Americans Are Getting Hit Hard

Bouncing a check or having your debit card turned down is bad enough, but do you know much it costs you? Seriously… do you know? Because most people don’t. Give me 60 seconds to help stop your bank from taking your hard earned money.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that Americans paid more than $15 billion – that’s billion with a B – in overdraft fees last year. You don’t need me to tell you that if you are careful with your money you don’t pay these fees. But in our e-banking world, an overdraft can happen without you even realizing it… until it’s too late. Maybe a check deposited when you didn’t expect it or there was a holdup in your pay and used your ATM or Debit card. These charges add up fast and you need to know you can get hit with several fees per day! So protect yourself!

Use online banking to your advantage. Check your account before taking out cash or using your debit card. You can turn off your overdraft protection, it’s optional! It just means if you don’t have the cash on hand your transaction will be declined. A Pew Survey found that 66% of American’s didn’t even realize that they had opted in, in the first place. But beware – there are similar fees with different names. Look out for nonsufficient funds fees, which might cost as much as an overdraft fee. There is a lot more that you need to know and you can find it on TheStreet.com.