There are a great many reasons why one may choose or be required to operate multiple bank accounts. It may be that one is required to have a business account as well as a personal account; it may be that one wishes a bank account for everyday use and one devoted to paying bills and expenses; or it may simply be the case that one wishes to have an individual banking account as well as a joint one with one’s spouse or partner. Whatever the reason may be for having them, it is imperative that one determine at the earliest juncture how to manage multiple bank accounts if confusion and/or inconvenience is to be successfully avoided.
However many bank accounts one has, it is imperative that each bank account be designated a specific purpose. Having multiple bank accounts for no defined reason is very often a recipe for disaster and makes the banking process far more complicated than it otherwise need be. This simply means that each of the multiple bank accounts should be denoted as a bill paying account, a savings account, a business account, or in some similar way an account which exists to perform a particular function or allow one access to particular facilities.
When the multiple bank accounts have been designated with a particular purpose, it is next time to establish any level of regular funding which each account will require on a regular basis. The most common example of this is perhaps likely to be where a bank account is established for the sole purpose of paying direct debits and standing orders. Where this is the case, it is a distinct advantage to arrange the automatic funding of this account on a regular basis from one’s principal account by standing order. Even where a small fee may exist for this service with one’s bank, the cost of same is likely to be far less than any fees which would be incurred due to insufficient funds being available to make a payment, both from one’s bank and the company to which the funds were due to be paid.
Setting up online and telephoning banking facilities for as many of one’s bank accounts as possible is an excellent way to manage multiple accounts. This will mean that one can not only monitor the state of each account at a time of one’s own convenience, it will allow funds to be transferred between accounts where necessary without having to visit perhaps more than one bank branch in order to do so.
The tools which one can employ as above to manage one’s multiple bank accounts will be of great assistance in doing so but there is little point in them being available where one does not make the time to monitor one’s accounts on an ongoing basis. Although frequent monitoring on an ad hoc basis is always advisable, one is best advised to arrange a specific time – either weekly or monthly – to review all of one’s bank accounts and banking arrangements. This will allow any alterations to payment arrangements to be made as circumstances change and ensure that one keep on top of one’s personal finances in an efficient and proactive fashion.