Another NWR question

Steph0871 · June 2010

FI and I are trying to figure out where/when to start consolidating our finances. I'm currently at TCF and he's at Wells Fargo. I don't particularly care for TCF, I've just been too lazy to change it since I was in college (and they have so many locations!)

sooo, if you don't mind me asking.

What bank(s) do you and FI/DH use?

Do you like it? Do you have any other recommendations or cautions?

amberh0515 · June 2010

I'm at TCF and he's at the credit union. I don't know when we'll consolidate. I'd still like to have my savings and checking separate. Hmm..we should probably talk about it!

Thinking it over, I might go to a new bank after the wedding and we can open an account together. I'm not a fan of TCF either. Is Wells Fargo good?

hkiesling · June 2010

We kept seperate finances. I'm with a hometown credit union (best interest rate) and USBank, because they have a lot of locations around here.

shan87 · June 2010

I worked for Wells Fargo (for a whole 3 mos) so I transfered all my acct. Although I was not a fan of working there I have had no complaints about my accts.
My Cousin in a financial advisor and gave me a couple booklets on starting the money talks with your future Hubby/Wife. Which I found to be very helpful! He didn't have any recommendations for what time is best to switch. I don't think it matters. I think what is most important is what works for you guys and if you are already living together and spliting money perhaps you don't need to make any big changes.
I would def. open up the discussion with FI. I thought FI and I were on the same page until we started talking about it. I was and still am kinda at a loss for joined finances since my parents divorced when I was 7. FI mother is a home maker that works for FI dad off the books- so they have a unique situation too.

I could prob. email you some of the questions out of the booklet I got if you are interested.

blondie424 · June 2010

We went with Wells Fargo, mainly because it's easy to transfer money amongst our three accounts. We opened a joint and we each have our own. We are doing an "allowance" each paycheck that goes to our personal checking and we can spend that money any way we want, no questions or discussions. Everything else goes to our joint to pay bills, buy food/gas, etc and any non-bill expense we have to talk about before purchasing.

We waited until after we were married to setup our joint...I didn't want another account to change!

KittE7 · June 2010

FI likes TCF b/c they allow up to 4 free non-TCF ATM trnsx per month, and their uptown location is open on Sunday. I've been w/WF since they bought Norwest Bank - my first bank account! Plus, I never use ATMs b/c my side job (serving) keeps me stocked w/cash (dangerous, too easy to spend when it should be saved!).

Also considering ING's Electric Orange - anyone have that checking account? You get interest on the balance, free check cards & checks, and supposedly access to ATMs... but I don't understand where... probably pay an ATM fee (to the ATM company, not to ING).

Steph0871 · June 2010

I have, no lie, 4 bank accounts myself (one for a student loan, one for wedding stuff, a savings and a checking.) I was worried about the whole name change, but I'd rather consolidate before the wedding.

We have talked about it a few times, and I think we're on very similar pages. We'll probably do it like you, Blondie. One shared for most of the stuff, and two separate accounts. My parents divorced when I was 16 and their finances were awful, so i'm very conscious of having my own account.

Shan- I'd love to see some of those questions! steph0871@gmail.com. Do you midn sharin what books you used?

EmilyCMN · June 2010

My FI and I are doing the same thing as Blondie. We bought a house together two years ago and opened a joint account that pays for all of the household bills and all of our together activities. The rest of our money goes into separate accounts where we can spend as we wish. The only problem I have had with this system is I am constantly having to move money around to cover stuff (we seem to spend more on the house than we planned for). We do all of our banking through wells fargo and we both have separate high interest savings accounts through Capital One. I have been very happy with Wells Fargo, they call if anything unusual gets charged, we also have our mortgage through them. I am hoping that once we are married we can go down to one checking account so I don't have to do so much babysitting. I think we will just have rules about big purchases when we have a single account; anything above $xxx needs to be talked about with the other person so there are no surprises.

maybe984 · June 2010

Yep, we're also going to do what Blondie described, more or less. We're each going to have our own accounts, but a joint one that we'll put equal percentages of our income into to pay for the big, shared stuff (I'm thinking 40% of each paycheck.)

