Bringing Balance to Your Debit Card(Article)

Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, before the advent of the debit card, there was basically two forms of payment for buying anything at grocery stores and department stores, and that was either cash or check.

It was actually quite remarkable because people, without realizing it, were managing their money. Back then, through the use of the spreadsheet provided with checkbooks, there was a means by which to write down how much money was going out and you could physically post when money came in. Even though it was more cumbersome to carry around a checkbook and pen to write down everything, it made things simple.

Then, the debit card was introduced and since it seems that some people have lost the ability to manage their money. Which makes sense, remove a tool that grants you better money management and is convenient to access with something that suppose to be easier and you really don't miss that aspect. After all, we now have online banking and other tools that can help us manage our money, but when we don't have the convenience of access to them, we rarely seek them out. As usual, life gets in the way.

Moreover, when you use your debit as a credit card, you inadvertently forget about previous charges made that don't show up in your account until about two or three days later. So, when you look at your debits and credits online, you might think you have money for groceries, but then later you come to find out that there was a payment that had not yet posted and now you have an outrageous overdraft fees.

Banks and financial institutions have reaped billions of dollars on overdraft fees or as they are sometimes known, "courtesy charges". And, in the past few years the number has just gotten higher.

It might be that one contributing factor to why overdraft fees keep getting higher and higher year after year is the fact that we now use debit cards for almost everything - department stores, grocery stores, entertainment, etc. Debit cards have essentially replaced our checkbooks and because there's no record book that goes with us, there's really nothing to balance.

Fortunately, there are ways to circumvent the overdraft fees from occurring, especially if you are on a budget and trying to save for retirement, tuition or a rainy day. The best thing for you to have is a pocketbook of some kind where can you write down every purchase you made so know exactly what you spent and how much you have. If you happen to carry a smart phone, look for apps that can act like spreadsheets. Apple's IPhone has an app called Balance that acts exactly like a checkbook/spreadsheet where you can write down how much you spent and your available balance. It does the math so you don't have to.

If you don't have access to a smart phone, then it's time to start carrying a little pocketbook with you. You don't have to do any of the calculating on the spot, but getting into the habit of writing down how much you spent and where will virtually eliminate over estimating how much you have in your account especially when those charges take days to clear. And, you will have brought balance to your account.