I am really tired of holding my breath about my checking balance, and hoping that this check or that check doesn't clear for a couple of days.
I finally figured out that I should help manage my account by using my debit card less, particularly towards the end of my pay period. If you use your card a lot and then one stray check or another clears befroe you were expecting, you can get hit with some unwelcome NSF charges for those debit charges.
There has been a lot of news lately about how banks can stiff you by the order they choose to send your charges through. For example, on any given night, my bank will send through the largest charges first, whether checks or debit charges, followed by the other charges in descending order.
That has caused me great grief in the past. Say I have $100 in my checking account, and I have made debit purchases of $5, $10 and $15. Then I write a check for $89, and that check clears a day before I expect. That check at my bank would go through first, which would then bounce all three of those debit charges, assuming they go through my bank on the same night.
I have talked with my bank representatives before and asked why this happens. It seems like the debit charges should clear first, since they are smaller amounts, there are more of them, and I made those charges first. But no, say my representatives, they have polled their customers, and they said they would prefer the largest charges to go through first????? Well, they didn't poll me. By sending the larger charge through first, they will earn three NSF fees, as opposed to only one if they had done it the other way.
In recent weeks, I have held my breath many times, worried that a string of debit charges would go through at an inopportune time. Worse case scenario, it could wipe out a huge part of my balance. Luckily, that has not happened.
But what I have decided to do is that at the end of my pay period, when the dollars really count--is to try to pay cash for all the small things, like newspapers, coffee, gas even. It would be better for me to deduct some money from my checking account and pay for those things. That way if there is an overdraft charge, it would only be one from the withdrawal, rather than a bunch for small purchases.
I am really looking forward to the day, hopefully soon, when I don't have to hold my breath anymore.
