Do I need a business checking account and business credit card?

[Christopher Cordero]

Hi BiggerPockets folks,

My wife and I are new investors. We don't have an LLC set up quite yet (and we aren't sure if we're going to need it in the near future). We are closing on our first deal soon. It's going to be a long term hold/rental property and we are trying to figure out how to structure the bank account side of things.

I understand that we'll need a checking account and a credit card that is completely separate from my personal accounts and cards.  Which is all well-and-good, I can definitely get that set up.  However, what I need help to know is:  Does it need to be abusiness checking account?  And does it need to be a business credit card?  I have heard that a personal checking accounts and personal credit cards could work as long as I keep them earmark them separately from my other accounts and I am very careful to always use the new accounts for our business expenses, but I'm not sure if that's true.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[Bjorn Ahlblad]

@Christopher Cordero It does not need to be a 'business' account or card. In fact some banks will charge you monthly fees for a 'business' account and some card issuers won't give you points on 'business' card accounts. Dumb-right? 

Keeping things separate makes accounting easy for tax purposes. If you have an LLC you have to keep stuff completely separate or there is no point to having the LLC.