Some Helpful Banking Tips

Who needs an ATM when you have a smart phone?

By the time you reach college, hopefully you have a bank account…whether it is one under your parent’s name or one of you own; it’s wise to have a safe place to keep your money. Most of the time, within a few weeks of opening an account at a bank, you receive a debit/check card in the mail. The activation process is easy and so is using the card. You just use it like cash.  The money charged to your debit card will come from your checking account. As long as you keep an eye on your account activity and you keep your account and pin number secure, there should be little to no hassle. 

There are some less obvious things to keep in mind though, when using a debit card. Because you are not relying on the visible cash in your wallet it becomes easier to over spend. An easy way to keep track of what you spend and how much you have remaining is to use online banking. Most national banks offer a free online service and some even offer apps for iPhones and Androids. If you check your account daily, you are much less likely to overspend or be a victim of card theft. The only possible issue with online banking would be a security breach if you were to forget to log out of your account and someone else accesses it. So, just remember to log out and never save your password on a computer.

Another tip to remember when banking is that when you do need cash, and your bank doesn’t have an ATM nearby- there are other options besides using another bank’s ATM and being charged. One option is to use a Cash Points ATM. These green ATM boxes may be in random parking lots, but they don’t charge you to withdraw money, which is awesome. Another idea if there isn’t a Cash Points ATM around, is to go a gas station or grocery store and buy something small and ask for cash back at the register. This could be similar to an ATM charge, but if you have to buy groceries anyways, you may as well get cash back at the same time. 

Sometimes, you just have to spend money…as long as you are keeping track of your spending and keeping your information safe, you should be okay.