As for banks, I highly recommend WF. I had endless problems with my TCF account in college (it really seems that their business practices are aimed at causing people to overdraft. I mean, I'm no genius with money... but seriously... I was in endless hot water with TCF. Since I've been with WF, though, I haven't had any problems. Plus, their banks and ATMS are pretty much everywhere in this city.

shan87 · June 2010

*Steph* I will email you the questions this evening when I get home from work. The Book is published by the Investiment Firm my cousin works for. But I am more than willing to make copies and fax, or snail mail it out.

veijes · June 2010

I'm at TCF and will be canceling my accounts as soon as I get my license, etc. back with the changed name on it. DH banks with Beacon and he loves it so we will be sharing our accounts there.

tpender13 · June 2010

FI and I are both happy with US Bank. I'm sure we will set up joint accounts eventually, but definitely still keep our own money. I think what we're going to do is decide on a certain percentage of our income that will be our own, since he makes more money than I do. That way we're bearing the same "burden" when it comes to bills.

I Want Cake · June 2010

My FI and I bought a house last year and at that point created a joint checking account at his bank for the mortgage and all household/shared expenses, and it's been working out really well. I put about 40% of each paycheck into that account and the rest is mine to spend however I please. Our joint account is at Affinity Plus Credit Union, because that's where we got the best mortgage terms since FI's been banking there for something like 17 years now, and they actually do care about loyalty. My personal account is at Wells Fargo, and I've had no problems with them in the 8 or so years I've been there (though they gave me no better offer than any other bank for our mortgage). I'd recommend them. For myself alone, I've got the joint checking account, another account at a credit union (car payments and personal savings), our savings account at the same place as our joint checking, and my personal checking account. I guess I've got money stashed away in a bunch of different places.

But whatever you do, please keep an account for yourself only. I feel that it's the best thing a woman can do financially for herself.

jtothelee216 · June 2010

DH and I will be sharing one checking and savings account through our credit union. I'm going to close my TCF account once I get back my license.

drdifabio · June 2010

Joe and I combined our accounts maybe a year and a half ago now and love not having to worry about who is going to pay for what. We are at Wells Fargo and have quite a few accounts between the both of us. We like it especially because I work for a preferred employer and therefore can get free checks.

We have a FFFF (Fing Fantastic Fun Fund) that is now our wedding fund that we put 20% of our paychecks into.

Then we each have a personal account that can be used for whatever you want.

Then Joe has a school savings acct that goes towards paying school and two other Way to Save Savings accounts that were piloting at our WF so we decided to try them. You put in up to $385 a month in them and then after a year get a 3% bonus. We will likely use that money for a house or school.

Then we have our acct that I pay bills out of.

I am very type A so I organize and deal with all the money although we have a rule that you can really buy any small stuff that you want (which works for us because we are both savers) but that any big stuff needs to be discusses.

We also have shared credit cards which makes it much easier to pay bill.

chou_chou · June 2010

We are going to go soon and set up a joint account together, but each keep a separate account for our own money. We'll pool bill money in to the joint and then the rest is our own to do with what we'd like! We're also looking at adding him to my savings account (money mkt through my work, it's free since I work for the bank so might as well have it!). Thing that sucks with his paycheck is his company refuses to offer direct deposit so it's a little bit of a hassel having to bring it in to cash it/deposit every.single.week.....grrr but we are for sure still keeping seperate money -- if I want to spend my play money on a new purse or he wants to buy a new video game, that isn't the other person's business as long as we put in the set amount for savings & bills! I like our way of doing it, would recommend that!

bemistobe · June 2010

I have had bad experiences....like REALLY bad with WF and TCF...so I'm with Affinity Plus Credit Union. They have SUPER low rates for car and house loans. Plus, they actually give a crap about "YOU!" FI is with Wellsfargo and loves it for the ability to pay our bills/transfer money from acct to acct etc....but we've decided that we'll stick with a joint checking at WF and then we'll each have our seperate acct's. I can't say enough positive things about Affinity Plus -- they helped me get out of so much debt...and it cost me less in the end! Good Luck!

