Using personal bank account for your daycare

[Trinity]

Hello everyone,

I've been using my personal bank account to cash all my dc cheques for years without issue. Today, I received a notice of a bounced cheque from the bank. Now the bank is threatening to close my account because I am using it for "business purposes". I've never really thought of it like that since all the cheques are written to my personal name.

My question to you is this: Does your bank require you to open a separate bank account for your daycare or do they let you use your personal one? If you are able to use your personal one, what bank are you with? Looks like I will have to switch.... (fyi, I'm using PC Financial)

[torontokids]

I opened a business account (CIBC) but quickly closed it as it seemed pointless. My personal account is with PC and I just opened another account with them I use solely for DC. They will close it if they find out but they only find out if there is an unusual # of transactions.

[CrazyEight]

I use a separate personal account, although there isn't much cheque traffic going in these days, as all my current clients pay in cash. I thought you could use your personal account as long as you didn't have a business name and actual business number?

[mickyc]

Really? that is strange. I deposit all daycare money into my joint account (credit union). The tellers know us by name and know I run a home daycare. Never any issues. I did increase my fee package though so that I get unlimited transactions per month (I pay $19 a month for this - but I claim a portion of it on my income tax). My guess is because you are using PC and it is a no fee type account?

[Artsand crafts]

I don't see why the bank would have an issue with deposits in your personal account. There is nothing illegal about it. This is what I do every other week.

[torontokids]

I can only speak of PC financial and they have an issue with it but that being said I have tons of transactions going in and out of there and there has never been an issue. They will tell you they won't do it. I called about business accounts when I started and asked if I could just open another personal account and they told me I couldn't use a personal account for business. I asked how they would know and they said by the number of transactions. So I just ended the call and called the next day, opened another personal account and they have never said anything to me. Now, if you were running a business that does regular/daily transactions then they may freeze it.

[bright sparks]

I would guess that the bank has an issue with it because they want to be able to charge you for business transactions at the rate they do for business account holders, even though legally you can use a personal account as a sole proprietor, which we are, when not a registered business. I would change banks if they are going to unduly threaten you like this. I also won't deal with PC as they denied me a bank account before I was a landed immigrant which was illegal. All residents, permanent or temporary, can not be refused a personal bank account. After learning this I now see that while banks have rules they don't always play by them. You'd think of all institutions a bank would be the one place to stick to the law but that's not true of every where. Seems like PC are real jerks!! I have had a few cheques bounce over the years and the worst they threatened to do was hold this payees cheques for 7 days before clearing them. After a conversation with the bank manager I got this removed and made sure I added a policy in my contract that if a cheque was not going to clear that parents should let me know so I can refrain from banking it at that point to prevent this from happening. The no fee bank account is a great idea until you actually need some personal attention like from a bank with people in it who get to know you and are personable!

[5 Little Monkeys]

I've never even considered it. I use a CU and deposit up to 5 cheques every two weeks. They know I have a home daycare as I have a car loan with them and they've never mentioned anything. I don't pay for unlimited transactions but I don't think that would matter.

[bright sparks]

When I first started daycare I got a bank loan to purchase a daycare vehicle and I was very clear on this when applying. It was never an issue and I was depositing cheques with them weekly!!

[Wonderwiper]

I also just use my regular account and have never had any issues.