Additionally, if you forget about the checks you wrote or transactions you’ve made, you can risk having your account going into overdraft, which means you can end up owing the bank money. Surely, bank mistakes are rare, but they do happen and usually, you only have 60 days to report them, so if you don’t catch the mistake in time, you might lose a large amount of money. Secondly, balancing a checkbook can help you double check your bank to make sure that there hasn’t been any mistake when depositing or withdrawing funds. If you don’t, they will start making larger withdrawals, potentially causing you to love thousands of dollars.
#Should i balance my checkbook with online banking how to#
We’re here to help you understand why you need to balance your checkbook, how often you’re supposed to do it and, finally, how to balance a checkbook.īelieve it or not, you absolutely need to balance your checkbook even if you don’t write any checks! You may think that balancing a checkbook is a thing of the past since you have access to internet and mobile banking literally at the tips of your fingers, but even today there are still lots of reasons to balance your checkbook regularly.įirst of all, balancing a checkbook can help protect you against financial fraud since often times identity thieves will make a very small withdrawal from your bank account and watch if you notice. There are millions of Americans who don’t balance their checkbooks and don’t even know how often or why they are supposed to do it. Whichever route makes you most comfortable is always the best option because, at the end of the day, we’re here to make your lives less hectic and stressful.Let’s be frank - you probably know that you’re supposed to balance your checkbook but you most likely never do it. So, you may be asking yourself whether it’s best to balance a physical checkbook or to take advantage of all the great benefits we have at our customers’ fingertips and the answer is simple: it’s up to you. We also have made available to our customers pages that go over the benefits of our Mobile App and Photo Deposit, and even our fantastic partner app Mobi Money, which allows you to have greater control over your debit card and the way it’s used. Our Mobile and Online banking summary page breaks down just some of the features our customers have access to.
You now have the flexibility to view balances and transactions, transfer money between internal and external accounts, set up bill payments, and even deposit physical checks just by taking a photo with your smartphone. Online and mobile banking has advanced far beyond letting you see what you have in your account. While valid, these points may also be countered with points just as pertinent. When physically balancing a checkbook, you may have a better grasp on your overall financial health. Perhaps you, like many of us, have a tendency to look at your available balance, make a purchase, only to find out a couple of days later the car payment you thought was already taken out of your account hadn’t been and you find yourself in a stressful situation. Balancing your transactions against what the bank shows you can be a great financial failsafe. Points of argument say it’s easier to make sure every penny is accounted for when you compare your records of transactions against your monthly account statement maybe you forgot to add the time you got gas in a hurry or maybe someone has used your bank card without permission. For me, just hearing the phrase “balancing a checkbook” invokes a warm nostalgia of moments I never recognized would turn into memories.Īside from the idyllic reflections, some argue the act of balancing a checkbook still holds a proper place in the world. When I ask him why he still does that now, he just shrugs and says, “it’s what I’m used to. My father, now in his 60s, keeps the same routine. My father would then explain to me that it was how he knew where his money was spent and how. “Balancing my checkbook,” came the reply.
I remember being younger and my father patiently waiting for me to finish reading the “Calvin and Hobbes” strip for the umpteenth time before he took that page, laid it out on the dining room table, and proceeded to clean his razor and then balance his checkbook. Both sides make valid points, and we will look into how this topical debate relates to your finances.īalancing a checkbook is something my dad did every Sunday. These are statements we often hear on either side of the debate over technology. Today’s technological advances have forced our society to become apathetic and overlook necessary life skills. Our technological world is wondrous and essential in streamlining our ever-busying lives.
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