# Should married couples maintain accounts with two banks, or combine everything?



## VoxPopuli (Mar 31, 2012)

My wife banks with RBC, I bank with Scotia. We have chequing accounts, savings accounts and credit cards with each bank. My wife has been with RBC for 15+ years, and I've done everything through Scotia since they offered me a professional student package about 6 years ago. Now that I'm done school and we're married, I'm wondering about eliminating one of our chequing accounts.

Eliminating one of the accounts would have two main benefits: reduced costs and reduced complexity. 

Right now we pay about $8 or $9 monthly for each of our two chequing accounts. There are also some additional costs when we email transfer funds back and forth from one account to the other. Going with one account would probably save us $100-$125 per year, or more because we could more easily keep a minimum balance around to avoid account fees altogether.

It would also make it easier to pay bills, and transfer money to savings each month.

The negatives: It would be a bit of a pain to set up new direct deposit information for payment attached to the account we would close. More importantly, I'm not sure exactly how we would make payments to debts held at the bank where we would close the account. For example, I have a student line of credit with Scotia; right now I make my payments from my Scotia chequing account. If I no longer had a Scotia chequing account, I'm not sure how exactly I would go about making those payments (I'm hoping it's possible through RBC online banking).

The other factor is that we might lose the benefit of the "relationship" we've built with one of the banks, but I don't know what kind of value to assign to this, if any.

Any thoughts? Any factors I'm not accounting for? Is it better for a couple to have relationships with two banks, or is it better to have the simplicity of having everything under one roof?


----------



## Koala (Jan 27, 2012)

I went through this recently. Twice actually, as we went to my bank, weren't happy; so then switched to his. We still have some separate accounts. I still have my free student banking account at my old bank as it keeps my credit card free. We have the joint cc and we both have 2 separate credit cards. We also both have separate savings accounts at online banks.

Advantages:
Having most of your services/money with one bank allows you to have a little bit more negotiating power (although it meant nothing to RBC).
Having 1 main joint account simplifies things. Can track spending easier.
There are 2 of us who can look over statements and catch any fees we shouldn't be charged.
Putting our money together allowed us to get a better account as the minimum balance together is larger.

Disadvantages:
The other person could take the money all out (I'm assuming you've gotten past that already!)
There are 2 people making transactions on one account. We have a minimum monthly balance to avoid fees, and it could potentially go below that if we're not paying attention to what the other is doing. My husband also gets phone calls where I'm asking him about transactions that are a mistake. Depending on what you're like, it could go the other way - there's an accidental fee but each of you assume the other is responsible.
It's harder to hide gift purchases (just use a credit card though).
If the account is frozen, you don't have the other person's main joint account to rely on.


There was an article on a PF blog recently (maybe Boomer & Echo?) about switching bank accounts. It had good advice like don't close one right away. Make sure all automatic transactions have actually been transferred to the new bank before closing it.

I don't have a LOC, but I had no issues paying my RBC credit card with the TD account.


----------



## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

Go into the bank and tell them you will leave unless they waive the monthly fees .Trust me this works , my friend even got BMO to waive interest on her overdraft up to $2000 a month .I was taught that from smart CFM people here lol


----------



## VoxPopuli (Mar 31, 2012)

marina628 said:


> Go into the bank and tell them you will leave unless they waive the monthly fees .Trust me this works , my friend even got BMO to waive interest on her overdraft up to $2000 a month .I was taught that from smart CFM people here lol


I wondered about something like this, as I was dissapointed to see that RBC doesn't waive account fees at a certain threshold like most (all?) other banks do.


----------



## Koala (Jan 27, 2012)

RBC won't even waive the fees when they tell you that an account should be free, but they start charging you monthly fees a little while in. I would recommend you go with Scotia (since you're with them already), but I'm highly biased as the number of issues I had with RBC were ridiculous. I think it might be a branch issue.


----------



## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

To pay things like a Line of Credit, you can just set that as a bill payment.

My wife was at Scotiabank, I'm at TD.
We just changed both of our accounts to joint accounts, we have full access to both.
For money transfers back and forth we just may payments to the Line of Credit at each bank, then transfer the money to the checking account.

As far as bills, except for mortgage and insurance, I pay them from a Line of credit, if the line of credit gets low, I transfer money from a checking account.

