I have a new challenge I thought I'd run past the group, how to transfer money between banks on a regular (probably bimonthly) basis.

My wife's old employer allowed her to split the direct deposit between any number of different accounts, which we did. Some went to a southern bank and the rest went to a northern bank.

Now, her new employer has told her that they can only send it to one bank.

I kinda like splitting things up. I like having the automatic deposits placed in two totally separate banks. But it appears I'll have to find a new way for things to happen in the future.

Other than mailing a check once or twice a month to make a deposit into one of the accounts, are there other options for funding it? Wire transfers are expensive, from what I can gather. And there really is nothing urgent about anything. I don't know if EFT or ACH types of transfer are possible or practical just as a person moving money around between personal accounts.

Opening an account that has branches everywhere we want to be isn't an option. There are none. And I do like the isolation of having some funds in a totally different bank.

Anybody know of a good way to make it happen?

Thanks,

Brian

I would contact customer service at the receiving bank and ask them how you can put into effect an automatic transfer into your other bank account of xxx dollars every month. I'm sure they will have a way to accomplish this. (at least I would think so in this day & age of automatic payments, withdrawals, debits, etc)

I'm dealing with exactly this issue even as I type. I have two bank accounts - one that I run all my consulting activity through and another that is my "personal" account. Technically they are both personal accounts because I'm not incorporated or anything fancy like that. I have set up online access for both accounts but one is a credit union account and the other is a national bank. Neither has an easy facility to directly transfer money to the other's system. I have a work around that sort of works but it takes time.

I set up an ING Direct account and had it linked to each of the bank accounts. That way I can transfer money from one of the bank accounts to the ING account and then transfer it from there to the other bank account. That's a real PITA and takes several days because ING puts a 10 day hold on all transfers into that account. But it works if you plan ahead. Right now I am trying to get the limits changed on my "business" bank account which would then (at least in theory) allow me to email money to myself in large enough amounts to be useful. I'm also a cheap SOB so the ING thing really appeals to me because it is 100% free. The email thing looks to cost about 75 cents per transaction which I could stomach if the transaction size is large and there is an need for immediacy.

I've got a couple of online brokerage accounts that I could do the same transfer through and I believe you could even do it through a Paypal account. But like I said, the ING transfers are 100% free so I kind of like that price.

Howdy!

Brian, we have two accounts we use. One for our day to day needs and another to pay some bills out of. We us the online banking service in the two accounts to send money from one to the other. This give us the flexibility to transfer funds when ever we want or need to. No banking fees!. Our bank was the one who advised us to use this means to transfer money.

Its like paying a bill but its to your other account. Check with you bank to see if you can set it up I'm sure they will help you with it.

"Happy Trails"
chiefneon

Just a thought:
One option is to have your pay direct deposited into a Vanguard Money Market account. (Bob, I do this for all my consulting receipts). You earn a decent interest income on the daily MM balances and can set up fast and free transfers electronically to any number of bank accounts.

You can set them up as regular transfers or on demand. I normally just get online and set up a "sell transaction" from the money market and it shows up 1 - 2 days later in one of our bank accounts i.e. Bank of America checking. That way I never have to keep more than a minimal amount in a checking account that doesn't earn interest.

Brian,
Most, but not all, full service commercial banks allow "external transfers" via ACH. Some include access to external ACH transfers as part of their on-line banking service. I have always used my long term primary bank for direct deposit & online bill paying, but have 6 other bank accounts were I shift my liquid funds around via ACH external transfers, to whoever has the higher short term rates.

CapOne for example has a current online savings account offer that was paying 3.75%, now down to 3.5%, and all funds in and out of the account are by customer initiated external ACH transfers.
Depending on the type of account, some are limited to 6 external transactions per month.

Jim

Hi Brian,

I use BOA and between bill pay and EFT, your bank or another bank, I don't have a problem. I direct deposit into a savings account as then there's no fee's of any type to transfer or bank.

I would not however preset up a scheduled EFT if the funding were not already in the account. Someone might be slow to make the auto deposit then I'd get hit with a ISF fee, I think?

Example, I scheduled my monthly bills and transfers, then had a major puter crash 2 weeks before due dates. My back-up puter was on it's last legs to begin with and also gave up the ghost at the same time. I got lucky as Toshiba did a 7day door to door turn around on replacing a MB, so all ended well.

What I want to know, is what did I do before puters??? I can't live without bill pay, ETF and auto deposit.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I will check with the bank that we've been dealing with locally for a long time. They seem to have a more advanced online setup and I'm close enough that I can stop in and see them face to face.

If it's not possible there, I may be looking for a new bank where it is possible. We'll see.

Thanks,

Brian

I use a company to pay all of my bills electronically(called checkfee) it allows for third party billing/transfers, one of the uses is to do money transfers. I tranfer money into or out of my wifes account from my account(also has a reaccuring feature). Recently our credit union picked up the cost and now its totally free(used to cost four/month).