Related Financial Services - The following list of company and services directories offer a wide variety of programs for consolidating bills and other similar services, such as a getting a mortgage refinance interest rate quote from a lender or an online quote for life or car insurance.
- Debt Settlement Companies - Are you finding yourself unable to meet your monthly budget because of too many credit card payments? Negotiating your debts may or may not be the right choice to get help with your financial situation. Compare programs designed for helping people with similar debt problems.
- Credit Card Debt Management - Do you feel that your credit card bills are stacking up with nowhere for you to turn? Your problem is not unique. Signing up with debt management firm may be the right solution to your debt problems. Review different firms offering these services to determine if this is the correct option for you.
- Personal Loan Company - Looking for a small loan? Start at the personal loans directory, where you can shop and apply with different lenders and related services online.
Avoiding Costly Banking Mistakes: No Trivial Pursuit
Here are clues to preventing expensive errors with your checking account, credit card or other financial services. After all, this isn't play money!
Not checking up on your checking account
Many people write checks and use their debit card without paying attention to their account balance. The results can be costly and may include fees from $20 to $35 for each "bounced" check you write when you don't have enough money in your account. Similar fees can be imposed if you overdraw your account using your debit card at the ATM. There may also be fees if your checking account goes below a required minimum balance. And, if you fail to spot fraudulent transactions, fixing those can be costly and time consuming.
Your lack of attention could make a bad situation worse if fees are assessed for several days or even months. "Account holders can get very frustrated when they suddenly find out that multiple checks and payments have been returned, and a fee has been assessed for each one," said Eloy Villafranca, a Community Affairs Officer with the FDIC.
Villafranca recalled a situation involving a consumer who "was confident that her bank statements were correct so she didn't open them for six months." Unfortunately for her, a recurring, electronic payment she thought had been stopped continued to be charged against her account, and her account balance was lower than she thought. "As she wrote checks month after month," Villafranca explained, "she was being hit with charges for insufficient funds."
Be aware that if bounced checks are not repaid in a timely fashion they may become part of your record. That could make it difficult to get a merchant to accept your checks. And if your account is closed by the bank because of repeated problems with insufficient funds that you do not repay, you may have difficulty opening a new account elsewhere.
How can you avoid unnecessary costs?
- Keep your check register up to date. Deduct for all withdrawals — not only for checks but also for ATM transactions, bank fees and debit card purchases. Do not rely on your ATM receipt for balance information because it may not reflect outstanding checks or debit card transactions.
- Promptly compare your check register with your bank statement to look for errors or unauthorized transactions. Open and review your monthly statement as soon as it arrives in the mail or check your account information more frequently online or by telephone.
"Once I used my debit card to pay an $11 dry-cleaning bill and I was inadvertently charged $1,100," Villafranca said. "This could have caused a number of problems had I not gone online to check my account activity later in the day to pay a bill and noticed the error. I had the funds credited back to my account the next day." (Note: The federal Electronic Fund Transfer Act protects you against billing errors and unauthorized transactions by debit card and other electronic payment methods, but you must notify your bank within 60 days of the mailing of the account statement on which the transaction appears.) - Take additional precautions to avoid fees for insufficient funds. For instance, make sure you have enough money in your account before you write a big check, use your debit card or arrange for an automatic payment. Also remember that, under federal rules that allow banking institutions to put a temporary "hold" on certain deposits, you may have to wait from one to five business days (in most situations) before you can withdraw funds deposited into your account, and longer in other circumstances (such as deposits over $5,000 or if your account has been repeatedly overdrawn).
Finally, consider other options for avoiding the costs of overdrafts as explained in the interagency brochure Protecting Yourself from Overdraft and Bounced-Check Fees (www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/bounce/default.htm).
FDIC Consumer News is published by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
FDIC Consumer News is produced quarterly by the FDIC Office of Public Affairs in cooperation with other Divisions and Offices. It is intended to present information in a nontechnical way and is not intended to be a legal interpretation of FDIC or other government regulations and policies. Mention of a product, service or company does not constitute an endorsement.
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Last updated on 11/08/2006