Ive had a separate debit checking account from my family account for internet and other purchases for a few years now.. Reason being I didn't want to expose the family account to well you know. Both accounts are within the same institution. I have noticed lately that purchases from one account are showing up on the other. In the last two week 253 dollars have shown up charged on the other account that I know damn good and well were charged on the family account. I know because I tendered the family account card. WTF? Am I wrong to think this is unexceptable?

There should be no co-mingling between accounts unless you create a transaction between them.

Have a talk with the manager.


(and wear your best Karen outfit!)

It should NOT be happening.

Account numbers is the determination, not the name on the account.

Someone messed up either you or the bank.

If you did this online you either entered the wrong account or picked a wrong drop down.

I am guessing you, unless you did this with a live teller. Almost all debit/check processing is automated. Hard for a machine to read the numbers wrong and get your other account number.

Online purchases by chance or in person? I know some things have secondary forms of payment if the first defaults.

Unexceptable. If the bank can’t fix the glitch move your internet account to another bank if that’s feasible. I live in a small town and bank at three different institutions.

I assume you put x amount of cash into the account to cover the anticipated charges/debits. If that's the case and there's sufficient funds to cover the charges then there is no reason charges should go to your other account. However, if your charges exceed the available funds, then the bank is probably covering the charges by putting them against the account with enough available funds. That's probably in the fine print. I'd talk with someone at the bank.

Your tolerance for security is different than mine. I never use a debit card even in person let alone for internet purchases. Maybe I'm overthinking this but it just seems like a scam waiting to happen since funds come out of your bank account immediately. You might think about setting up a separate credit card and simply pay it off monthly. I control this with my Capital One card. I have a separate card for my wife which is tied to my main account but has a slightly different card number. I could put a monthly limit on her card, but in the interest of piece on the home front I've not done that. When the statement comes in, I know which charges she made and which are mine, but there's one bill to settle up. And I can pull detailed reports for as long as I've had the card. I just pay it off each month.

Do you have overdraft protection and the one account doesn't have any money in it, and that is why they're charging the other account?

There is plenty of funds in both accounts. I suspected something was going on because I couldn't get my "play" account back up to speed after a big summer trip. The cards don't look alike. I started paying close attention. There are seven transactions over two weeks time. All of them in person transactions. Two were correct I made them with the "play" card and that's the only time I used that card. Five charges I made knowing using the "family" card that showed up on my "play" account.

I have credit (not debit) cards I use for purchases, internet and in person, that are from other financial institutions.
Then you don't need to worry about the balance of funds at the moment of purchase and the issues you are dealing with now.

I keep checking accounts at different banks / credit unions for exactly this reason.

If I can't get this fixed another bank for my "play" account is going to be what I do I'm afraid. Its just convenient to have them at one credit union.

It's much safer to use a credit card.