Comments on: Closing a Virtual Bank

By: Virtual Bank eMoney Market $20 Referral Bonus

Virtual Bank eMoney Market $20 Referral Bonus — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 03:14:25 +0000

[...] Bonus Posted by Sun on November 12, 2008 Visited 1 times Advertisements I thought I closed my Virtual Bank account more than a year ago (that is, I can no longer log in). But apparently my account seems to be still [...]

By: Assessing the Progress towards Financial Simplification | The Sun’s Financial Diary | A Personal Finance Blog on Saving and Investing

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:42:39 +0000

[...] is probably the only area that I actually worked to meet my goal: I closed two bank accounts (Virtual Bank and Emigrant Direct) that I don’t think I will ever use again. However, a new bank account [...]

By: Ernie

Ernie — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 01:56:57 +0000

Also, transferring that money back and forth - in addition to taking a lot of time (losing productivity like someone else mentioned - what is your time managing these accounts worth?) - loses you the float for several days.

You really have to have a lot of $ to benefit significantly.

Even though I have a fair amount of dough to me it’s not worth it. I like to do funner things.

By: Not Made Of Money » Monday Morning Roundup - Simplify Your Finances, A Cash Versus A Credit Purchase, and A Debt Reduction Journey

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 11:18:32 +0000

[...] Sun’s Financial Diary discusses a plan to simplify which includes closing a virtual bank account. I agree that simplifying is a great [...]

By: Roundup for week of 17 June 2007 at Mighty Bargain Hunter

Roundup for week of 17 June 2007 at Mighty Bargain Hunter — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 04:24:59 +0000

[...] The Sun’s Financial Diary closes a virtual bank account to simplify, simplify, simplify. [...]

By: Sun

Sun — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 18:50:11 +0000

goldfish: Thanks for the great suggestion. Actually, I used to have a piece of paper with all the account numbers and user name and passwords for my wife since she almost doesn’t involve in managing accounts a lot. But I haven’t updated the list for a while. I feel it’s due for an update as I have added many accounts in the past two years.

Sara: I actually have an account with Yodlee, but never really used it. There are many people using Yodlee to manage their account and I have heard some positive experiences. However, I am a little hesitate to put all accounts at one place. But I use Fidelity’s Fullview, which I believe is powered by Yodlee to manage all my investment accounts. I have to say it’s very convenient. Maybe I should consider Yodlee.

Tim: I remember once you mentioned you and your wife have several accounts with sign up bonus. You must have made a decent amount of FREE money

For the hard pull, it seems most of them will stay on credit report for only 12 months. The impact on credit score is minimal if you only get a couple of account every year. For long term, as you said, the damage is very small, if any.

Zeron: Well, there are always risks when doing business on the internet and there are quite some sites I have avoided in the past because I don’t fell comfortable to buy stuff from them. However, for those banks I use, there are all the online division of a B&M bank that has been around for a while. Thus, I kind of trust their security measures. But I will definitely have a second thought if it’s a totally new site with no connection with a physical bank.

By: zeron

zeron — Sun, 24 Jun 2007 06:42:57 +0000

when it’s difficult to manage, you loose productivity.

the more banks you have, you increase your security risk. the smaller the bank, the greater the risk.

By: Tim

Tim — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:41:25 +0000

It must be bank cleanup time of the year, because i just closed two accounts: ING and Grand Bank. my wife and I have our citi promo accounts and I have wachovia promo account that we will close in august. then we have the BofA MyAccess promo account that we have to wait 50days to get the $100, which means we’ll be closing that account in August as well.

the hard pull to open accounts isn’t going to have a long term impact on your FICO. if you aren’t planning on taking a loan out in 6 months from it, don’t worry about it.

By: Sara

Sara — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:34:18 +0000

I suggest you to use Yodlee (https://moneycenter.yodlee.com) as all your account aggregator. I’ve been using it and I am very happy with it. Above all its free!

By: goldfish

goldfish — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 18:07:08 +0000

Hi Sun,

One thing I would suggest is to set up a mechanism so your spouse knows where to find these accounts.

Enjoy the good weekend,

goldfish