I'm a Dumba** with my money

[Nugo]

Anybody else have problems balancing their checkbook/checking account/debits? I've always believed that when you use a debit card, the bank ought to take that money out, and if a certain amount that you try to charge isn't available, the transaction should simply be declined.

Not the case, at least at Wachovia or Bank of America. I'm slack about keeping track of expenses, then I get hit with four or five $30.00 NSF fees; some of those for $2 or $3 purchases.

I'm thinking of maybe going back to the old way; pen and paper, carry it around, write down every penny spent.

Anybody else have this problem? Solution?

[Marlon_JB2]

Nah. Banks love those NSF fees. ;) I just talked to my sister. She's a Supervisor at a bank... she doesn't know of a way. She did say this though: Overdrawing via Debit doesn't always happen all the time. Maybe you just get lucky?

Keep in mind different banks might have different policies.

[imtravis]

I use Quicken, and d/l my daily transactions every nite. Seems to work pretty decently for me.

[Noodle]

I personally hate credit cards and don't have any (anymore that is) they are evil and I'm starting to hate debit cards as well. I only use my checking account for paying bills. Otherwise it's pretty much ATM machines and cash for me.

[jizzon]

If you have a check card and credit card with Bank of America, you can set up overdraw protection and it will draw money from your credit account whenever you don't have enough funds in your checking account to complete a transaction. I believe you can also set it up to work the other way around. (Credit card will take money from checking account if max balance is reached). Basically the only way you can get screwed over is if your checking account tries getting money from your credit card when your credit limit is reached.

Be careful though, this is a very nice way to **** you over when you're trying to pay off your credit debt.

[Ted]

nugo, chances are the money that should not have been available for debit was available maybe because you had checks that had not cleared? picture the following scenario...

i have $100 in the bank. i write a check for $100 today and mail it to someone.
tomorrow, i go use the atm machine or debit card and draw $50. it lets me do this because i still have $100 in the bank until the following day, when the check clears. then the check comes in, bounces, nsf fees, etc.

the only answer to this is to keep track of how much money you have. plain and simple. do it in a way that works for you.

[atlya02]

Anybody else have problems balancing their checkbook/checking account/debits? I've always believed that when you use a debit card, the bank ought to take that money out, and if a certain amount that you try to charge isn't available, the transaction should simply be declined.

Not the case, at least at Wachovia or Bank of America. I'm slack about keeping track of expenses, then I get hit with four or five $30.00 NSF fees; some of those for $2 or $3 purchases.

I'm thinking of maybe going back to the old way; pen and paper, carry it around, write down every penny spent.

Anybody else have this problem? Solution?

This is what I did, I had the same situation with washington mutual. You can remove the over draft limit or lower it. Now this helps because the bank (at least mine) penalizes you by not allowing you to request to have the overdraft back for a few months. Now this is a plus also cause its like Ted said you have to keep track of all your payments but at least by doing this your not getting hit left and right with $30 for.01 cent over your current balance. :eyebrow:

[DcDave63]

Better yet....with Citibank, I have whats called "Checking Plus". Its an overdraft account sorta setup like a credit card account. When I go over, it takes funds out of that account, and charges me something like 21%, but when you are only overdraft $500 for 2 days, its like $0.25. So its TOTALLY worth it to me, because I never keep track of that stuff. It has saved me, I am sure, $100's of dollars over the last 5 years.

[640k]

This is what I did, I had the same situation with washington mutual. You can remove the over draft limit or lower it. Now this helps because the bank (at least mine) penalizes you by not allowing you to request to have the overdraft back for a few months. Now this is a plus also cause its like Ted said you have to keep track of all your payments but at least by doing this your not getting hit left and right with $30 for.01 cent over your current balance. :eyebrow:
You think $30 is something? Try Fifth Third Bank. They just raised their overdraft fee to $60 - and each time you overdraw your account, its an additional $60. On top of that, for each day that your account is overdrawn, they charge you $9. There are overdraft protections, but you have to realize that its considered a personal loan that you never actually use. Interest rate is applied and late payments will be penalyzed. So the overdraft account/loan will keep your account from going "0" but if you don't pay that overdraft off immediately, you'll get charged interest and maybe some fees (this is true with any bank).

