Where to put money?

[mmy2grls]

Currently I have a savings account in a credit union 40 miles away, no debit cards for this account. This is like my emergency account because I have to drive so far to get any money out of there. I'm being charged $10 monthly participation fee because I don't have Direct Deposit, I just switched one of my jobs to pay DD to this account so I won't have that fee anymore. I do get interest.

I do have plans to buy a house so I thought maybe I should do all my business with the credit union so I can apply for a mortgage with them.

I'm thinking of opening a checking account with them and they offer 3,6,12 month cd's with 4%.

I want to have at least $600 in EF plus I want to put $800 somewhere, that would cover my rent and bills for 1 month, and use that to pay bills as they are due and replenish it as get paid. This way i'll get out of living paycheck to paycheck.

[mmy2grls]

forgot to say that currently my pay from my jobs are going on a paycheck card so there is no plus in keeping it.

[Stella]

I am not sure what a paycheck card is? I have a regular checking account and have a savings account with the same bank. I opened my EF account and put the bulk of my savings in my ING account. They also pay around 4%. It might be better for you look into transferring your money to the ING account to save you from driving the 40 miles.

I keep a cushion in my savings account at my regular bank in case I need money ASAP. With ING it talkes 3-4 days for the transfer to go through.
With my ING I get a small amount taken directly out of my paycheck and transferred to my EF fund each week. I don't even miss the $$ because I don't manually do the transfer.

[mmy2grls]

a paycheck card is where my pay is deposited on a visa card where whatever is on my card is what I have available to spend.

I use this card to pay my bills online and if I need cash I get cashback from the staore or gas station.