 PM

i have two checking accounts, mainly because i never got around to closing my old one when i switched banks.

i dont really see the purpose of actively using two. i use just one account for both bills and personal spending. its worked out well for me.

2/17/2009 11:24:29 PM

I do this....seems to work out well. I have all my bills draft out of my SECU account, and I do all my personal banking with RBC Centura. Shit is nice. Overdraft fees....what?!?!

2/18/2009 2:05:41 AM

I balance three checking accounts, and fund all three from direct deposit from work.

We have our system all online and I can rebalance the % splits pretty easily.

RBC - had a centura student checking account since 14. Use it now only as an autodraft bills account. I know pretty much exactly what bills will be comming out of it, all at the first of the month. Mortgage, hoa, power, cable, car insurance. Keep a $500 cushion in it, just to make sure nothing happens.

Schwab - Have an investor class checking account with 2%. 100% atm fees refund, so this is my main account for play money and debit purchases now. Keep a surplus in here since it's kinda a pita to fund outside of direct deposits. Also not bad to consistantly get 2% w/o being tied into some sort money market account or something that i cant have instant access to. The no atm fees is crucial and has drastically increased convenience of banking and saved me at least $20/month.

Wachovia - opened it when I moved up to delaware. Used it as a cash account for atm transactions and stuff. Now I use it for making atm deposits, or cash deposits then wire money around if needed. Have a wachovia credit card, so i'll transfer cash to the checking account then pay off the CC from here, since they have fee free 1 day transfers online that are easy. Keep like $200 cushion in here since there's nothing being autodrafted, but w/e

used to have another off shore account, but no longer do

oddly enough, the main reason why i opened so many, was from playing kinda high poker in atlantic city every weekend.. a $600/day atm withdrawl cap just doesn't work when I needed at least $1500 walkin around cash every friday, and didnt like to keep that around during the week.

w/e

currently i only carry the schwab card.

2/18/2009 9:28:23 AM

I have a Wachovia and a Schwab account.

I like Schwab, but I'd wish they stop sending all those junk mails and save some money and trees for themselves.

2/18/2009 9:33:56 AM

two accounts = two sets of fees for maintaining those accounts. This can't be worth it. Get quicken if you really want to track your finances.

2/18/2009 12:22:06 PM

i have 4 checking accounts (4 different banks), 3 savings accounts, and 1 credit card

i've never overdrafted an account, never missed a payment on the credit card (same one i've had since i turned 18, with a fixed rate of 3.5% because i'm a "student"), and never paid a single fee for "maintenance" on any of them

do whatever you like...if you can manage it without any problems, do whatever works

2/18/2009 12:25:54 PM

^ perhaps because you are a student these fees are waived, but in the "real" world banks charge monthly fees for having a checking account (not all, but the overwhelming majority).

SECU is dirt cheap to its members and they have a maintenance fee.

I'm not talking about overdraft... I'm just ASSUMING you are not an idiot if you want to maintain two accounts.

2/18/2009 12:29:12 PM

Quote :

"^ perhaps because you are a student these fees are waived, but in the "real" world banks charge monthly fees for having a checking account (not all, but the overwhelming majority). "

And there are enough that don't that it's absolutely idiotic to use one that does have a fee.
Hell, with BOA (at least several years ago), their checking acct that had a fee? It was waived if you simply had direct deposit.

If you want to pay a monthly fee for your checking acct, by all means, go for it. But be aware that you have many options to keep a checking account without a monthly fee. I mean, it's your money, and if you want to give some of it to the banks, that's your call. But not everyone makes the same decision, and that plays into other decisions

As far as SECU: it's not a maintenence fee. Read more here

[Edited on February 18, 2009 at 12:39 PM. Reason : dlkfj]

2/18/2009 12:38:21 PM

^ trust me, I know more than most about SECU on here.

It is a maintence fee, look at the website:

Features

* Current interest rate is 0.75% / 0.75% APY1
* $0 required minimum balance2
* Dividends-earned compounded daily, paid monthly
* $1 monthly maintenance fee, automatically contributed to SECU Foundation3
* 50 checks per statement period free4
* Accessible via ATM, ASK SECU, Member Access, branch and SECU Call Center
* Optional overdraft protection
* Online BillPay service
* Debit cards for purchases and ATM transactions
* Automated drafts and deposits
* Online images of most cleared checks

Yeah, you can deduct it on your taxes, but it's still a maintenance fee. You can opt out of the donation to the foundation, but they are still going to take the $1 out of the account.

2/18/2009 12:43:28 PM

Yes, I saw that.

I'm just saying that until I opt out (and choose for it to become a maintenance fee), I'lm considering it a mandatory donation.

Which is totally worth it, IMO. SECU is awesome.

Regardless of who is right and who is wrong on the SECU front, my point about checking fees with the major banks remains.

2/18/2009 12:45:42 PM

^ we're in agreement... with the exception that if something is mandatory I consider it a fee.

2/18/2009 1:02:22 PM

^ and the fact that you must pay ATM fees to get your money outside of the Carolinas

2/18/2009 11:44:22 PM