laura_fett · June 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_another-nwr-question?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local Wedding BoardsForum:81Discussion:5d665a82-7937-4b46-9ea2-489ac51a36caPost:5c3b4f67-c6a3-4b04-bdad-9f2b7ff77b1a">Re: Another NWR question</a>:
[QUOTE]Joe and I combined our accounts maybe a year and a half ago now and love not having to worry about who is going to pay for what. We are at Wells Fargo and have quite a few accounts between the both of us. We like it especially because <strong>I work for a preferred employer and therefore can get free checks</strong>. Posted by drdifabio[/QUOTE]

Danielle - just a heads up, I also work for a preferred employer and currently get the free checks, the last time I was in there, they told me that they are stopping the free checks in August, since people hardly use checks, when I told the lady that I use checks sometimes and you can't use bill pay for everything, she seemed at a loss. My helpful hint, order some more checks before August.

OP - right now FI is at HSB which has about 4 different locations out of the TC area, I am with Wells Fargo. I think we may keep both accounts and open a new joint account.

blondie424 · June 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/local-wedding-boards_minnesota-minneapolis-st-paul_another-nwr-question?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Local%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:81Discussion:5d665a82-7937-4b46-9ea2-489ac51a36caPost:730ec0dd-b697-43cb-832c-33eb4ef196e7">Re: Another NWR question</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: Another NWR question : Danielle - just a heads up, I also work for a preferred employer and currently get the free checks, the last time I was in there, they told me that they are stopping the free checks in August, since people hardly use checks, when I told the lady that I use checks sometimes and you can't use bill pay for everything, she seemed at a loss. My helpful hint, order some more checks before August. OP - right now FI is at HSB which has about 4 different locations out of the TC area, I am with Wells Fargo. I think we may keep both accounts and open a new joint account.
Posted by laura_fett@hotmail.com[/QUOTE]

Great point! I forgot when we opened our account in May, our banker also told us that too...and since DH works for WFF, he works with our banker on a regular basis (they refer business to each other), I think he ordered enough checks to last us a lifetime! Definitely go in and order your free checks soon!

LittleSweetie · July 2010

We have accounts with US Bank. I've banked with them since high school when they were Firstar and have had absolutely no problems. One mistake from a restaurant was fixed by a branch manager a couple years back. I'd recommend them in a heartbeat.

Our finances - a small amount from each of our paychecks goes into our "allowance" accounts. In your situation, you could keep your current accounts as separate accounts and let them accrue a small amount of money each month as an "allowance." (If you were to do what we do.)

Then, we have our bills calculated for the month and divide by 4 - that's the amount that both of us contribute to a bill pay account. Essentially, a checking account just for the bills. We pay everything out of that account each month, either scheduled or manually submitted. We always have money for the bills.

Everything else, besides what we put in savings (FNBO Direct, an online account, usually has the best rates!), goes into our joint checking account. From that account, we pay for gas, lunches, entertainment, etc. - the discretionary stuff. We watch the balance on that account to make sure we don't have too much fun month-to-month.

I really like our system because I never have to worry if we have enough money to pay the bills - it's all pre-portioned into the bill pay account. I

direct deposit!

leggwilliams · July 2010

Despite all the postitive comments about Wells Fargo, I've been with them for years and absolutely DESPISE them. I can't wait to consolidate bank accounts with FI so I can get out of this bank. I've had several awful experiences with customer service, lack of communication on their end, and very poor organization. A couple of years back I had my card stolen and I had 3 different people assigned to my case, each telling me a different thing. One person told me it was fine, all the charges would be taken care of. Another was telling me I'd have to pay for it all. 4 months after it happened I had someone calling me telling me I'd have to pay the overdraft fees for the amount overspent, even though the card had already been closed months ago and the case had been closed. I've also had them screw up interest on my student loans and never got an apology for any of these issues.

FI and I are planning on going with ING.

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