Kiplingers Personal Finance

28 KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE^ 05/2017

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PUT YOUR BANK ACCOUNTS

UNDER ONE ROOF

LEAVE YOUR WALLET AT HOME (AND GO MOBILE)

Bank accounts are easier to
manage if you keep them in
one institution. Transfers
from one account to another
are usually quick, and you
may qualify for other perks,
such as waived monthly
maintenance or ATM fees

and higher interest rates on

checking or savings. With

BANK OF AMERICA’S PREFERRED

REWARDS program, for exam-

ple, customers who main-

tain a combined $20,000

or more in eligible checking,

savings and Merrill Edge

and Merrill Lynch invest-

ment accounts get fee

breaks on mortgage origi-

nations, overdraft transfers

and other services, plus

other benefits. Or you could

choose an internet bank

that offers a great all-

around suite of accounts,

no matter what your bal-

ance. ALLY BANK, CAPITAL ONE

360 and DISCOVER BANK, for in-

stance, have free checking,

savings and certificate of

deposit accounts with com-

petitive yields and rewards.

Or treat a high-yield

checking account as a sav-

ings account, suggests Ken

Tumin, of DepositAccounts

.com. The CONSUMERS CREDIT

UNION (Illinois) Free Re-

wards Checking account,

for instance, pays 4.59% on

balances up to $20,000 if

you make 12 debit card pur-

chases monthly and spend

$1,000 or more a month

on one of the credit union’s

credit cards and meet other

requirements. L.G.

A cluttered wallet is a pain to pick

through. Plus, if you lose it, you’ll have

to scramble to replace its contents and

protect your identity. By carrying your

debit and credit card information in

a mobile wallet, you can pay for pur-

chases with your smartphone and

remotely erase sensitive data if the

device lands in the wrong hands.

APPLE PAY, ANDROID PAY and SAMSUNG PAY

are compatible with cards from most

major banks and issuers. You can pay

with the Samsung wallet (using the

Samsung Galaxy S6 and S7, among

other models) almost anywhere that

accepts credit cards. But the Apple and

Android wallets are limited to mer-

chants equipped with near field com-

munication (NFC) terminals and those

that accept payments from the wallets

through their apps, such as Starbucks

and ride-share services Uber and Lyft.

Some mobile wallets store loyalty card

and gift card information, too. Or use

an app: KEY RING stores loyalty cards,

and GYFT holds gift cards.

If you want to close card accounts,

shutting down the ones with the low-

est limits may be the best move. That’s

because to maintain a strong credit

score, you should use no more than

30% of the credit available to you (less

is even better). Or simply let the cards

collect dust in a safe place. L.G.

For a smoother transition

from one tech device to an-

other, choose sides in the

Apple versus Android com-

petition. With products

from the same family, you

can usually access apps,

movies, books and even

documents from multiple

devices. For example, with

Apple devices you can

share information, websites

and photos or continue

iMessage conversations on

your iPhone, iPad or Apple

Watch. KAITLIN PITSKER

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