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How many bank acts per institution? Before it gets fishy
 

Currently have 5 accounts at Wells Fargo

1 personal
2 biz checking
2 biz saving

I LOVE their biz accounts because of the low minimums and versatility. And I need to open up another 5 bank accounts for my other new stealth accounts

Would it seem fishy if I opened up 4 more bank accounts at Wells Fargo? 2 more biz checking, 2 more biz saving. This would be 8 in total (9 including personal)

I have some other accounts at other banks, but WF is by far my favorite. The others all have their drawbacks

So will me opening 4 more biz accounts raise some eyebrows? I do have a second business I can open them under, but I'd really prefer not to do that

Re: How many bank acts per institution? Before it gets fishy
 

I'm also using Wells Fargo and have quite a few business accounts with them. They work great with steath since the mismatched names don't seem to cause issues. Some banks freak out when they see lots of third-party ACH deposits and will shut you down, WF doesn't.

At one time before the ⊗⊗⊗⊗-account fiasco broke out, WF bankers were VERY agressive to give you as many accounts as you would accept, weather or not you wanted them! After all, they had a quota to meet or they would be reprimanded. My banker told me they have since done away with the "cross selling" quota at Wells Fargo, but they still don't mind if you want to open more accounts.

To answer your question, there is no set number of account limitation you can open with one bank, but if I were you I'd spread around a bit. Try and use "brick & morter" banks, stick with the "big 5": BofA, Wells, Chase, Citi, and US Bank. Any of these should also be good for accepting mismatched names.

Best NOT to use any online bank (i.e. Gobank, Ally, FNBO Direct, Greendot, etc) as these are likely to cause you issues when you try to send mismatched deposits.

Re: How many bank acts per institution? Before it gets fishy
 

That's awesome about WF. May I ask how many accounts you have? Just curious!

Ehhh the other banks. BOA and Citi minimum is 3k. Chase is fine, but seems the same as TD who im currently with.

People's United bank is decent @ 1k minimum, but less mainstream. They used to have 0 biz checking minimum in 2013 (my non-eBay biz days ha)

US bank supposedly has no fee no minimums but theyre not very big around my parts.

Re: How many bank acts per institution? Before it gets fishy
 

Monthly fees would obviously be a big factor to consider if you want multiple accounts. Unless you can maintain the minimum balance or some other requirement to waive them; they can add up quickly.

With Wells Fargo, the basic business checking is $10 /mo, and savings is $6. They waive it if linked to a "qualifying" package, maintain a minimum balance of $500, or enroll in an auto save transfer feature. What I do is have the auto transfer the $25 minimum into each savings every month, then I move that money back to where it came from later. ;) It waives the $6 savings fee in that case.

I won't say how many account I have with WF, but it's more than twenty. I've been with them for many years, so that's really no biggie, esp. since they are all business accounts.

It's not uncommon for even a small or medium business to have multiple accounts for various things. Some corps can even have 100's with the same bank.

Remeber, for stealth purposes there is no rule that you need to have a "checking" account, when the cheaper "savings" would do as well.

BofA used to have an awesome feature some time back where you could open and close accounts on a whim online, but that seems to have gone away. It was great for stleath, esp. for w/d from old limited account past the 180 day mark, after which time you would just close it. Those acct numbers could never be used on another PayPal again anyway.

Re: How many bank acts per institution? Before it gets fishy
 

I haven't tried closing one yet but online I can open within minutes still

Re: How many bank acts per institution? Before it gets fishy
 

Just a random guy's opinion:

I think it has to do with the dollars you are running through the institution rather than the number of accounts.

If you are running $5K a year who cares, if you are running 25k-50K I have to think that gets attention.

Re: How many bank acts per institution? Before it gets fishy
 

Key here is to 1) not to open too many active accounts simultaneously and 2) not to open and close accounts too frequently in a short period of time.

Spread your accounts across many other banks when possible.

Re: How many bank acts per institution? Before it gets fishy
 

For those of you in the US that like to open and close accounts on a "frequent" basis, here's some things to consider.

Many banks will use an outside entity called ChexSystems, or simply "Chex" when you open a deposit account with them. They may note in Chex when you open/close an account, which means ANOTHER bank may see that activity then you open a new account with them.

The bank is mainly looking for derogatory records in your file. These items are bounced checks, accounts closed with negative balance, fraud, or something else that violates a banks policies. If a bank closes an account involuntarily for some reason, that is you didn't request it, that item may show in a Chex report.

This is one reason NOT to use an institution that is likely to cause problems with mismatched (third party) trasactions and close your account down. Research this topic on this forum, as well as study and read the steath guide. Information is your friend. ;)

Although there is nothing wrong with opening a few accounts, doing something out of the norm may result in an "irregularity" report being sent to Chex to alert of a potential problem with a customer. Furthermore, just like a credit bureau, the bank will make a inquiry which will also be noted. Too many "inquiries" in a short period of time may raise a red flag.

Also make sure you ASK any bank you open an account with if they will make an inquiry to a Credit Bureau (i.e. Experian/Trans Union/Equifax). There are two types of inquiries: "soft" and "hard", the later of which remain on your report for a couple years. Too many of these can lower your credit score. Fortunately most banks run a "soft" query which generally doesn't affect credit in a negative way.

Yes, some banks will obtain a Credit Report when you open an account with them even though you may only be getting a deposit account and not some credit/loan product with that bank. They do that to confirm your identity, and to prescreen you for other products (i.e. upsell).

Both Chex & CRA's share data with banks and can contain a LOT of detail.

The moral of the story is to not rock the boat when it comes to bank accounts, and operate them responsibly as you would a credit card.

Re: How many bank acts per institution? Before it gets fishy
 

What if you're opening the accounts under different businesses? Do they each get a different Chex report on them? Or is it the designated agent/account opener who gets a check on them

E.g. John Smith has 2 accounts for Business X and now opens 2 accounts for Business Y.

Is Chex checking the report on John Smith? Or just Business Y, maybe? Is it checking it for Business X and Business Y separately? Or is it running it on all sorts of links (John Smith is opening accounts for Business Y although he also opened accounts for Business X in the past, so let's look at all 3).

Re: How many bank acts per institution? Before it gets fishy
 

Yes! You could open up additional accounts, checking or savings, within MINUTES right on the app on your phone.... but recently started giving me an error message, and I had to do it at the bank. Does it still work for anyone else? You think they stopped making that available to those who used it (too much...?) or has the app stopped working for opening accounts easily for everyone?

Re: How many bank acts per institution? Before it gets fishy
 

If it is bank of america I did it the other day online.

Re: How many bank acts per institution? Before it gets fishy
 

I used to have accounts with BofA back in 2014 and was able open the accounts online on a whim, but they seemed to take away that function (at least for me) a year or so ago.
I've since switched to WF and Citi, and both of which are working good for stealth.

I tried sending deposits with mismatched names to a local credit union in Calif. called Golden One, but a week later they called saying no third party ACH allowed, and said if I did it again they would close the account.

Only stick with the big banks for stealth, spread out your accounts with more than one and stay under the radar.

It all depends on the credit union you are with. I use credit unions for all my stealth accounts. The credit unions in my area don't charge a monthly maintenance fee, I get reimbursed for any ATM fees, and I get free checks.