1 bank or more
Every person I know has a story of when their primary financial institution screwed up, it happens.
For that reason I have mostly redundant accounts.
At each bank I have a checking account and a line of credit, I keep a visa and mastercard.
So if TD messes up and I lose access to my checking account, line of credit and TD visa card, I still have some access to money through my other accounts.


As far as watching balances, we don't make large transactions without telling the other. 
Actually depending on the account one of us is the "owner" of it, and watches every detail. We don't have an issue with asking the other person "should I take from Account A or Account B". Some people might see that as a control problem.

I check the credit card balances, if I see transactions I'm not sure about, I simply circle them and ask if they're correct. When my credit card company called about my card being stolen, I told them I'd have to check with my wife and gave them a call back. 

You need to do what both of you feel comfortable with. I'd say track finances together, make the accounts joint or not, and try making payments to the LOC from the other bank and stuff.


----------



## marina628 (Dec 14, 2010)

Can't say I have much experience with RBC ,Had an account about 12 years ago and a credit line .


----------



## Argonaut (Dec 7, 2010)

I read something to the effect of most Canadians having relationships with 3 or 4 financial institutions on average. I would try to keep both of your relationships with RBC and Scotia, but look into avoiding fees. I have accounts with RBC and TD myself. The nice thing about RBC is that it's the easiest of the big five banks to get free banking. Even though they don't have the minimum balance thing, the multiproduct rebate allows you to waive fees with a credit card and investment. It can be a no-fee credit card and a $100 investment, doesn't matter. They also have a better savings account than TD. But besides the multiproduct rebate and savings account, which are a big deal mind you, TD is better in all other areas.



marina628 said:


> Go into the bank and tell them you will leave unless they waive the monthly fees .Trust me this works , my friend even got BMO to waive interest on her overdraft up to $2000 a month .I was taught that from smart CFM people here lol


This only works for high net worth individuals.


----------



## financialnoob (Feb 26, 2011)

I'm curious why you are email transferring funds between accounts. Did you mean the two chequing accounts or all accounts?

If it's just the chequing accounts, it might make sense to have a joint chequing account but keep separate savings accounts at the same bank. Then you could transfer funds in and out while maintaining some separation as well.


----------



## GOB (Feb 15, 2011)

You can both switch to ING, maintain two separate chequing accounts and not pay a dime in fees. No minimum balances, no monthly fees, no fees for email transfers, 25 free cheques to start off.


----------



## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

We consolidated with TD in 2002. We have maintained separate chequing account and investment accounts, although I manage it all now. We got rid of duplicate credit cards. I have a partner card on her Visa while she has a partner card on my Mastercard. We keep both of them active and current to keep credit histories. Also have an Amex for Costco.

I have used both RBC and Scotia in the past. I was more impressed with Scotia. YMMV


----------



## VoxPopuli (Mar 31, 2012)

financialnoob said:


> I'm curious why you are email transferring funds between accounts. Did you mean the two chequing accounts or all accounts?
> 
> If it's just the chequing accounts, it might make sense to have a joint chequing account but keep separate savings accounts at the same bank. Then you could transfer funds in and out while maintaining some separation as well.


The interac transfers go from chequing account to chequing account, then I'll move the money from the recipient chequing account into savings at the same bank.

We end up doing this because the nearest Scotia branch is about a half hour drive from our house, so I basicaly deposit all of our cheques through RBC, then if I need funds in my Scotia accounts we'll send an email transfer from my wife's RBC chequing account to my Scotia chequing account. This way I rarely, if ever, have to go to a Scotia physical location. My wife gets two free interac transfers per month with her current banking package, which typically covers our useage. 

If we were going to stay in the same place forever the distance to the Scotia branch would be the deciding factor, but we're looking at moving in the next year or two so it's less of a factor.

MrMatt, I like the idea of making payments to the LOC at the other institution and then moving funds from the LOC to a chequing account. I take it your banks haven't had an issue with this?


----------



## MrMatt (Dec 21, 2011)

VoxPopuli said:


> MrMatt, I like the idea of making payments to the LOC at the other institution and then moving funds from the LOC to a chequing account. I take it your banks haven't had an issue with this?


Not at all, a LOC is a completely normal bill payment.
They don't even squack about my near zero balance in the LOC.

Actually I use the LOC as a checking account with free overdraft protection. In a bad month, where I'm really sloppy I might pay $1 in interest charges. Most months it is nothing or only a few cents.


----------

