Banking

1. Have one checking and one investment account, not multiple accounts of each type.
2. Some churches have multiple accounts to stay under the FDIC coverage of $250,000, but please know that in almost 90 years of its existence, the FDIC has covered every single deposit of every bank that has gone under regardless of the size of the account. No one has ever lost money because they had more than the FDIC limit.
3. Having one bank makes it easier and faster to reconcile your bank statement each month. And, having one investment account also speeds up the monthly reconciliation. Also, if you have multiple bank accounts, you’ll spend time, check stock, and money transferring money around unnecessarily.
4. There is no need to have different bank accounts for different funds (an operating fund, building fund, etc). Separating the funds is an accounting function; do not mix accounting functions with banking. Banking is the physical location of your money while accounting is tracking what your money is to be used for.
5. Multiple bank accounts is a way to embezzle money. When money gets transferred between banks and accounts, it gets harder and harder to track (certainly takes a lot more time to trace) and thieves count on that complexity to cover their misdeeds.
6. Use a Community Bank: There are national, regional, and community (local) banks. Community banks know their cities and neighbors far better than the other two. Also, they’re rates and fees are better because they don’t have to pay for several levels of executives in other cities. They are more willing to make exceptions because they know who they’re dealing with and, in some cases, actually worship in the churches they’re working with. Stay local.

Lead On!

Steve

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