Can You Have Too Many Accounts With One Financial Joint. Is that Bad?

I decided to continue with some more ‘bank talk’ in today’s post. I feel pumped about my banking as of late, so I wanted to get all these good feelings out by writing another post related to banking. A few days ago I wrote a post about the frequency of checking your banking accounts called: How often do you check your bank account? This little post got a warm response. Here are a few of the responses:

Jeremy wrote:

“Personally I only check my bank account a few times a week. Even then though, I’m not really examining transactions for errors. Do you actually come across errors somewhat often? The only error I remember ever catching is once or twice when my payday direct deposit didn’t show up and I had to harass my boss.”

Bryan wrote:

“I check my primary checking account just about every day. I check on my savings account over at ING less than that, probably once every week or two.”

Melissa wrote:

“I rarely check my accounts, but I track all my spending for all accounts with Mint.com, and I check that probably two or three times a week. It helps keep me in check, and it also alerts me to any weird activity on my account, which I like. I do find, though, that I forget really quickly what I spent money on. Sometimes I go a few weeks without checking and then try to do it all at once, and then I have a really hard time remembering what certain things were, which is especially bad because something like going out to dinner or coffee is often written off as a business expense, but only if I can remember.”

And to conclude, for the most part everyone has their own unique way of how often they check their online bank accounts. I went on to mention in my post that there is no right or wrong, it’s what works best for you. Looking back now, I’m glad I wrote the post that I did. It made me feel at ease knowing that others view their accounts frequently enough as well.I’m just saying though….because for those who know me well, I’ve never been the one to give a crap at what others think.

Anyways……….moving on!

Driving home from work a few days ago and while sitting in traffic I kept thinking about my online banking. And it dawned one me – I have 8 financial products with RBC. Out of a total of 9 financial products that I own (checking accounts, savings accounts, credit card, business accounts, investments and a mortgage) 88% of them are with one financial institution, which happens to be RBC in my case. It’s not that I don’t trust them or anything (obviously), but because there are many OTHER great institutions out there that are known for offering the same types of product and even better products at times. 

A savings account that I have with ING Direct happens to be the only product that I have with another financial institution. I set this up a few years ago to separate my savings and limit the access to the money by having it another financial institution.

But one thing is for sure  – I desire SIMPLICITY. While I appreciate high interest rates and growing my money as much as the next guy, I’m starting to have more appreciation for keeping shit simple. I’m far too busy to run around and keep tabs on accounts at different institutions. Two are plenty for me already.

There are those people who are rate chasers, but not me. I couldn’t be bothered with setting up new accounts or moving my accounts over to another institution. I’m certain y’all know that its not as simple as they make it sound to move accounts to another institution. I ain’t saying that I’ll never move my accounts, but in order for me to do so, something dramatic would have to take place.  The process of sign this, email us that and send me proof of that is not a game that I have much time for. If you’re a rate chasers, that’s awesome. I applaud your persistence and patience. I guess you can say that I don’t have much patience my self.

To conclude I’ll throw out a few pros & cons of having the majority of your accounts with one financial joint that I came up with:

PROS of Banking @ One Joint!

• Less Numbers to Dial – Banking with one institution will save you time, simply because there are less numbers to dial for help. In my situation I only have two customer service numbers, one for my personal banking/investments and one for my business accounts. 
• Greater Leverage – Having the majority of your banking with one institution will give you greater leverage. More products equals to greater negotiating power on other products and rates. 
• Simple Transfers – With all your accounts in one place, it’s that much easier to transfer funds between accounts. Most of my transfers from one account to another are posted the same day. 
• Less Passwords – Banking at one spot means you’ll have less passwords to remember. 
• One Stop Shop – With one log-in I’m able to access my checking, savings, RRSP, mortgage and credit-card accounts. Talk about saving time.

CONS of Banking @ 1 Joint!

• Live & Die with One Access – If the system crashes or online banking goes down, I’m pretty screwed as I will not have any access to my cash. 
• I won’t ALWAYS have the best of the best – RBC does not have the best rates or investments or accounts. They excel in some areas, but not all.  One of the biggest downsides to banking with one institution is that I won’t get the best rates or accounts available. There’s always some other institution with something better in the ultra competitive banking world.

Overall I’m fairly happy with having the majority of my banking with RBC. It’s simple, close and very convenient (my home branch is within walking distance). Presently RBC has the cheapest small-business accounts ($6/month) – talk about a steal. I think only HSBC has ‘em cheaper – FREE. And driving to HSBC is just not worth it (none close by), as I’d spend more on gas than $6/month. Anyways….I think I covered the majority of things here. Have I missed anything? Thoughts? Comments?

Eddie