Bank Account

Does any one use a special bank account for depositing their mystery shop checks?
Also, a separate credit card or debit card for purchases that don't have to be cash.

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Yes to both. I have an account for shopping. Two, actually. Both have Visa cards attached.

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“Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling."
~Gilbert K. Chesterton

I gather it is a bank that you don't shop.

I have shopped the bank many times. :-)

I have checking and savings accounts around town with banks that are shopped. They are mostly dormant but available to deposit to or withdraw from as shops arise. My primary bank I have shopped, but they have only been competitor shopped in the past year or so. I dump obvious mystery shopping checks in the night depository and would certainly have no qualms about doing a platform, teller or drive through there.

As for credit cards, I carry a Visa, a Discover, a MC and an AMEX. Personal and business expenses get commingled because my proofs of shop purchases are in the monthly folder with the shop information. I keep a variety of cards because different ones have different cash back specials. So in the 4th quarter of 2009 Discover was paying a 5% cash back for restaurants, groceries and I think it was gas. I put all the shops I could onto that card and got $30 cash back for the month of December. First quarter 2010 the 5% cash back is on travel, which I don't plan to do any of, so I have reverted to my Visa which pays a better cash back.

I have three different bank accounts. Each has a debit card but no credit card. My primary bank is shopped, but not by me. I have not tried to find the MSC that shops them. I have been in there when they were shopped and the manager knew that had just been shopped. She told one of the tellers they had just been shopped. She said bank shoppers were so easy to spot. I came up after the transaction so I do not know what they did.

My second account is a bank that I do shop. I just go in and make my deposit and leave. Fill out my report in the car. My third account is at a bank in a small town I live fairly close to. My direct deposit MSC checks go to that one. I also have it because if I forget to go to the bank in town I can stop there. I live so far from the other two banks that if I am half way home it is too far to turn around and go back to the bank in town. I do not know if they are shopped or not and I have no reason to ask.

I have a rewards visa that I use just for shopping assignments I also have a bank account for this purpose where all MS cash withdrawals come from and my payments go into.

It really helps me to keep track of the purchases and gives a quick view of my cash flow in regards to MSing. Since I shop almost exclusively for reimbursements, I have a specific limit I have set as to how much money I will have due to me at any point. When I reach that limit, I back off until some payments come in.

I have shopped the bank that I use for my MSing without compunction. Yes, they scored well on the report, but that was more due to the fact that I had frequented that location nearly once a week for 12 years and was on a first name basis with each teller. I have also shopped locations for that bank that I did not frequent and received terrible service, despite them having access to my records.

I have another bank account that I use for my personal finances which was ironically opened on a mystery shop. The bank had such amazing service, I decided to stay with them but stopped shopping them when the I received shop instructions that seemed unrealistic and made it obvious I was the shopper. That whole experience kind of dissuaded me from shopping banks in general.

SteveSoCal Wrote:
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> I have another bank account that I use for my
> personal finances which was ironically opened on a
> mystery shop. The bank had such amazing service,
> I decided to stay with them but stopped shopping
> them when the I received shop instructions that
> seemed unrealistic and made it obvious I was the
> shopper. That whole experience kind of dissuaded
> me from shopping banks in general.

Yes, my primary bank account was found as a result of several shops of one location and finding it had amazing service. Unfortunately the people I shopped have moved on or up or wherever. The bank is now just as mundane as any other one in the area.

I am now opening a bank account for mystery shopping or merchandising accounts for this separately for business only. I am doing fairly well partime and have to keep track for taxes. I guess I need to invest in conputer program to do the task for me. josi434

Josi, you can do this by hand on a tabulated list you set up and print, using spreadsheet that you set up, or using a specialized program like "Quickbooks." What works for one will not work for all. We all end up finding the best way for ourselves to track this. One key thing, that I am not so good at, is setting aside time to do the tracking, no matter what method you use. Due to my teaching schedule, shopping, and family commitments, I tend to let this pile up to the end of each month, which makes it unpleasant to tackle, for me. In the months of the summer, when I teach less or don't teach at all, depending, I am able to do this daily. It is much easier then. But again, I can't fit that during the academic teaching year, so I do what I can, when I can.

For me retaining my checking account is more logical than opening 2; because my personal checking account gains 4.0 percent interest opposed to gaining a modicum of that in a new account. Does anyone else do anything to offset their tax liability? Like open a high yield account?

I have a debit card for my PayPal account. I deposit checks into my checking account and then move the money into my PayPal account. That becomes my business account. It keeps history online for me and transaction details for the companies that pay by PayPal.

I set up a database in Works to track all my jobs. It helps with all my taxable income information too.

My records for taxes are my shop sheet. Payments come in via Paypal, check and direct deposit. Some checks can't be deposited to some accounts because they say things like "Mystery Shopping Account" and I shop those banks. Most generally I deposit incoming checks, when they are suitably anonymous as to source, on my next bank shop wherever. All of the checking accounts I have opened as part of shops and to do shops have had free checking with only one of them having a minimum balance requirement. I can see all the accounts on line. When it comes time to pay bills I write checks on the various accounts to deposit into my main account, from which I pay bills on line. It would be an endless headache to try to keep it all sorted out by bank statements. I do have one of the accounts that is my "shopping kitty" of reimbursement money that I make a genuine effort to restock with incoming funds primarily so I know where I stand.

I am not concerned about the commingling of personal and business funds primarily because the shop sheet is the source record for earnings and payments.

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