when a customer opens a linked savings account the bank or financial institution connects it by account number to a new or existing checking or now account in the system since these accounts make it easier to transfer money they re convenient for people who want to accumulate savings1 
linked accounts are sometimes called packaged accounts the balances on both linked accounts are generally reported on a single consolidated statement making it easier for customers to keep track of their money linked savings accounts also allow customers to keep the majority of their funds in a savings account which may earn more interest moving money into the checking or now account as needed some packaged or linked accounts may also offer incentives such as lower fees or free checking the balances on your savings account and any checking now or other accounts to which it s linked are generally reported on a single consolidated statement special considerationsother types of accounts such as a certificate of deposit cd can also be linked to your other bank accounts banks may encourage you to link up multiple accounts and continue to deposit money into those accounts by offering special benefits such as a higher interest rate 2there are instances however where linking accounts could lead to additional fees for example one benefit of linking your savings and checking account is overdraft protection if your checking account balance goes too low some banks will automatically transfer money from your savings account into your checking account to protect you from incurring overdraft fees however this service often comes with its own fee plus if you trigger that sort of transfer too frequently your savings account could fall below the minimum balance which could cause other fees to kick in if you find that the ideal checking and savings accounts for your needs aren t available at the same bank you may also be able to link accounts from different banks this can work well if you re looking to hold your extra cash in a high yield savings account that may not be available at the bank where you do your checking look for an option to link external accounts you ll need to provide more information to get this done and transfers may take longer to go through there are also sometimes limits on the number of external transfers you can make each month benefits of linked savings accountsbanks may want to incentivize linked savings accounts so that they can hold a larger share of your business for a longer amount of time this could mean higher rates for you especially if you re able to maintain a higher balance plus having your accounts in one place with transfers available quickly and easily simplifies money management 