Let's see... I have three checking accounts at Huntington Bank.
- Primary checking where my paycheck is deposited
- "Annual Bills" checking: Automatically transfer $XXX.XX twice a month from Primary Checking for annual expenses like car/homeowners insurance, property taxes, dog tags, annual vet bill, etc. That way, when those bills appear, all I have to do is pay them. The money is already there.
- Joint checking with significant other. He has a portion of his bi-weekly paycheck direct deposited there. On my semi-monthly paydays, I check the balance on the credit card that I use for paying EVERYTHING, subtract the amount that has accumulated in this checking account, then transfer remaining funds needed to pay the card down to $0 from my Primary Checking. [The reason I do this is that the credit card I use for everything has a $30k credit limit, and at statement time I only want it to show a balance of 1 - 3%.]
I also have a checking account at PNC bank. I automatically transfer $XXX.XX to that account from my Huntington Primary Checking twice a month, The PNC checking is where my PNC Heloc payment is drawn from every month. I transfer enough $ there so that I can also pay an additional amount towards my principal automagically every week.
And finally, I have a checking account at NFCU that I don't use at all.
It probably sounds complicated, but it works like a well-oiled machine.
