Virtual Sub Accounts - All the accounts you need using the accounts you already have

Virtual Sub Accounts are here to make your existing bank accounts so much more useful

Managed through the Astra mobile app, you can use Virtual Sub Accounts (VSAs) to:

• Make and track savings goals
• Organize expenses and taxes for small business accounting
• Earmark certain amounts of money for things like emergencies or down payments

What is a Virtual Sub Account?

Traditional bank accounts normally arrive in two flavors - savings and checking. For each account, you apply and often pay a small fee and are then given an account number that ties that account to your personal information. If you have a checking account that you snagged when you turned 15 to put all your lawn mowing revenue in and you want to set up an account to just look after your rent, you would have to go back to the bank and apply for a second account. No longer!

Through the introduction of the virtual sub account (VSA for short), you can now divide your existing account into as many sub accounts as you like! No new account paperwork (or fees) and you can still access all of your funds via the same debit card you already have.

How can I use a Virtual Sub Account?

There are a bunch of interesting ways that we think the VSA can be useful, but some of the more commons use cases are as follows:

Emergency Funds

The current rule of thumb is that you should have funds that are held apart from your day-to-day funds, for use in case of emergencies. The problem is that many people utilize an external second account for keeping their emergency funds. Although that solution helps prevent you from accidentally spending those funds, it can also make them harder to access. With the new Astra VSA you can just partition your existing checking account into two parts, “daily” and “emergency.” If something comes up and you need to spend your emergency funds, they are already in your account (and they never left!)

Budgeting

I have written about this before, but we shouldn’t really treat all money the same. Money pooled together into one big fund in one single account can be a dangerous and tempting thing. Why not divide your account into the various jobs that you need those funds to do? Now you can! In just a few clicks you can take your existing checking account and divide it into “Rent”, “Car”, “Food” etc. You can then make sure that your “New Bike” money doesn’t eat into your “Rent” money.

Small Business Accounting

Running a small business is difficult enough, without the added work of cash flow management. Utilizing VSAs in combination with our Percentage-based Transfers you can create an automated system to manage all inbound funds and ensure that your funds are being organized the right way. In practice, you might have a business checking account at a local bank where you deposit all of your revenue. Instead of opening up several different checking accounts - one for profits, one for taxes, etc. you can now use that single account (that you already have) and divide it into different virtual sub-accounts. Then you can establish rules to move certain percentages of all income into those virtual accounts for every dollar received. No math, no reconciling - just set it and forget it. Simplified small business cash flow with Astra!

Savings Goals

The traditional savings app model requires that you sign up for the app, they then create a new bank account for you (normally with very little interest) and you patiently move funds into this new account over time. When it comes time to use those funds, you then move them back into the original account (probably your checking account) and from there you can spend them. With Virtual Sub Accounts all of that changes. Instead of keeping your funds at an app with an unknown or low-interest rate, why not keep all of your savings in an account with the highest interest? With VSAs offered through Astra you can now set up as many savings goals as you want, all housed within the single savings account you already have! If you want to do that 52-week savings challenge and round-ups on your American Express account and have them deposit into two different sub-accounts in your savings account - no problem! Think of a new thing you want to save for? In just a few clicks you can set up a new Virtual Sub Account on your savings account to hold the funds you have set aside for that purchase.

How do I set up a Virtual Sub Account?

Setting up a VSA can be accomplished in just a few clicks!

Step 1. Connect bank accounts to your Astra account.

Step 2. Select an account from your Accounts list, press to get the menu, and then fill out the required fields for your sub-account and you are set to go!

Let’s keep the accounts we have but make them a little more useful! Astra’s Virtual Sub Accounts (VSAs) are here to make the management of your money just a bit easier, and as always with no fees.