How You Can Get the Most Out of Your Bank
Almost everyone has a bank account and uses bank-offered services to manage their money.
Most banks offer useful perks and other benefits that account holders may not be taking full advantage of. Consider the following ways you can get the most out of your bank.
Use Budgeting Features
Most people could keep more money in their pockets to save back for retirement, emergencies or other expenses.
Many banks offer budgeting features that allow you to better track and manage your money, which is a useful feature just about everyone can use.
Forming a budget allows you to visualize your regular income and expenses to allocate it all properly.
It can show where you are overspending or paying for services you aren’t using. This helps you make smarter decisions about how to handle your available financial resources.
Use Automated Payments
Automated payments are another feature you can be used to pay your bills and ensure they are paid on time.
Being late on your bills can result in expensive late fees, collection efforts and damage to your credit score.
Automated payments make it easier to pay your bills without having to manually pay them every month.
Just be careful to make sure there is enough money in your account to ensure overdraft doesn’t occur, as overdraft or non-sufficient funds fees can be very costly.
Earn and Use Rewards
Most banks offer rewards programs for signing up for an account, spending with one of their credit cards and throughout certain promotional events.
If you aren’t taking advantage of these rewards programs and earning points or money for your regular banking activities, you should.
Just be sure not to rack up credit card debt that you can’t reliably pay every month, as interest rates are often high and carrying debt damages your credit score.
Use Mobile Banking
Most banks, including both the larger, national banks and even smaller credit unions, offer mobile banking through a secure app.
These apps are incredibly useful for checking your balance, paying your bills and transferring money on the go.
You can even use them to deposit checks remotely, saving you a trip to the bank.
Mobile banking apps are increasingly offering you the ability to provide your bank with travel notifications so they know any activity in a strange place is not fraudulent, as well as security and fraud alerts.
Take the time to familiarize yourself with the features your bank, and any cards you hold through your bank, offer you.
These features can make your life much easier and save you money. Knowing what you can do gives you a lot more power to improve your financial life.
Brooke Chaplan is a freelance writer and blogger. She lives and works out of her home in Los Lunas, New Mexico. She loves the outdoors and spends most of her time hiking, biking, and gardening. For more information, contact Brooke via Facebook at facebook.com/brooke.chaplan or Twitter @BrookeChaplan
Category: Banking
