Piece of advice and reaon why I am not bright

[hypnofrogstevie]

I opened up a checking account in july to the beginning of august. I was doing fine. Making sure I had enough money to buy what I wanted. Well I get cigar mags in the mail. My brother wanted to buy this special. it was 30 cigs plus an aluminum case for $33.98. Me thinking I had enough said ok. I do it. last week I get a thing in the mail saying i am negative. yesterday I owed the bank $107.00! I pleaded with the lady to reverse it and she was sweet enough to do that. My mom is putting $34.00 of her money in there which my brother is paying for. He was the one who made me negative.

word of advice. dobnt let no one touch your debit card or credit card

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Yikes! That's the problem with Debit cards, the are convenient and too many people look at them like Credit Cards. You have to write down every single purchase in your checkbook and do a little math, that way you'll know how much is in there. It's expensive to owe the bank money! Hopefully lesson learned. Trust me, I learned the hard way too, about balancing my finances.

 

[tiffanyh]

Hey--bright people mess up their checking account too!

 

[SpottedCrow]

Bummer, Stevie...but at least you were able to get it taken care of...
Now you gotta sit your brother down and give him a good talking to about credit card fraud and theft...

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
Most of us mess up with checking accounts at some point in our lives. Now add
debit cards to the mix and it's 10 times worse.

Words of warning: If you mess up bad enough the bank will close you account
and report you to Checksystems. If this happens you are not going to get
another checking account for at least 5 years.

If you can't keep at least $200 in a checking account you should not have one.
To get most credit cards or car loans you need a checking account. To get
real credit established you need credit cards and loan histories. To get a mortgage
you need credit established. This is your life man. Little screwups now will
effect your whole future.

Build up your checking account to $200 and monitor it online at least on a weekly
basis. Open a seperate savings account and link your debit card to that, not your
checking account. Use your checking account to pay bills only. Deposit your paychecks
directly into your checking account and transfer any extra in savings. Your savings
account will be where you get your cash and money for stuff you want.

And please remember FAMILY, FRIENDS & MONEY DON'T MIX!!!

Again this is your future. Please don't make me drive down there and kick your a**.

 

[teddiliza]

And, Don't sign up for a family plan with someone that doesn't live with you! (cell phone) Those over the limit minutes cost too much!

If you have a teenager, get them a prepaid-- they sure know how to yack! If they have to yack, make them use the landline and put a block on your long distance! Make them IM people if they live in another state. It will be good for their typing skills.

My oldest sister who holds the accont for my other sis just got stuck with a 3500 minute over use fee for our neice's cell phone who is 16. Can't trust them teenagers not to talk too much on the cell phone!

Teddi

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

PC I opened it when I had my job. I quit in october and I was taking out a little bit at a time. I already talked to him. My mom will have to drive me to work since my car is busted. i got about 10 apps so I am all set to bring them in. Thank you everyone for the bits of advice.

sorry teddiliza did nopt see your post.I am on my mothers family plan. when my brother was on it cost over $500 a month! Now that she put me on its about $60 a month or a little more with taxes. He has a virgin mobile and its prepaid. My ex wanted me to but a family plan and put her on. Thank god did not do that! I saw so many divorce court episodes where the guy or girl ran up the bill

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Meaning, it should never run down *below* $200 - that's your cushion against miscalculations or emergencies. (I'd recommend a bigger cushion, personally, in fact - perhaps because I am *not* one of these inherently organized people who balances their checkbook weekly. Really, it makes a BIG difference).

Best of all would be, do not use checks, debit or credit cards in the first place - pay your bills electronically (online), and pay cash for everything else. For those few infrequent things that you just can't use cash for, like ordering chicks from a hatchery <g>, do not use checks or plastic until AFTER physically sitting down and balancing your accounts to see where it's going to put you.

Like PC says, even just a small amount of financial fuzziness and red ink can put a BIG dent in your lifestyle REAL fast. A dent that it can take a long time and an awful lot of good-citizenry to erase. Best not to start slipping down the slope in the first place.

Good luck,

Pat

 

[hypnofrogstevie]

I am never making this mistake again. I hoope this wont effect me in the long run. i am going to need a new car soon (well used). First I am going to save up as much and only buy what I need. I told himn he is opening his own account. I am no longer letting him use my card. I still owe $215 to sirius

 

[PurpleChicken]

Quote:
Meaning, it should never run down *below* $200 - that's your cushion against miscalculations or emergencies. (I'd recommend a bigger cushion, personally, in fact - perhaps because I am *not* one of these inherently organized people who balances their checkbook weekly. Really, it makes a BIG difference).

Thanks for the clarification. That's exactly what I meant. I also agree $200 is a low
minimum. It should be much higher. I just know that for a young man, in between
jobs, $200 is an attainable goal. Even if you boost that by $10 per month it will
grow fast.


I wasn't trying to pick on ya Steve. I just don't want to see you repeat the same mistakes
I made in my early 20's. But I think you know that already.