This is the third in a series on things to do BEFORE 2011 to get your budget in order. To check out my other posts click here and here.
Sometime in the next week or so you will probably get a bank statement in the mail. If you are one of those people who does stuff paperless you will probably log in to check your balance.
When you look at your statement, check it for fees. If you are paying a monthly fee for your checking account, STOP IT! Why on earth should you pay to have access to your money? It’s YOUR money!
Punch Debt in The Face recently did a post about this. He had banked at Washington Mutual for years fee free. Then they get bought by Chase and BOOM- a $10 fee pops up. $120 a year to get to his own money!
So if you are paying a monthly service fee for your checking account, it is probably (and I am just being polite when I say probably) time to either switch checking accounts or switch banks.
If they gave you one fee what’s to stop them from giving you another? So save some cash and make sure your checking accounts are fee free!
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Chase offers free checking if you make at least 5 debit purchases a month or do direct deposit. I’ve had to pay service fees twice since opening the account which made me feel really bad to give them $6 each time. Now I set calendar alerts on my phone to make sure I use my debit card at least 5 times a month. It helps me stay on top of things.
This is very good advice! A lot of banks are changing their policies about “free” checking accounts. Because they’re losing a lot of the revenue they used to make on late fees, etc. because of banking reform passed this last summer, they’re making up for it by doing away with free accounts and imposing fees they didn’t have in the past. So, it’s a very good idea to review your account for changes before you get hit with fees you didn’t expect!
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