I never balance my checkbook and never write anything down. I spend only what I keep in a budget. I put together a spreadsheet with the average cost of each bill. I had to come to realize that even the bills I think are nothing, like gas and groceries, are still a necessity and need to be budgeted for. So if I don't buy gas one week, or don't spend my entire budget for groceries, its disposable income for me.

Any money that doesn't make it into what I've budgeted, becomes disposable income. I also make it a point to budget out what I CAN pay per pay and not what is OWED each month. For instance, the first paycheck of the month pays the most bills: car, insurance, electric, cable, etc. My second paycheck pays my mortgage, so the amounts that are left over from each pay are typically the same.

I've found I like doing it this way because I'll know exactly what is left over and exactly what I can and can't spend. From there, keep track becomes easier. Its like having money in my wallet. Once the money is gone, I'm broke. :)

[atlya02]

You think $30 is something? Try Fifth Third Bank. They just raised their overdraft fee to $60 - and each time you overdraw your account, its an additional $60. On top of that, for each day that your account is overdrawn, they charge you $9. There are overdraft protections, but you have to realize that its considered a personal loan that you never actually use. Interest rate is applied and late payments will be penalyzed. So the overdraft account/loan will keep your account from going "0" but if you don't pay that overdraft off immediately, you'll get charged interest and maybe some fees (this is true with any bank).

Man $60 bucks. Time to get a new bank...

[DcDave63]

Yea, move up to Fourth or Third Third bank...

(LOL...did they run out of names? Fifth Third bank?...cracked me up)

[640k]

Yea, move up to Fourth or Third Third bank...

(LOL...did they run out of names? Fifth Third bank?...cracked me up)
Yeah its a pretty bad name, but I work there, so I have to put up with it.

"Working hard to be the only bank you'll never need!"

Hey, we've got Paige Davis doing commercials for us, I guess we rock.

[ken_vs_ryu]

your suck*** bank doesn't have an overdraft protection? time for a new bank. did you have the money in your savings account though?

[Nugo]

Bank of America does have overdraft protection, even if you just link your checking to a savings account. There is a $10.00 fee per day though, for the transfer (regardless of number of overdraws) which isn't bad, but I didn't have that stocked up.

Ted, I'll give myself only a tiny bit more credit than that :o I don't have any checks, so all my transactions are debit or online billpay. What was bothering me is that even the debits are first held (deducted from balance) then released (added back to balance) until they are finalized (and I think this may just be with things run as credit, but it may be both).

Anyway, considering how much this has cost me, and the fact that I still don't want to balance the account (hehe) I'll just do like Noodle said and pull out the amount I can spend for that pay period and stuff it in my wallet (this sounds vaguely familiar; oh yeah, it's what I used to do before the convenience of debit cards).

[+Eric]

Yeah, it's all kind of rediculous. I mean, you can't for one second tell me with all the technology that exist they can't decline debit cards. But nope, apprently they'd rather collect the fees. Easier for them anyway right. I mean, 5/3 (my old bank) would just let you keep charging well into the red I guess. But that didn't matter since even if you didn't charge they'd charge you 30 dollars per overdraft plus 6 dollars a day. Hell, my account was once dry for 2 days and EVEN then I was able to take 20 dollars out of an ATM. That's unreal. The next day I recieved the first letter........ I got owned pretty bad once by them since I have a lot of stuff (ex. cell phone bill) automatically debited each month, I misplaced a check and had to wait on my employer to get me another one.... OWNED lol. Direct deposit for me from now on. HEHE. But I guess the lesson is to keep track, stop playing games and know what is in there hehe.

[640k]

Yeah, it's all kind of rediculous. I mean, you can't for one second tell me with all the technology that exist they can't decline debit cards. But nope, apprently they'd rather collect the fees. Easier for them anyway right. I mean, 5/3 (my old bank) would just let you keep charging well into the red I guess. But that didn't matter since even if you didn't charge they'd charge you 30 dollars per overdraft plus 6 dollars a day. Hell, my account was once dry for 2 days and EVEN then I was able to take 20 dollars out of an ATM. That's unreal. The next day I recieved the first letter........ I got owned pretty bad once by them since I have a lot of stuff (ex. cell phone bill) automatically debited each month, I misplaced a check and had to wait on my employer to get me another one.... OWNED lol. Direct deposit for me from now on. HEHE. But I guess the lesson is to keep track, stop playing games and know what is in there hehe.
Alot of banks (especially 5/3) will still allow debit transactions to go through, even if your account has been closed! You have to cancel your debit card in addition to your account to get it to not transfer.

