I have been a loyal customer of Bank of America since 2006. I opened a savings account first, then a checking account. I also opened my first credit card with Bank of America. I am cutting my checking/savings ties with them and taking my talents to virtual banks.
Income flow is not what it used to be, so my balance has been consistently shaky the past 7 months. Unfortunately, Bank of America is not sympathetic and continues to arrange fees and debits in a way where you’re more likely to overdraft. I can’t tell you how many times I have gotten those stupid postcards saying I gave them money I already didn’t have. It’s a waste of paper too, since I have e-mail alerts set up.
Thankfully my mom was able to help out, and came to my rescue again. I am now reactivating my PerkStreet checking account and reviving my SmartyPig account. I will be handling my finances in a few different ways:
- For my freelance business, I will be using my Paypal account to accept payments. I’ll come up with an accounting system to make this work, so that I’ll keep a minimum balance in that account.
- PerkStreet will be my primary checking account, which is awesome since I prefer plastic over cash. This will allow me to earn perks, including cash back, on debit purchases.
- SmartyPig will be my primary savings account, where I’ll be slowly but surely building an emergency fund. The last time I used SmartyPig, I saved over $800, which felt great, but of course, an emergency came up. Unfortunately, I can’t contribute like I used to, but any little bit helps.
- Chase is where our joint account is, where we will contribute enough money for rent and household bills.
Related articles
- SmartyPig Cuts Interest Rates Yet Again (bucks.blogs.nytimes.com)
- Bank of America Said to Offer MBIA Deal in Mortgage Suit (businessweek.com)
- Single Purpose Savings Account (visualeconomics.com)
Let me know how you like Perkstreet. I am trying to run away from Chase.
Uh oh, bad experience with Chase? That’s where our joint account is. PerkStreet seems pretty cool (from when I first started). We’ll see how my longer term relationship goes with him.
Sadly…5! There is a joint a/c at TD bank…Free. My checking a/c with TD bank…free. Hubby’s checking a/c TD bank…Free with a $500 min so we have been keeping our state refund deposit in there. HSBC savings for our emergency fund..free but low rate with 75% of our savings in there. Now we also use Amex for savings…free with a great rate yet we haven’t transfered all our money there yet..not sure why. CD with Amex too and a great rate one of the highest today.
Nothing wrong with 5 accounts as long as you can keep track of them all, especially if they have great rates!
I never heard of PerkStreet and SmartyPig. I will check them out. Keep us updated on your emergency fund building progress.
PerkStreet is awesome, but SmartyPig is decreasing their rates slowly but surely 🙁 Still considering closing my account with them but not sure yet.
So now that all big banks have backtracked on their plans to charge
debit card fees, where does that leave us? Will they, humbled by popular
outcry and cowered by politicians’ threats, give up on their plans to
make up for the huge revenue losses they will suffer as a result of the
passing of the Durbin Amendment? No, they will not. What will happen
instead is that the card issuers will find other, less conspicuous ways
to get what they want. They will learn from the debit card fee disaster
and devise more subtle strategies to achieve their objective.
When the dust settles, new revenue sources will be found and the
issuers will recoup their losses. The upshot will be a rise in revenue
for retailers, due to lower card processing fees, at the expense of
consumers who will end up paying higher bank fees of some sort or other.
The card issuers will not be worse off than before the Durbin Amendment
was enacted and may actually be better off.