Yeah, just link your local account to Marcus. Initiate the transfer from Marcus and they'll pull the funds from your bank.

Marcus has a very high ACH transfer limit ($125K/day push and $125K/day pull and you can call to get that increased), so moving $40K in a single transaction should be fine and is perfectly legal. My only caveat in general is make sure you don't need that money right away. With some banks, they may put a hold on the money for a period of time (may be up to 10 days or less) before you can then spend or move the money again. This is typical when you're a new account or are moving really large sums of money and this isn't specific to Marcus.

Thus if you need any of that $40K, it may be smart to keep a small portion at the old bank first and wait till the initial transfer clears before moving the funds over.

Sorry to say this to you, but once they get a legal judgement against you they can use that judgement to lien your bank accounts and other real property (eg. house, car, etc). I would suggest working out a payment program with them so they don't start garnishing your wages or lien your bank account (especially at inopportune times like when rent is due), that way you can at least keep excess money in the bank without risk versus trying to live as a cash only nomad with nothing in your name.

As a general warning to others, once creditor gets a judgement against you, it's too late to even file bankruptcy since that debt will stay with you so long as they keep renewing the debt--which they can do indefinitely. Also depending on the laws of your state, you may also owe compound interest on this debt if it's not being regularly paid off.

If you ever get into a situation where you're unable to pay your creditors and they are threatening legal action, SEEK legal help immediately. If you were eligible for bankruptcy, you could have filed bankruptcy before the judgement and depending on that debt, it would have been discharged.

In any case, it doesn't hurt to reach out and try to get an offer in compromise. They may settle for a lower amount than what is owed or will be owed with interest/penalties, but with the judgement they really don't need to. Since you have nothing to lose for asking I would at least try.

Edit: I also should mention that judgement proof generally means that the person who has a judgement against them will not have any assets worth the plaintiff's time to go after. Depending on your age and your future earning potential and whether you want to go through the rest of your life with no bank account or assets in your name and how aggressive the plantiff is in going after you, you may or may not be judgement proof. So in other words, if you make barely any reportable money, live only on physical cash and avoid putting anything in your name (eg. home, cars, etc), then yeah I guess you're judgement proof. If you have any aspirations to move beyond that, then that judgement will hover over your head until it's paid.

I use my online bank for most of my banking needs. I can do pretty much the same thing with an online bank as with a brick and mortar bank, but without being nickeled and dimed on everything such as having minimum balance requirements, fees for checking, fees to externally transfer money, while also earning higher yield interest (eg. .01% at most major banks vs 3.5% or more with an online bank). Most online banks now no longer charge overdraft fees and may even provide free paper checks. The usual con with online banks is obviously the lack of physical branches. But depending on the online bank, you may still be able to deposit cash (eg. Discover, Alliant Credit Union and CapitalOne allow that) as well as wire money and get cashiers checks. However, I still keep an account at a local bank (luckily with no fees or minimum balances) for the rare instances where I need in branch service. For example, while I can deposit cash into my online account via ATM, I still prefer to do large cash deposits with a human teller just to avoid an issue of getting my money eaten. I also prefer a human teller when wiring money to avoid issues. Or most recently, requiring a medallion signature guarantee when opening a Treasury Direct account.

As for keeping money in these accounts versus investing, the advice on this sub is to only keep as much cash as you need. So basically this means keep any money you will need in a 5 year or less time frame in something safe and liquid like a high yield savings account, while investing the difference. The reason is that the market is volatile and you do not want to be in a situation where you need the money now but due to a market dip, you now have less than when you started. Based on past historical market crashes, it's taken around 4+ years for stock prices to return thus the 5 year rule.

As for safe liquid savings, those don't necessarily have to be in high yield savings, but HYS is the most liquid. If you want to min/max your cash savings and don't mind the extra friction to access it, you can earn more interest by buying T-Bills, CDs and iBonds or signing up for new account bonuses. I typically layer my cash savings. Emergency funds stay in HYS or Money Market funds since they can be access/liquidated immediately. iBonds older than 12 months are also very liquid, but you lose the last 3 months of interest if cashed out before 5 years and are completely unavailable for the first 12 months. New account bonuses, CDs and T-bills bought through a brokerage can be accessed sooner their their mature date but usually involve losing your interest if accessed sooner.

I also wanted to add that their Business Checking is iOS only for the moment.

To clarify, their business checking uses a separate app from their personal savings. The business app is fine and does everything you would want such as mobile check deposits, transferring money, enabling/disabling debit. It also shows the balance on your other accounts and when you click on them it will either ask to open the web browser or the corresponding mobile app. They also have a high mobile check deposit limit of $50K/day.

I still maintain a free business checking account at my local bank so I can deposit cash and receive the occasional Zelle payment. But I prefer Amex since it has no transaction limits, incoming wires have no fees and I earn interest.

I opened an account back in 2021 when they were offering a $250 bonus. Got the bonus with no fuss. There interest rates tend to be on par with other online banks (eg. Ally, Discover, etc).

As others have said, they've now combined logins so your login for your credit card can also access your high yield savings, though at the time I signed up they were separate distinct logins.

They also started offering a free checking account last year if you want to consolidate your banking. Their checking is unique in that it offers 1% interest and earns 1 point (worth $.01) for every $2 spent. Can either be redeemed for cashback or if you're into the Amex eco-system, you could transfer those points to other Amex cards for higher redemption value.

If you're also looking for business checking, they offer one with a $300 sign up bonus and their checking account is actually quite good as it offers 1.3% interest and they also offer a flat rate 2.25% fee if you use their invoicing service, which is nice if you have a need for it. Their business debit also earns the same 1 point for $2 spend.

Also I think their ACH times are really fast--like 1 business day. Or at least their business checking is.

Using two separate banks won't stop you from being victimized by fraud, but it can help mitigate it's impact if you don't put all your eggs in one basket.

In regards to better saving practices, I'm not really following. You should save regardless of whether you have one account or multiple.

If you just want high yield savings, Marcus is a good choice. They push and pull funds fast and also have access to a 13 month no penalty CD at 3.85% if you want to earn a little extra but not tie it up for too long.

If you want a bank that offers both free checking and high yield savings, I like Alliant, Ally, Discover and CapitalOne.

Alliant is a bit behind in rates at only 2.7% while the others are around 3.3%. But both Alliant and Ally have very high mobile check deposit limits, 1 day ACH transfers and ATM fee reimbursement ($20/month for Alliant and $10/month for Ally). Ally also offers a 11 month no penalty CDs at 3.85%. You can also deposit cash at certain CO-OP ATMs with Alliant while you can't with Ally and Discover. CapitalOne you can but only at their local branches which aren't nationwide.