Auto-debits will ALWAYS overdraft your account. This is how you avoid having a bounced check associated with you. $60 overdraft is still better than a bounced-check on your record.

[NoClones]

Wow, wachovia is really starting to get on my last nerve. My and my GF have been with Wachovia since May 2002. I deposit her check into my account every 2 weeks (She's also listed on my checking account). On Oct 1 I deposited her check like always, we spent money, again like always :D , Then yesterday, they take the check amount away from our account saying they're not "cashing it" because her name isn't on the account. I have already been charged a 30.00 overdraft for a 2.77 charge ! So because of someone's mistake (She wasn't added to the account) now, after all these years, they're not accepting her check. I don't even want to think about how much in overdrafts their going to want ! I will not pay for their mistake though ! It's crazy.
The check was part of my available balance so I transfered some of it to our 2nd account. That money is still in that account, but come to find out the check I deposited is in the mail to be sent back to me.
And another thing ! I had 3 account with them, 2 are still active, the 3rd they deleted the other day without my knowledge. They said they sent me something about it. But I NEVER got anything saying my account would be deleted if I didn't do anything about it. You would think, ever since I turned 18 I've been with them, they'd want to atleast TRY and fix this problem. But NO, they're saying I will be responsible for all the charges, etc... :furious:

[twistedpac79]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (MobilePhone SCP-5500/US/1.0) NetFront/3.0 MMP/2.0)

Banks Suck.

[Steffi]

Just a word to the wise,

On October 28, 2003, the "Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act" was signed into law. This law is known as "Check 21" and will go into effect this October 28th.

How does this new law affect you?

If you have ever written a check a day or two before funds are scheduled to go into your account, this new legislation effectively ends that "float" time. After this Oct 28th, you might as well presume that check cashing is instant (or soon will be).

It's funny because I work at a credit union and this is going to make a lot of people mad.

[chrome8teenz]

Ive never heard of Wachovia till a month ago, when I started working in NJ. First time I saw it I was like "*** is that??". Sounds like an Indian tribe

[Nugo]

Ive never heard of Wachovia till a month ago, when I started working in NJ. First time I saw it I was like "*** is that??". Sounds like an Indian tribe

Come on, man, Wachovia was invented in Jersey. Some Jersey guy said to a New Yorker, "Hey, you walk ova hea and I'll punch your head in."

[GoRams08]

lol ^^
Wachovia came about after a merger of someone and First Union. Shucks, all the banks seem to be gettin into bed with each other. Chase bought Bank One, BofA bought Fleet, Washington Mutual is the product of a few mergers/acquisitions. Soon it will be all one huge humonguous bank the way things are headed. Hey the only cool thing about something like that will be the end of Non-Bank ATM Withdrawal Fees.

[GoRams08]

But yeah I feel your pain. I had WaMu and I closed that account because of their stupid policies. I would deposit checks issued by New York State (ex-Government employee) and they would not clear the check for almost a week! *** is that. Closed that account they are still charging me the monthly fee every month. I'm going to go down there and give someone a beating one of these days.

[GoRams08]

whats up with the following while we are on the subject: I paid my American Express bill and my Verizon (landline) Bill online directly from my Citibank account like usual last monday. The funds have yet to be collected from my account or even restricted like they usually do when the transaction is approved but not yet collected. Both Amex/Verizon show the amounts as paid. Heh, maybe they decided to pay my bills for me this month....

[ocelectroboi]

does anyone know of an app that might help balance cheekbooks? like what id there are two users to one debet account? it wouldbe cool if there was an app that sync each of their spending like on a spreadsheet and all they havet do is go online and edit that spreadsheet so its up to dated with what they are spending.

[Nugo]

does anyone know of an app that might help balance cheekbooks? like what id there are two users to one debet account? it wouldbe cool if there was an app that sync each of their spending like on a spreadsheet and all they havet do is go online and edit that spreadsheet so its up to dated with what they are spending.
I think AceMoney lite is a free one you can get from download.com... my short-term solution is just to have my money in check form and cancel direct deposit--then I carry cash when I need it or I put some money into the account if I have to use my debit card. I might still close the whole thing and just get a prepaid credit card for credit purchases. Depends on how things work out.

