We're overdrawn :(

[Mac in Wisco]

A good book on personal financial management is Dave Ramsey's "The Total Money Makeover". He is a radio and television talk show host that teaches basic money management skills. No gimmicks, no get rich quick schemes, just basic financial advice like how to get on a budget and stick with it, how to get out of debt and stay out of debt, basic investment advice, how to save for kids' college, etc.

He does a good job of firing people up to get their finances in order and pay off their debts. On his radio and TV shows on Friday, he fields calls from people who have followed his advice and made themselves debt free. The calls usually go something like, "We've followed your plan for the last four years and we've been able to pay off our vehicles, $20,000 in credit card debt and also paid off our $100,000 mortgage. We're debt free!" Dave will ask, "How did you do that?" Caller says, "We sold our expensive vehicles and bought beaters, lived frugally, and worked a lot of overtime". "We didn't realize how foolish we had been with our money in the past until we started following your advice". "Without a mortgage payment we are now able to save money to pay cash for some better vehicles, are putting money in our 401K plans, and saving for the kids' college expenses".

The book is a good read with some good advice.

 

[lorrir]

I used to have a savings account attached to my checking account for overdraws, now my bank gives me a credit line to draw from, which I use, at $29 a pop.

Ya think I would learn to balance my checkbook! Nah!

 

[Mac in Wisco]

On a side note, we had the opposite happen here. We have three direct deposit payments that are supposed to be paid on the first business day of each month. To my surprise all three were in our bank account this morning, three days early. I don't recall that ever happening before.

 

[Mac in Wisco]

Quote:
They charge you for the transfer? As bad as Bank of America was, we used to have a credit card account with them for overdraft protection on our checking account. If we overdrew it just went to the line of credit without any fees. For example, if we happened to overdraw by $45.99, they would deposit $50.00 in our checking account and charge it to our line of credit. No penalties, no extra charges. They made their 12% APR on the line of credit anyways.