setting up accounts across country

calmom
Fri, 31 Dec 2004 16:23:40 +0000

No one writes checks any more - so you really don’t need a local account. My son kept his home account, with debit card, when he went to college; he was taking care of his own spending money, but I had him set up a PayPal account, which I used to transfer money to him when needed.

I worked out an even better arrangement with my daughter, who has been living overseas for 4 months - but this involves a little loss of privacy for her. I set up a joint checking account with her, with Bank of America, where we both already had other accounts. This account shows up on BOTH of our ATM screens and online banking, and I can easily see the balance and transfer more money into that account – in fact, I have set it up for an automated transfer from my account to hers on the 1st of each month for her spending money. I really love this arrangement – again, the account came with a debit card as well as checks. It works out perfectly for me, and I think that the account is also free because of the linkage to MY accounts (with the requisite minimum balance) – neither of us has access to each other’s separate accounts with this arrangement, it is just the joint account that shows up for both of us. The privacy concern is simply that I can see my daughter’s account activity any time.

Anyway, I really don’t see the need for a local account with this arrangement. With new banking regs, even out of town checks will clear electronically, almost automatically - and you could always order a set of checks on the local account that are PRINTED with the college address, even if the bank is out of town.