Have you ever heard the expression, “the best defense is a good offense?” It can be applied to just about any project or goal. Here are a couple of examples.
Want to take the vacation of a lifetime next summer? Start proactively putting some money aside this summer. Tired of paying late fees?. Set up automatic payments through your financial institution.
Basically, the expression means that the best way to accomplish a goal or to prevent a negative result is to proactively set up a plan of action – go on the offensive! This approach can have you prepared when the unexpected happens.
The unexpected happens, well, unexpectedly. A higher grocery bill than you planned on. More of your budget in your gas tank this month. Any number of things can happen. Sometimes, these unexpected costs can lead to annoying overdraft fees.
At Community Choice, it’s our goal to help you avoid hardships with proactive strategies. Life happens, but overdraft fees don’t have to. Play some offense now so your defense is ready when called upon.
Plan for the unexpected by following a few of these proactive prevention tips:
The first step to setting up a good defense wherever you do your banking is to proactively set up automatic overdraft protection transfers. At Community Choice, this is a free service that allows you to create transfers from a savings, other shares, and lines of credit. It just takes a second to add a new account or make changes to your existing transfers.
Simply log in to e-Banking and click:
- Menu
- Services
- Overdraft Protection
Then tap the account you’d like to link.
Keep an eye on your balances.
Other ways to play a little offense is to make sure your financial institution has Saturday hours and fee-free ATMS for last-minute deposits. Do you know how to make an e-Deposit? If you’ve never made one, make a small one now even if you don’t need to so you’ll be a pro if the time ever comes when you need to quickly make a deposit. Also, set up e-Alerts so you’ll know when your account is running low. Remember, e-Banking that’s available on your desktop or mobile devices makes it easier to monitor your spending.
We also know life happens.
Finally, make sure your financial institution offers overdraft privilege. This is avaluable safety net if those first lines of overdraft prevention fail. Many banks are making headlines for “eliminating” overdraft fees, but further review reveals many are just limiting overdraft protection services on specific accounts and/or recouping the income with alternate fees. Always read the fine print to determine whether these services truly benefit you.
At Community Choice, our overdraft privilege will help cover the cost of the transaction. The benefits include preventing late fees and non-sufficient funds fees; reducing the risk of losing service, which negatively impacting your credit score and can cause an embarrassing situation; and even eliminating the need to turn to payday loans! The benefits of having us cover the transaction far outweigh the $30 fee associated with this service.
Get out there and play some offense. You’ll find your defense is even stronger when you take steps to set yourself up for success.
If you have questions about your account or would like some advice on how to establish your safety net, our personal advisors are always here to offer suggestions and solutions. Visit any of our member centers or call our 24/7 Member Contact Center to speak with an advisor or click here for more from our website.