[Dale]

The NSF is so high here in the islands at the local banks, that I just decided to go leave a balance in my account to avoid them. Either that, or get overdraft protection (but that priv got expensive, so it's no longer an option any more).

If I got paid for every dumb question that I got from a customer that didn't pay their bill (and got their service cut off), I would be able to afford these NSF on my own!!!

It's better than a bounced check tho on a credit report!

[Cmdr.Awesome]

Better yet....with Citibank, I have whats called "Checking Plus". Its an overdraft account sorta setup like a credit card account. When I go over, it takes funds out of that account, and charges me something like 21%, but when you are only overdraft $500 for 2 days, its like $0.25. So its TOTALLY worth it to me, because I never keep track of that stuff. It has saved me, I am sure, $100's of dollars over the last 5 years.
Citi Bank's overdraft protection has saved me thousands of dollars. So many times I borrow 200-500 dollars and replace it in about a week and pay only like 80cents in lendeing charges. Plus if you deposit a chek it becomes instant cash that can be taken out because the bank will trust the chek will clear and overdraft protection will back you if it doesn't.

[SingSongBird]

does anyone know of an app that might help balance cheekbooks? like what id there are two users to one debet account? it wouldbe cool if there was an app that sync each of their spending like on a spreadsheet and all they havet do is go online and edit that spreadsheet so its up to dated with what they are spending.


I have a problem w/ hubby doing that. He's looks online Thursday and sees 3.12 in the bank and uses the debit card and ends up paying 2 or 3 BofA fees because he forgot about that 1.50 coke he bought Sunday on the card. Also, they take the largest debit out first at BofA. which could make even the smallest check/debit bounce. I had to get a separate account because everytime my check got deposited I ended up paying those fees off the top and I was causing me to end up being short on bills.

Basically, if you don't have it don't use the card. Don't try to catch it because you know your d/d will be there friday or in the morning. If my online balance gets to 5 bucks I don't use the card, better safe than sorry.

[SingSongBird]

Citi Bank's overdraft protection has saved me thousands of dollars. So many times I borrow 200-500 dollars and replace it in about a week and pay only like 80cents in lendeing charges. Plus if you deposit a chek it becomes instant cash that can be taken out because the bank will trust the chek will clear and overdraft protection will back you if it doesn't.


I used to do that with Arvest bank. Thier overdraft protection was free and up to 400 dollars and only cost 17.48. each. But, hubby messed that up too they closed that account because I refused to pay for anymore of his fees.

[Nugo]

Yea, move up to Fourth or Third Third bank...

(LOL...did they run out of names? Fifth Third bank?...cracked me up)

My gawd, I just saw this, I'm laughing so hard I'm bawling like a byatch

[ocelectroboi]

I think AceMoney lite is a free one you can get from download.com... my short-term solution is just to have my money in check form and cancel direct deposit--then I carry cash when I need it or I put some money into the account if I have to use my debit card. I might still close the whole thing and just get a prepaid credit card for credit purchases. Depends on how things work out.

I ment a mobile app. Here was my theory:
make a spreadsheet and put it on the net..then me and the person that has my other debit card can just go on vision and put in the info on the spreadsheet so we both can keep track of what we spend at any given time. but the 5600 cant read .xls files

[leaving_ash]

Wouldn't Fifth Third come between First and Second? I look at my account this way: At the end of the month I have $0 to waste on luxury. When I get paid I still have $0. It works out great but I get a little hungry.

[TypeS05Rsx]

I belonged to one bank (PNC) when I lived in PA, quite a few times when I used my debit card as credit the money was never deducted from my account. When I asked a friend of mine about this who worked for that bank (different branch than mine tho) he told me just to let it go it was the banks fault. I know this has nothing to do with what was orginally said just wondering if this had ever happened to anyone else?

[Nugo]

I belonged to one bank (PNC) when I lived in PA, quite a few times when I used my debit card as credit the money was never deducted from my account. When I asked a friend of mine about this who worked for that bank (different branch than mine tho) he told me just to let it go it was the banks fault. I know this has nothing to do with what was orginally said just wondering if this had ever happened to anyone else?
I don't really buy that. Now, more than ever, I feel certain that NSF fees are suddenly the hugest back-door income for banks in this country, and their tools are Check/Debit Cards and sneaky rules. It should be exposed and limited as to how much they can charge. It's sickening to pay $30.00 for a $2.00 overdraft, because you thought you had more money than you actually did, because they failed to instantly deduct previous amounts from your available balance.

