It is no secret that many people don’t know how to maintain their bank accounts. They write checks and use their debit cards, make deposits and withdraw cash but do not do anything else. Maintaining your bank account is necessary to avoid any charges or fees associated with overdraft and negative marks on credit reports as a result.
Identify what your minimum monthly balance should be in your account. If you do not know, be sure to ask a bank representative. This is the amount that you must always have in your account. Determine how much money you can afford to add to your savings account each pay period. This will enable you to have consistent deposits. Also, keep a log of the amount of each deposit and your balance after each. Refrain from withdrawing money that you deposit into your savings account. Determine how much money you can add to your checking account each pay period. You always need enough money in your checking account to cover checks that you may write. Ask your bank representative about your bank's overdraft protection policy. Overdraft protection will enable automatic payments from your savings account to your checking account, if you do not have enough money in your checking account to cover a check that you write. You may also transfer funds from an account at another bank to cover checks if you do not have a savings account
Bank accounting is just series of deposits and withdrawals. To maintain an account means to keep track of all the transactions and reconcile the account at the end of each month. Keeping track means writing down each transaction into the check register. This includes deposits, debit card transactions and withdrawals made by check; at an ATM. Calculating the available balance is necessary to avoid overspending and accruing overdraft fees. It is not enough to just check the account balance every couple of days. Checks can take from 2 to 5 days to clear the account. This means that the available balance may be less than what it shows in the account. However, if you keep track of the transaction you take the outstanding checks into consideration and will not continue spending the money if the balance is not enough to cover the purchases. If you bounce a check or two by accident, your bank may extend a courtesy to you and refund up to 2 fees. They usually will not do more than once a year. It is easy to find out which transactions have cleared the account. All financial institutions offer online banking services. You can log into your account and see the history. Telephone banking is similar and will give you the last transactions and the balance. If you have no access to these options, stop at a branch and ask a teller to print out the recent history of your account. When you receive your monthly statement, take a few minutes to reconcile your account. If you’ve been keeping track of the transactions, this should not take longer than a few minutes. There is an easy step-by-step guide on the back of the statement on how to do this. Check the statement to make sure there are no unexpected transactions or fees. The balance on the statement should match the balance in your checkbook register plus the outstanding checks and transactions.
Tips and comments:
Call your bank's customer service phone number if you need help. Keep this number in a place where you can access it quickly when it is needed. If you cannot manage your account online or go into a branch, additional help is just a phone call away. By following these simple procedures you will never have a bounced check and will maintain your checking account.
