If you are like most people, you have had to pay an overdraft fee or a late payment charge at some point in your life. It can be surprising how many people don’t know how much money they have tied up in the stock market or how much they’ve spent in interest on credit cards in a year. Perhaps like most people, you’d like to stop worrying so much about money and personal finances. Well, with a little time and effort, you can be on your way to a streamlined world of personal finance in which you know everything about where your money is, how much it is earning and where it is costing you the most.
First, you’ll need to sign up for direct deposit. Direct deposit is a perk that many employers offer, it has almost become standard in the workplace. Nevertheless, nearly a third of workers fail to take advantage of it. Don’t waste your time standing in line at the bank or paying a fee to cash your check. Let your payroll department deposit it for you. Your money will arrive before everyone else’s, and you don’t have to worry about it. Banks love direct deposit and there are 100’s of banks that offer high rate checking accounts for consumers who use direct deposit as well as other features.
Learn about and get bounce protection. Many banks offer this vital option. Some offer it in the form of a line of credit, some attach your checking account to a savings account that you load for future use, but however it is done, it will save you money and embarrassment. Most banks charge a fee for this service, but even if you use it once a year, it pays for itself. Bounce protection tied to a savings account or other security will incur lower fees than unsecured or courtesy bounce protection from a bank.
Automatically pay your bills. Banks offer this service, credit card companies offer this service, and many common recurring bills support this service. It simply means that you don’t have to remember to send in a check every month for certain bills that don’t change. Your car payment is due every month on the same day for the same amount of money, so why not have the finance company takes that amount of money when it is due? Federal laws prevent an authorized bill from taking more money than you authorize, so it is safe.
Online bill payment systems offer the flexibility of receiving and managing your statements online, and some even consolidate all your online bills into one statement for you. Less time keeping track of bills means more time doing what you want to do. Just remember that if you set up an automatic payment to a credit card, you must pay off that balance in full every month to reap any kind of benefit from the service.
Get some kind of financial tracking software. With annual updates making them easier to understand and use, personal finance software products are gaining in popularity. Programs like Microsoft Money or Quicken can even get your financial information from your bank’s computers and download it to yours. You can set up automatic payments, reminders for when bills are due, and have the program alert you when a bank account balance is getting low. The time you spend setting up the program is well worth the benefits you will glean.
Setting up reminders is an easy way to avoid late fees. Some of us can remember everything, but for the rest of us, we have computer programs that will remind us of when a bill is due. As mentioned before, you can set up a personal finance program to remind you about bills that are coming due, or you can use a personal digital assistant, like a Palm Pilot. Either way, it’s nice to know that you don’t have to rely on a bad memory to save you from late fees.
If you have eight credit cards, you have eight sets of terms, eight interest rates to track, eight balances, and eight bills with eight due dates every month. Consolidating your credit cards into one or two accounts will vastly improve the way you are able to manage credit. Try to remember that if you do this, keep the amount on the one card under half of the limit, or you risk hurting your credit score. Use an empty card for purchases that you pay off every month so you can have the ease of using a card, without the high interest charges for carrying a balance. To find a better credit card visit www.bestcreditcardrates.com.
Try not to keep your money all over town. If you scatter your money, it is harder to keep track of, difficult to move, and can get downright confusing. One option is to close some of your bank accounts and keep all your money in a brokerage firm. These firms offer checking and savings services, but make it easier to move money by removing the need for transfers.
Search and seek out the best savings rates, CD rates and money market account rates to maximize your savings yields. With the markets down and interest rates low, obtaining the highest bank rates versus accepting the national average paid on bank products can add up significantly overtime. If your bank is not providing enough benefits or offers one of the best bank rates, its time to switch banks. With banks eager to obtain new checking accounts, CD accounts and savings accounts, switching banks couldn’t be easier.
Learn how to file. Paperwork can pile up if you don’t put it in a logical order. Designate a place to put your bills the minute they arrive in the mail. Pay them as soon as possible, and when they are paid, file them away for future reference. Ideally, each account, bill, or creditor should have its own folder. Paid bills should be filed in the order they were paid, so you can reference them later if you need to.
These eight steps, when followed diligently, will help you to ward off those pesky late fees, lost bills and bounced checks that may have been haunting you for years. All the while, help maximize your savings and interest income.
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