However, all that being said, you can ask for a courtesy refund of NSF fees. Normally they will give you the fee back on your first one or two overdrafts--just have to ask.

[TypeS05Rsx]

Why would I ask for anything when nothing was ever taken out of my account for it and I no longer belong to that bank. I now live in NY and have accounts through another bank. I don't believe it's my fault the stores ran it through as credit not debit and nothing was deducted from my account.

[Nugo]

Why would I ask for anything when nothing was ever taken out of my account for it and I no longer belong to that bank. I now live in NY and have accounts through another bank. I don't believe it's my fault the stores ran it through as credit not debit and nothing was deducted from my account.

Oh I was just speaking in general terms; the part about me not buying that just meant that I can't believe this was a random bank "mistake." I mean, it's a two-step move from your point of view--if they don't deduct for a credit charge (or debit) then you stand to make a math error, utlimately leading to what equates to a short-term loan with a yield of up to 3000%.

[TypeS05Rsx]

I thought the same thing too (where I would end up paying somewhere) my ex-girlfriend and I looked through everything and couldn't find one thing wrong. I personally was never good with the check book or remembering to write it down (still not) but her on the other hand completely anal about that sort of stuff so if she couldn't find it and I closed the account on good terms and all money intact it's all good by me that they messed up in some sort of way

[Bohemian Iconoclast]

I don't really buy that. Now, more than ever, I feel certain that NSF fees are suddenly the hugest back-door income for banks in this country, and their tools are Check/Debit Cards and sneaky rules. It should be exposed and limited as to how much they can charge. It's sickening to pay $30.00 for a $2.00 overdraft, because you thought you had more money than you actually did, because they failed to instantly deduct previous amounts from your available balance.

However, all that being said, you can ask for a courtesy refund of NSF fees. Normally they will give you the fee back on your first one or two overdrafts--just have to ask.

I bolded the relevant point....check cards come from your checking account, so you need to use your ledger.

...you failing to keep track of yo' money ain't da bank's fault....

[Nugo]

I bolded the relevant point....check cards come from your checking account, so you need to use your ledger.

...you failing to keep track of yo' money ain't da bank's fault....
True, hence the title of this thread, yet there are misleading practices happening when a general idea in the public is that these cards instantly deduct amounts from checking/savings, allowing people to get a good snapshot of their accounts without carrying around a check register by only viewing their available balance (especially, as in my case, if they don't even use checks).

[Nailin'M]

I love banking!! Love it even more since I threw away my register and let my Palm do it for me. Thank GOD for UltraSoft Checkbook! I treat my bankcard purchases the same as straight cash----withdraw as soon as it's swiped. Most purchases post that way anyway, except gas. It always floats as $1 for a couple days.

No problems here.

[Bohemian Iconoclast]

True, hence the title of this thread, yet there are misleading practices happening when a general idea in the public is that these cards instantly deduct amounts from checking/savings, allowing people to get a good snapshot of their accounts without carrying around a check register by only viewing their available balance (especially, as in my case, if they don't even use checks).

...haven't used checks in years....and whenever I use the check side of the card, I keep track...

I like Nailin'M's idea....use the Palm! ;)

[bigjt]

I have learned to budget effectively. Each pay period has certain bills that go towards it. And I also have two separate bank accounts. One primary checking (bills, disposable income), second savings/checking account - savings/extra money for stuff like baby

I make these payments as soon as I see the money in the bank. Direct deposit.

First pay day - Rent, cable, electric

Second Pay day - Car Payment/Insurance, Student Loan, Sprint

After its all said and done, each pay day I usually have put about 250 in savings, and then have about 250 for gas, food, leisure, and things like that.

[Nailin'M]

^^^Sounds like me......and when I get a 3 paycheck month, you would swear I just won a sweepstakes, LOL.

I also like the fact that UltraSoft Checkbook has a BillMinder that keeps track of all your one-time/recurring bills and IMPUTS them automatically (if you want) into your register. You always know, with a tap on the screen, what's in the bank.

[vikingjunior]

It's funny when people have a $429 phone but can't keep a balance in there account.