On 10/2/2011 4:01 PM, aemeijers wrote:
On 10/2/2011 1:22 PM, George wrote:
On 10/2/2011 12:32 PM, aemeijers wrote:
On 10/2/2011 11:53 AM, George wrote:
On 10/2/2011 12:58 AM, SMS wrote:
On 10/1/2011 5:37 PM, zzzzzzzzzz wrote:
A *long* time ago, CUs weren't allowed to clear checks through the
system.
They got around it by affiliating with a bank and issuing "drafts".
Same
thing, usually. That changed at least 20 years ago, though. CUs also
can't
do commercial accounts, so there are some differences but for most,
CUs are
the way to go.
I have a commercial account at a credit union. In fact they told me
they
could no longer accept checks made out to my business into my personal
CU account anymore (they had been able to do that previously) and said
that it could only be done in a commercial account. All they needed
was
my fictitious name notice to open the commercial account.
Since you have a business you may want to ask your accountant why they
didn't flag that years ago. Commingling of personal and business assets
is not considered good form.
'Ask your accountant' is like 'ask your lawyer'. Not everyone,
especially small or one-man DBAs, can afford to keep that level of
expertise on retainer. Why do you think small-business accounting SW
sells so well?
OK, then ask Google. I just did and the first 8 links that came up were
all relevant.
Commingling business and personal assets is not a good idea for a lot of
reasons among them it will give an auditor a good reason to look really
well once they see you are doing that.
I am guessing the credit union involved was just cluelessly assisting a
depositor(s) in a bad practice and someone realized it.
Oh, I wasn't saying you were wrong, or anything. I'm no accountant or
lawyer, and even I know why business and/or escrow accounts are good CYA
for all the players in a deal. But I grew up in a small construction
company, and did take a few business law courses in college.
Of course he was wrong. First of all, in this case I was not co-mingling
business and personal assets, it was an account solely usef for
business. But many people that are consultants have checks made out to
their business name and need to be able to deposit them.