Preventing Banking Fees

No one likes that sinking feeling you get when you are charged a banking fee. Often, because you’re busy, fees can feel like they came by surprise. Having financial habits that help you avoid fees may be easier then you think.

Many people find keeping track of the balance in their checking account and paying their credit card bill on time works well when they use time saving tools to help manage money and to help prevent or lessen fees.

The chart below outlines some common bank and Credit Card fees and information on how to help prevent each type of fee.

Fee	Description	How to Help Prevent the Fee
Overdraft Item Fee and NSF: Returned Item Fee	An overdraft occurs when you don’t have enough available funds in your account to cover a check, Check Card transaction or other withdrawal. You can overdraft either your checking account or your savings account. o Set up Alerts to notify you when your checking or saving account balance gets to a certain threshold that you set.	Link Overdraft Protection service to your checking account to help prevent bounced checks and avoid Overdraft Item and Returned Item Fees.
Monthly Maintenance Fee	Banks charge monthly maintenance fees for some checking and savings accounts. If you don’t maintain certain balances or other requirements, you are changed a fee. o Often, banks waive monthly maintenance fees for students.	Make sure you know if your bank charges Monthly Maintenance Fee on your accounts. Ask your banker for this information.
Late Fee	If you do not pay your credit card bill by the due date, you are charged a Late Fee.	Set up Alerts to notify you when your credit card payment is due. Set up automatic payment for the minimum credit card amount so you never have to worry about a late fee.
Overlimit Fee	When you do not stay within your credit limit on your credit card, you are charged an overlimit fee.	The best way to avoid an Overlimit Fee is to know your credit card limit and monitor your outstanding balance. Set up Alerts to notify you when you are approaching your credit card limit.
ATM Fee	When you use an ATM that is not part of your bank’s network, you can be charged a ATM transaction fee.	Check to see your bank’s policy on using ATMs. Typically, you can use your bank’s ATMs with no fee. However, you may be charged a fee for using ATMs of other banks. Check to see if your bank has an ATM locator online so you can find the nearest bank owned ATM.

Here are some services you should consider signing up for and using to help prevent fees:

Alerts
Part of Online Banking, Alerts are emails to your personal computer or text messages to your mobile phone or hand held device. Alerts give you a “heads up” about activity that is about to happen to your banking accounts or what has just occurred. You select the alerts you want sent to you. Alerts can let you know when your checking or savings account balance is below a certain level that you set. Or, Alerts can notify you when your credit card payment is due. Alerts can let you know when a check card transaction has been deducted from your checking account.

In this way, you can take the right actions to help prevent fees. For example, if your checking balance is low, you can avoid spending until you can get the money you need into the account.

Alerts are easy to set up. See if your bank’s Online Banking service offers Alerts and sign up online or go into your nearby bank branch and let your banker show you how to sign up.

Overdraft Protection Service
Another smart service to consider is Overdraft Protection service. With Overdraft Protection service, available funds from credit card or savings account are transferred to your checking account when you overdraw your account.

While there are fees related to automatically transferring funds from an account to checking to avoid being charged an Overdraft Item Fee, the transfer fee is typically less than the Overdraft Item Fee. That’s why, if you have a credit card or a savings account at your bank, you should consider linking one of the accounts to your checking account so you have Overdraft Protection service.

Online Banking/Mobile Banking
Keeping track of your money is also made easier with Online Banking and Mobile Banking. Online Banking is a convenient way to keep up with your accounts, pay bills, transfer funds and review your balances. With Online Banking, you can take care of your banking all from your pc. With Mobile Banking, you can do all the same banking functions anywhere you have mobile service.

With either service, when you are reviewing your account status, it is also important to remember that not all your recent transactions may appear in Online Banking. For instance, checks you’ve written that haven’t be sent to your bank for processing will not show up in Online Banking/Mobile Banking. That’s why it’s important to keep track of all your transactions – checks written, Check Card transactions conducted and any automatic payments – so you know exactly how much money you have to spend in your account.

Here are the answers to four common questions that banks get asked.

Q. I have a debit card (Check Card). Since there is a VISA logo on the face of the card, does that mean the card taps a line of credit when I use it?
A. No. Debit card or Check Card transactions are deducted from your checking account. Because of that, you need to be sure that you have sufficient funds in your checking account before you use your Check Card to make a purchase or to withdraw money at an ATM. Otherwise you may incur an overdraft fee.

Q. How does a pending debit card (Check Card) transaction affect my available balance?
A. In most cases, if a debit card or Check Card transaction shows in Online Banking as a ‘pending transaction’, it reduces the balance available in your account. The reduced amount is what is available to pay checks or other debit items received during nightly posting.

Q. If funds weren’t available at the time of a debit card (Check Card) transaction, then why did my bank authorize the transaction?
A. There are a number of possible reasons that Check Card transactions may have been authorized when there were insufficient funds.

In some cases, at the time you initiated the transaction, the bank’s records may have shown that there were sufficient funds in your account. However, other debits may have been presented that same day that were unknown to your bank at the time. If at the end of the day, the other transactions presented, plus the amount of your debit card transactions, exceeded your available balance, your account would be overdrawn.

In other cases, the bank may decide to authorize the transaction based on factors, including the amount of the transaction and past activity on your account.
For these reasons, it is important that you keep track of all your transactions and make sure you have sufficient funds in your account before making a purchase. Another way to help prevent overdraft fees is to sign up for Overdraft Protection. With Overdraft Protection Service, available funds from your savings account or credit card are automatically transferred to your checking account to help protect you when you’re in an overdraft situation.

Q. If my parents are going to be sending me money, what’s the quickest way to get the money into my checking account?
A. The fastest and easiest way is to get money into your account is to have the funds sent electronically. For example, you can have your parents transfer the money from their checking account to yours. If you both use the same bank, that process is very easy. Some banks allow you to transfer funds from other banks to your account. See if your bank has this service.

If a large amount of money is being sent to you, say over $1,000, you need the funds immediately and you can’t transfer the funds from one personal account to another, a wire transfer may be the next best way to receive the money. Most banks charge fees for wire transfers; however, if you need access to the funds immediately, wire transfers are a smart way to perform the transaction. That is because when a check is over a certain amount and you do not routinely deposit large checks, a bank may put a “hold” on the check. In that case, it can take a few days for the check to clear. That’s why electronic transactions are preferable.

When you make a deposit and need to know when your funds will be available, ask your teller and he or she can give you the information.